Ruins Park
Ruins Park
30 Enterprise Street
Glen Rock, Pennsylvania
Your opinion of this “wonder” may depend on your personal esthetic. This is definitely my favorite find during 2017 and possibly my favorite in years!
I was driving home from a meeting in Baltimore last week and I still had a few hours of daylight. I normally would have chosen a few things from my to-do list that are in Baltimore but it was windy with bursts of freezing rain that day. The weather cleared just a bit as I made my way across the Maryland/Pennsylvania border. I remembered a tiny crowd shot that I viewed somewhere from a festival in Glen Rock this summer. So, I decided a detour was in order to check out Ruins Park.
Though it’s practically in the center of town, Ruins Park isn’t viewable from the main road and I had to circle the block three or four times before I took the chance and turned in to a little alley beside the railroad tracks. If you visit, find the Glen Rock Mill Inn and turn beside the railroad tracks. I don’t normally use GPS, but even that wasn’t helpful with Ruins Park – it just sent me around in circles.
The park is the skeletal remains of what was once the Enterprise Furniture Company’s warehouse. It was recently transformed in to a funky outdoor venue via a public/private partnership between the Glenn Rock Mill Inn and the borough of Glen Rock. The venue hosts art events, musical performances, festivals, weddings, and even a farmer’s market on select Sundays during the summer. Most of the graffiti is sanctioned but there are obviously non-sanctioned doodles present as well. Some of it is unfortunate and it’s definitely not legal to add your own artwork to the walls.
The role normally reserved for “Bruiser the Cruiser” was played by Petey the PT Cruiser on this day.
There are lots of puppies sprinkled throughout. I dig that.
Pennywise seems to show-up everywhere this year.
The area pictured below is actually a small section tucked away behind the main space. I would imagine this is non-sanctioned graffiti; but there is some good advice here nonetheless.
This has to be a somewhat challenging … but very cool main stage.
Links of Interest:
– For more information and history visit the Ruins Park website
– Jim McClure’s piece about Glenn Rock’s Ruins Hall for The York Daily Record
I LOVE all these photos that you posted. Documenting and applauding this kind of beauty and creativity is the whole point. While I think “unauthorized” additions are generally fine and make it even better, I agree with the hope that it doesn’t get ruined by vulgarity or stupidity. Plenty of room there for people to express themselves in a G-rated manner and not ruin the good thing that the local partnership created.
Should find ways to encourage people to attend whatever events they stage their during the year, so that this venture thrives and becomes sustainable, rather than abandoned.
But it would also be cool to go there with someone on a gorgeous and quiet spring day, when the green is bursting out everywhere and the place isn’t crowded.