Orange County Begins Work on Major Park at Camp LaGuardia Site

CHESTER, N.Y.–Orange County has begun the process of turning the abandoned Camp LaGuardia property into a community park.

County Executive Steve Neuhaus posted a video to his Facebook on Sept. 22 introducing plans for the 258-acre property. In August, the County Legislature approved $600,000 for designing and engineering recreational improvements on the property.

Camp LaGuardia was chosen for the park treatment due to its location between the Town of Chester and the Town of Woodbury. It is specified in the Camp LaGuardia master plan, a published document outlining details about the park project, that the area is in need of a new “major community park,” which is defined as a public park that has more than 200 acres with amenities like lighting and restrooms.

The plan also mentions that the park, which would be the county’s largest, will be within an hour’s drive for 4.3 million people, and is easy to get to from major highways and by rail.

The property is at the intersection of the 19.5-mile Heritage Trail, which runs from Middletown to Harriman, and the under-construction 10-mile Schunnemunk Rail Trail, which will run from Camp LaGuardia to the Town of Cornwall. Being at this major trail intersection was another reason the area was chosen.

The park is expected to have playgrounds, event spaces, ball courts, a splash pad, restrooms, and camping facilities. Trails constructed through the parkland will lead to bird-watching areas and fishing access. There will be 15 RV sites, 14 platformed cabins, and 12 tent sites.

“We’re really excited about this new major community park at Camp LaGuardia,” said Orange County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen in the video. “I believe it’s going to be one of the premier destinations for families and visitors in the Mid-Hudson region.”

Parks Commissioner Travis Ewald said that development of the park is in line with the bigger goal of increasing preservation of nature and creation of recreational areas proportionally with the growth of the county.

Ewald said that the first improvement open to the public will be the first 2 miles of the Schunnemunk trail, anticipated to be done by late spring 2026.

The property will be enhanced by interpretive panels describing the history of Camp LaGuardia, the Women’s Farm Colony that used to occupy the campus, and the surrounding hills and nature.

Camp LaGuardia was built in 1918 as a women’s penitentiary called Greycourt Prison. During the Great Depression, it housed homeless men and was renamed for then New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. From 1935 to 2007, it was operated as a 1,000-bed homeless shelter by the New York City Welfare Department, often housing people struggling with drug addiction and mental illness. But locals started to view it unfavorably due to inmates coming into Chester and causing disturbances.

In 2007, the city abandoned the campus, and the property was purchased for $8.5 million by the Orange County government. The site was neglected for nearly two decades, although plans for reusing the area came and went often.

Some of the possibilities that were floated included turning the brick buildings into housing units, Great Wolf Lodge building a water-park resort, and renovating the property into a hotel.

Plans to reinvigorate Camp LaGuardia did not materialize until August 2025. Work on removing dilapidated structures, clearing land of brush, and trail creation has already begun.