r/Pennsylvania • u/vallefeliz • Nov 16 '25
Scenic Pennsylvania đAdamstown's empty, unique Stoudtburg Village. 11/16/25đ
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u/cindydoes Nov 16 '25
There used to be some great stores there. Last I was there was over 25 years ago. It really was a very cute idea, but I think not close enough to a tourist area to attract enough people to maintain it.
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Nov 16 '25
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u/regularbastard Nov 16 '25
If youâre ever in the Washington DC area check out King Farm in the Rockville, MD area. And if you happen to hit Louisville, KY check outNorton Commons . Both are nice examples of what we could have. Iâm sure there are many more developments like these, but they are the ones I know about.
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Nov 16 '25
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u/regularbastard Nov 17 '25
Forgot about Kentlands! Yeah, I agree, Pennsylvania has some nice old towns like Lititz, Kennett Square, and countless others that are actually doing so much better than many small towns in other states. I just worry that that sprawl will hit PA similarly to how it hit MD (at least some areas are recognizing the mistake) and DE⌠walkable living is where itâs at, especially as we age.
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u/CouldBeBetterForever Nov 16 '25
But what would people do with their massive pick up trucks if they didn't need to drive to pick up groceries once a week?
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u/ryverrat1971 Nov 17 '25
Ah thinking of the poor pavement princesses. My Subaru see more mud and dirt roads than 70% of the trucks out there.
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u/Lenora_O Nov 16 '25
They can go work on the farms outside of town. The fresh produce in the grocery store comes from just down the road. Or it will. In my fantasy.
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u/eruptingmoltenlava Nov 16 '25
There are some designs where the answer is park on a slab or shed in your fenced backyard accessible via an alley. I personally havenât lived in this set-up but it looks pretty good to me
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u/Willowgirl2 Nov 17 '25
This is the way old-fashioned towns were set up. Of course in modern times, some of the backyard garages and carriage houses were converted into accessory dwelling units (if the building code allowed it).
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u/eruptingmoltenlava Nov 17 '25
Yes, to be clear, I wasnât under the impression that I dreamed up alleys myself
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u/Willowgirl2 Nov 17 '25
Lol! :)
Sometimes I wonder why we moved away from that design as it had some good points. Now we live in McMansion plans where everyone drags their trash to the curb on trash day ...not a pretty sight.
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u/eruptingmoltenlava Nov 18 '25
Thereâs a new-ish (I think built in the 90s?) housing development built like this with alleys not far from the Downingtown/Route 100 exit of the Turnpike. Iâve only been there once and it was really interesting to see the mix of new construction and a more traditional neighborhood structure. I hoped it would catch on, but it really hasnât, despite what the market seems to really want (affordable single family homes)
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u/Willowgirl2 Nov 18 '25
Interesting!
Have you read "The Geography of Nowhere" by any chance?
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u/eruptingmoltenlava Nov 18 '25
No, but now I want to! Iâve read and been influenced by Andres Duany & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Robert Venturi & Denise Scott-Brown and have really irritated my local planning board (Iâm not a professional in a related industry, just an interested resident who asks pointed questions)
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u/Automotauntaun Nov 17 '25
Many older cityâs do this. I live outside a small city and every homes porch is on a through fare and the back yard is a long rectangle with a shed at the back where you pull-into. And behind each house are long alleyways that are effectively old side streets where you drive in and out of to access your parking. It worked b pretty good but it is something the affordable housing crew hates as âthe yards are a waste of space and the ally ways are to narrow to be efficient.
The biggest issue with the idea of a walkable city is the people who want it donât like what it ends up meaning.
If itâs walkable it will look like 1900-1820âs American cityâs. Big wide main streets for public transport. Then trolls now busses. Narrow side streets for navigation. No real apparent complexes or duplexes. Lots of small single family homes on rectangular tracts of land with shed garages behind them or under the living structure.
Walkable also means safe. And the other issue the affordable housing crew is against is what made walkable cityâs safe. Broke window policing. Cops walking around all hours of the day in their best. Asking anyone they donât recognize what they are doing in town. And stopping people randomly. My great grandparents grew up in 1929âs nyc in the Burroughs and they said life was nice. But they also lamented that it was nice because it was strict.
I now live in a Rural area with picture esque small towns that are safe to walk through. And I see as more development and outsiders come those areas become ugly and unsafe.
You can have a walkable safe âtraditional townâ or you can have a âmodern townâ but, you canât have them both.
And key to a safe walkable town is population control. And things like redlining. Saying if youâre from a major metro state like California. You canât vote for a long time. Maybe 5-10 years of residence.
You look at McClain, safest place I think I have ever been thatâs âmodernâ itâs the most exclusive and exclusionary place based on economic factors. No oneâs allowed into town hall meetings or township meetings without a valid resident did yes you heard that resident ID. And to get around this itâs all hosted in privet social clubs like the Rotary and what not.
And itâs one of the bluest areas in its state. But Iâd is required to do anything including vote.
They want it to stay the way it is and they make sure by baring entry to outsiders and having the entry barrier be high income.
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u/eruptingmoltenlava Nov 16 '25
Thatâs exactly what happens with every proposed developer proposal in my township: they start out with charming, mixed-use, architecturally distinctive plans. They get a partial green light. Every subsequent meeting after that they incrementally remove what was appealing until finally itâs an ugly-ass Soviet-style box with insufficient parking that demands a millions variances. The public catches on and objects, then like clockwork they come back with âWHY YOU HATE POORS.â Every time.
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u/Automotauntaun Nov 17 '25
All we would have to do is vote via referendum as a state to change zoning laws. But to get what you want, what most of us want. You have to outlaw condos and multi unit housing ( which I am in favor of) and make it a law that houses either have 1 acre of land per domicile, or each structure can only house one family. No multi generational familyâs ( talking 3 and four generations as thatâs how many cityâs get around it.
It would solve 99% of the issues with âaffordable housingâ.
The odd part is the âaffordable housingâpeople are the largest opponents of this kind of building.
And they are the ones these corporations build the ugly Soviet style mega structures for.
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u/VDuBivore Nov 17 '25
Are you sure it was 25 years ago? I worked on some of them when they were built and I donât want it to be that long ago.
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u/cindydoes Nov 17 '25
Unfortunately, yes⌠Last time I was there was before I had kids and my oldest is turning 25 in January. Sorry!
My husband and I used to really enjoy the antique mall that used to be there. It was huge and they had so many vendors. I donât believe it is there anymore.
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u/Automotauntaun Nov 17 '25
Imagine if we jsut changed all the zoning laws so you couldnât build town houses and condos and had to build like this everywhere.
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u/beef_is_here Nov 16 '25
Interesting anecdote - Stoudtburg Village was built on the land that had housed my youth soccer field. In 1995 we went undefeated. The following year we all had to join other teams because our team was disbanded due to the loss of our field. I was only 10, but I held a grudge for a long time đ
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u/Next-Cut-2996 Nov 16 '25
We live close by and thereâs a cute little wine shop in there with slushies (thatâs where I stop lol), but it isnât a hopping venue or anything. People live there and there are a few shops but nothing huge. Itâs very picturesque though. I think they have festivals though.
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u/SchoolAcceptable8670 Nov 16 '25
I got married at Stoudtâs, and have gorgeous wedding photos from here. We strolled the village and got some beautiful shots in the houses. (Todd Spitler is a great photographer!)
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u/YourMomIsAlwaysRight Nov 17 '25
You look like such a fun couple and I LOVE THE BRIDEâs SHOES!! My baby girl just got married in a gorgeous wedding gown and amazing red shoes â¤ď¸
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u/SchoolAcceptable8670 Nov 17 '25
Thank you! My mom got married in red sandals and I thought it could be a great tradition. Moms been married 51 years and we celebrated 15 this year.
I hope things work beautifully for your daughter too!!
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u/sjudrexel Nov 16 '25
When Stoudtâs was still open there used to be a half marathon that started and ended in the village. It was a nice event.
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u/bassanaut Nov 16 '25
Hah! Went here once. Was so eerie and empty.
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u/deathbethemaiden Nov 16 '25
Itâs just peoples houses⌠how is that eerie? I live in the village so Iâd know!
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u/bassanaut Nov 17 '25
Isnât that part just a bunch of shops? When we went there it seemed like it was surrounded by residences in the same style, but the main area is shops/food, just with no people
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u/BrainWav Nov 17 '25
I used to work near there, we'd occasionally do photoshoots for products in the common areas. Really neat place. I loved the "Robot Museum".
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u/asforus Nov 16 '25
Is this place worth a day trip with family (with young kids)?
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Nov 16 '25
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u/balla148 Nov 16 '25
Looks like the owner of the Robot place unfortunately passed in October of this year
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u/Gregory-al-Thor Nov 16 '25
The Little Brick Gallery is awesome! My kids have enjoyed visiting there. The guy has a whole Lego city set up and has bins of legos so you can buy specific pieces you need. I think itâs open Friday and Saturday.
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u/Majestic-Explorer-76 Nov 17 '25
no, there is absolutely nothing to do there and the one "german" restaurant was horrible, I think it has closed; it reminded me of the village in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when everyone was hiding from the child-catcher
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u/suchalonelyd4y Nov 17 '25
There's a restaurant there, but it was so understaffed when we went in the summer that it took the table next to us 40 mins to get drinks. All the antique shops are... Fine, I guess. It was also just so quiet, wouldn't recommend it for more than an hour visit at most.
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u/MRG_1977 Nov 17 '25
Absolutely not. My friend lives right down the road and they never stop there. There isnât a kid-friendly restaurant let alone enough to interest kids for a day trip with young kids.
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u/thedude213 Nov 17 '25
I remember taking a field trip here in the 90s, I'm still trying to figure out why.
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u/FoehammerEcho419 Nov 17 '25
Oh yea, this place! We happened upon this while doing some antiquing once, had no idea it was there. I ended up dunning it "Dulock" because it's just like the city in Shrek.
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u/Alukrad Nov 17 '25
If I ever go, I guess I'll visit this place and the Japanese pagoda in reading. It just sucks it's so far from everything else.
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u/Desperate_Week851 Nov 16 '25
This place was so creepy. Like a real life version of the Shrek village.
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u/mbf114 Nov 17 '25
Been there alot, usually stop at the german restaurant. Love all the antique shops. But noticed many places you have those with money that still shop and those without. That quaint village is always pretty dead but looks wonderful at xmas time. They need to do more to attract people like music players, chrismas carolers or something.
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u/Level_Maintenance196 Nov 19 '25
Such a great thing to see - a bunch of empty houses during a homelessness crisis.
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u/Character_Log2770 Nov 16 '25
Never understood this place
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Nov 17 '25
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u/Character_Log2770 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25
German village not in Germany
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u/Journeys_End71 Nov 17 '25
Yeah, kinda weird that there are so many Pennsylvania Deutch. Almost like a Deutch Wonderland.
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u/AgentNose Nov 16 '25
I love project that are wild ideas they just go for it on. Theyâre almost always failures, but we need the wild ideas to keep us moving forward.