re: your ghost town parksville ny: brought back lots of memories. nicely done. btw, the diners were a newer addition and unknown to the oldtimers. just like to correct a couple of things: the route 17 quickway bypass did not undo the town. it had many many vibrant years left and continued to thrive. what ultimately ushered in the demise of parksville, and other nearby towns to a lesser extent, was the death of the borscht belt . this was completed in the 70's with some lingering a bit more but, by and large, the moribund area, which saw the death of places like grossingers, a few miles down the road, the concord and many many others, was the end of parksville. next time you take a ride up there you need to turn right and pass the post office (a new addition which sits on the property owned by my family for many many decades). you will soon come to a fork in the road. either tong will lead you to the real ghost town that parksville is. many many hotels which are no more. but be sure and stop, left fork, immediately, and see the magnificent water falls which will survive long after the town residents are gone. past the waterfalls and immediately to the right, opposite the dirt road, is another cemetery, a jewish one. also worthy of some shots. meander about the byways and see the destruction of what was a vibrant and popular vacation site. depressing!
rosanne skopp I just went to Grossengers, and a few places in the Poconos last summer. We plan to head back to Liberty again this summer, and parksville. Had a great time, other than the vandalism. It really took a lot of the enjoyment out of the experience but we made the best of it
I used to be in that area for the Summers, the town was definitely affected by the overpass being built around 2011, before that Parksville was (although a ghost of what it was in its heyday of the Borscht Belt) somewhat of a normal small town, now it's almost completely abandoned, except for the post office and a few stores.
I used to eat in that diner when I was younger. The rt 17 bypass definitely killed what was left of that town. Until they rerouted 17 it was still a pretty normal small town. Now everything is empty.
You know a town is dead when the "For sale" signs are turning yellow! Face it-a large part of upstate NY are never coming back-the taxes are obscene and the winters are horrible.
Taxes are low in most places, you're thinking of Lake George or Hudson, the wealthy parts. And as for winters I moved further north just for the peace and quiet, the snow ain't a problem for most.
Taxes are insane, due to MFs in the Cities..... same as Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana.......Effs Up the Rural Areas and especially the Farmers and Small Independent Clothing and Hardware Stores......
Thank you I am watching this and missing home. I come from a tiny town called Livingston Manor its the next town over from Parksville. Parkville used to a a diner that smelt like heaven called Aggies Diner. My grandmother worked there for years oh how I miss her. Parkville also has Fiddles the best homemade soft ice cream all the flavors and some you never knew were there. It's a ghost town now garages are all closed the bar is going that was always hopping on the weekends. Memories used to be so beautiful inside.
Been coming up here for 40 years.I remember Memories,The flea market was where the post office now stands.the diner,Fiddles gas station,the ice cream stand,The traffic light brought life to Parksville.Worked at the Dead End Cafe for a season.Was also a custodian at the Paramount Hotel.The highway was moved in the early 2000,s.So sad.
I'd say 40-50k of us living in the boroughs (downstate NY) should pool our money together and move and take over these beautiful places and restore them. The city is so over populated while these beautiful places are just left to decay. I'm tired of paying high rent when I could own some property and a home. Just so very sad to see.
@@Shield.148 Why mention left wing politics or politics at all? If you really want to do that then why is this place a ghost town? Oh right..Politics smh......
I never knew of route 17/interstate 86 until just two years ago. It was an invigorating feeling to drive through a part of New York state for the first time. Route 17/I-86 is sweet. Absolutely no traffic.....once you leave Middletown area going further west. My favorite part is the long hill in the Wurtsboro section (descent going east and ascent going west).
Grew up in this town. Everything was closed on Main St. even as a kid. I worked at the gas station in high school and remember having boxing matches in front of the old pharmacy building in the street. This was before they moved the highway. Still a ghost town for the most part but, good job with the video.
Yeah it was. My family use to go there at least twice a month. I miss that store. Shit I miss the old Parksville, stupid highway. SMH. It's so sad. I remember fiddles ice cream stand, and how packed it use to be. Now it just stands there looking sad as hell. Shit I miss being a kid. #mandynotmike
I lived in this Hamlet for almost 15 years, left in 2013. Once the highway changed it really died. The Pharmacy on the corner has been empty since at least 1999. Hope it comes back one day it’s a shame. It is so close to the Catskills State Park.
@@nofurtherwest3474 Sullivan County was once the place for the rich from NYC to come and stay at the many hotels. These hotels offered entertainment from Hollywood types and comedians. Once the airline industry took off and people had more travel options, they stopped coming to the Catskills resorts. These resorts have all but shut down now. This loss of massive summer tourism killed the small villages and hamlets of the county.
We were driven into Parksville occasionally for ice cream sundaes at a place called Poppy's when we were little and vacationing in nearby Liberty I think, perhaps at a place called the Prospect Inn.
First of all the only reason any of these businesses are abandoned, is because of the new highway (well it's about 3 yrs old) and now no one goes through Parksville, unless you live there or are from there. And I lived 3 miles away, I grew up there. It was a small town back than too. Now there's just a gas station. Sad really. #mandynotmike
The robbin hood diner used to have great food. I always ordered a tuna melt with onion rings. Me and my best friend went in there one night tripping balls. I'll never forget it.
When (1979-81) I was studying in RPI, Troy,NY...I had to go back to Washington,DC every second weekend for NASM docent assignement. When I drove through Wilkes-Barre to and fro...I stopped at these diners. Great people, service and pancake breakfasts! I wish that a new generation could prove that there is urban reincarnation!
I looked at a small older house around there and I called twice to confirm the crazy numbers. They also said if you improve it it may double! Wow. No wonder so many people live in broken down trailers. They said they have to meet their numbers and each slice of the pizza just gets bigger.
Damn your cinematography was amazing.. with respect to the life that happened in the town previously, if you ever helped create a horror survival video game, the atmospheric experience would be improved whatever the storyline. You have a great, unobtrusive way to allow the viewer to percieve that they are experiencing things themselves.
The last time up that way was 2017. Was driving there to Syracuse early in the morning.I was talking with someone in the car and realized we had passed the traffic light in Parksville and didn’t even know it. It wasn’t till the way back I realized that the overpass that they were building, future 86 was put into place and literally bypassed the whole town and the gas station that I used to stop at about a quarter of a mile after the traffic light on the right wasn’t accessible anymore. I had figured at this point that had put all these places out of business. It did. The signs for “Future 86” had been up for 20 years with nothing happening. Then this happened.
Music aside, thanks for posting. We owned a hotel in Parksville. It was a bustling place until the late 80s. Sorry to see what it’s turned into as I have fond memories.
I own a cute little lake front airbnb in Parksville. Most people that stay are looking to get out of the city for a few days and enjoy nature and solitude of a small country space. And yes, the center of town still looks like the video. :(
My wife and I like to travel. This town surprised me. I expect abandoned places where the factory closed or the mine ran out. Having this happen so close to the NY megapolis is surprising. What ever happened to the culture that provided the people that summered in those old hotels?
By the late 70's and 80's, all-inclusive resorts fell out of favor against ocean cruises, and resorts in the hudson valley (the borscht belt) started loosing money and shutting down. It reached a point where so many resorts were abandoned that nobody would come to vaction in such a depressing area. A few held hotels out until the late 2000's like Nevele, but now lay vacant. Now things are changing again with NYC money buying uo and rebuilding entire small towns(figuritively), but sadly these new emenities are elite luxuries for only the wealthiest people, nothing for the working class
Wow just wow. I have a house here and seeing this place on a website saying it’s abandoned just Seems off and weird and seeing these places in the video feels weird too.
Ironically building i-86 which allows a travel time of roughly 90 minutes to go from the New York State Thruway over to Binghamton versus taking 17 which used to take three and a half to 4 hours and sometime six depending on traffic because it was the only road and was only one lane each side so people stopped at the diners and the businesses but now with i-86 people can fly between the New York State Thruway and Binghamton and there's rarely any police presence on that road It's awful that the government smacked the hell out of these towns first with the war on opioids and then with building I-86
Click-bait. Parksville is not anywhere near being abandoned. There's a couple old abandoned buildings like any small town, but the rest of the town is full of open shops and well-kept homes. That old drug store is surrounded by open businesses.
Lol brian are you judge labudas son? Because im going to clarify this right now being i live 5 mins from parksville ny parksville is not 100% abandoned the pharmacy is yes fiddles is yes the antique store is yes the 2 diners yes there are a few empty homes but other than that people live there like joe peters.. And the restaurant that is there the 2 gas stations that is there people live there so parksville is not 100% abandoned just saying
Hi Jessica! I am not his son but he is a family member. I'm from Middletown and don't know much about what is going on. I do remember visiting Memories, the two diners and the has stations when they were all open. I do know that people live in the area but to people passing by, and what is seen off the highway, it does seem like a forgotten town. Any info is greatly appreciated and thank you for viewing the video :)
@@idiot1321 i remember when i86 was open also i can't believe how long ago it was though. Hey if there is something you want to know about parksville let me know i drive through parksville every morning. Im always off on an adventure looking for ghost towns myself.
On the other hand, doesn’t anybody remember what a pain in the ass that traffic light was? Right there in the middle of a wide open highway? I sympathize, but the new route has to be a hell of a lot safer.
Way safer, I worked at the gas station in high school by the light. I remember it would ice up and we would have multi car crashes every year. Couple people died at that light. It is WAY safer.
It is such a pretty area but there are no jobs and the crime rate is worse than inner cities and the drug abuse is epic Normally there is a hierarchy in the drug empire where you have the small-time dealers being supplied by the larger dealers being supplied by the cartels and there is a steady flow of drugs but in the southern tier of New York there isn't a supply of drugs into the area requiring the people there to make their own and the results have been horrifying What the one business in town that was still open that had actually three businesses in one the owners told me everybody does meth even they did meth When they did the crackdown on opioids it sent the entire southern portion of New York State and the northern half of Pennsylvania into a death spiral that it never recovered from and never will
Can someone answer why these are still there, why we build high rise apartments the 1% can afford, why don’t we tear these down and build affordable income communities
@@alb12345672 I live in the ADKs and I sure don't mind driving half an hr. to go shopping. Keeps the traffic away, noise too, I've had days I could count the number of cars that pass my house on one hand. I love that kind of atmosphere, nice and slow. Do you really want a Walmart 5 minutes from your house?
