German Masonic Home of Tappan

Set back a few hundred feet from the road behind a stand of trees sits the German Masonic Home, which for years acted as a home for infirm Masons, their widows, and orphans. While the structure’s exterior appears much as it did in decades past, its interior is in various states of decay. 

Built on a 20-acre plot, the three-story building opened in 1909 and operated until 1983. The building was abandoned in 1996. The interior of the chapel still retains much of its furnishings and the stained glass windows remain surprisingly intact. 

The building is boarded up and trespassing is forbidden owing to the dangers posed by entering. Plans have been in the works to raze the building and perhaps replace it with new Masonic buildings, but for now it’s a part of nature’s inexorable reclamation project. 

 For more on the German Masonic Home of Tappan, see Scouting NY.