Frick's Lock

The DVPA learned about Frick's Lock by reading about the town in the book 'Weird Pennsylvania'. We have visited Frick's Lock to research the history of the location and to check out some of the abandoned structures. We currently have one video from Frick's Lock and it's a video of one of our night trips. It shows many of the houses and the Limerick Power Plant.

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Frick's Lock Wikipedia

 Frick's Lock is a ghost town and many of the houses have unsteady floors and falling debris. As of February 2008, the Lock Keepers house was set on fire and Peco has boarded up all remaining structures. Police are also enforcing heavy fines for anybody who trespasses onto Frick's Lock.  If you choose to check this place out, you do it at YOUR OWN RISK and the DVPA is not responsible for any trouble you land yourself in.
The Legend
Story courtesy of Weird Pennsylvania
Like the canal system that put it on the map, Frick's Lock is history. It's a completely deserted Chester County village of about ten abandoned buildings, some dating from the 1700s, some from about 50 years ago. Although it's within striking distance of highly populated areas, it will never be developed or lived in again, because it's in the shadow of the Limerick power plant.

The stone buildings of Frick's Lock are now boarded up and overgrown, and the place looks appropriately mysterious. Some of the buildings are clearly from the Revolutionary war era, others are more modern, but all are in a state of despair.

In it's heyday, Frick's Lock was a thriving commercial boat town, a big economic factor in the 1800s. Canals were the best way to transport materials back then, so when the Schuykill Navigation Company routed a sixty-mile long canal through the area in the 1820s, Frick's Lock really took off.

The lock was closed down in 1890 when the canal company went bankrupt. The canals were drained in 1930 and by the late 1900s the village had declined so much that no opposition was put forth and the limerick power plant was built in it's backyard. The village has been deserted ever since.

Frick's Lock At Night Video