Milling About
Spring 2011
I asked my dear 93-year-old friend, Wilson Tinney, what he remembered about mills in Ulster County. “Wherever there was flowing water there were mills,” was his reply. In researching this article, I find he did not exaggerate. Carpet mills, paper mills, saw mills, powder mills, grist mills, cider mills, cement mills, carding mills, knife mills, [Read More…]
A Conversation with the Quimby Brothers of Marlboro
Winter 2010
On March 11, 1888, no one knew the falling flakes were anything more than a late-season snow. But by March 14th, everyone knew it was destined for the record books. It was the “Blizzard of ’88.” Phoebe Baxter Quimby of Marlboro was concluding a visit to nearby Plattekill. To make it home, Phoebe’s brothers ended [Read More…]
Ulster County Station Stops
Fall 2010
For all the train buffs eagerly awaiting the release of Glendon Moffett’s* new book on the historic rail lines of Ulster County, (with a working title of Five Historic Railroads of Ulster County), I make this humble offering of station images from my postcard collection. Glendon’s book should be out in early April and will [Read More…]
Oscar Lyons
Summer 2010
About a hundred yards east of Cliff Inn, near what is now the Minnewaska State Park Preserve entrance, a black shale unpaved road branched off to the right from the highway and looped back around to the highway about a half-mile later. Midway on the loop Lyons Road went off to the right and dead [Read More…]
The Testimonial GateWay
Summer 2010
Located just 1.3 miles west of the New Paltz village on 299, the Testimonial Gateway has delighted residents and puzzled visitors since its completion in October 1908. Honoring the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Albert and Eliza Smiley, founders of Mohonk Mountain House, the gateway was built from the contributions of 1200 friends of the [Read More…]
Charity Begins… at the Mary and John Arbuckle Farm
Summer 2010
A New York Times’ article of 1903 tells of a $12,000 purchase by John Arbuckle of 282 acres of farm land in New Paltz, NY. According to the late Peter Harp’s Horse and Buggy Days, the first purchase by Arbuckle was of the Deyo Farm, and shortly after he purchased the Helena Smedes’ and six [Read More…]
The Fox
Spring 2010
Summer: Minnewaska sometime around 1950. We are living at a place called Cliff Inn some two miles down the mountain from the Main Entrance. One day I went for a walk on the Minnewaska property to the Mohonk carriage trail and headed West toward Awosting Falls. To get up to the carriage trail from Cliff [Read More…]
Seal College
Spring 2010
Mark and Ray Huling had a trained seal (actually a sea lion) act in the Barnum and Bailey Circus. In the 1920s, both men moved to Kingston where Mark set up the Seal College on Route 28, west of the Esopus Creek. He had four seals and you could visit the college for twenty-five (25) [Read More…]
Delight of the Humble Bee
Spring 2010
Previous articles on the stresses affecting our common feral (wild) and domestic honeybee populations discussed the disappearance of entire colonies. The term, Colony Collapse Disorder, sums up a focus of current bee research that has important implications for local agriculture. Although farmers in the Hudson Valley rent hives of pollinators for the apple crop, there [Read More…]
Double Life of the Eastern Newt
Spring 2010
It’s Spring and salamanders are on the march. They are looking for love in all the damp places: Woodlands, streamsides, swamps, ditches, leaf litter. However, if you see a bright orange one with two rows of small red dots ringed by black on its back, relax, it may not be looking for love. It is [Read More…]
Winter Tales: Esopus Ice Houses
Winter 2009
There were four huge icehouses on the shore of the Hudson River in Port Ewen. The northern most, at the foot of Main Street, belonged to the Burns Brothers. It was built in 1870 on the dock of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. The Brothers were coal and ice dealers in NY City. About a third [Read More…]
Fordyce Post’s Strong Home Town
Winter 2009
There are over 3,100 counties in the Untied States. A study about them, done in the mid-1990s titled “Strong Home Towns,” was published in American Demographics magazine. The study defined a strong community as one in which the people are long-time residents, are civically engaged, have deep family roots and ties, have business interests, maintain [Read More…]
Winter Tale: The Horse Shoe
Winter 2009
“Your grandfather cut ice at Mohonk.” My father spoke the words without preamble or explanation as we walked along the outside of a huge stone foundation in glorious Fall weather. I knew my grandfather (Louis Yess I) worked, as most subsistence farmers in the area had, doing anything—lumbering, field clearing, hauling, machine repair, construction, fishing, [Read More…]
Span of Time
Walkway Grand Opening Celebration Oct 2–4, 2009
Fall 2009
1974, Fire! Flames rose from the oil soaked railroad ties as charred debris rained down on the buildings, roads, and properties in Poughkeepsie. Our vantage point, on the West shore of the Hudson River, was about a half mile north of the burning railroad bridge. We viewed the fire from the site of Bellevue [Read More…]
Lake Minnewaska Mountain Houses
Summer 2009
For most of tourism’s history on the Shawangunk Ridge, the Mohonk Mountain House was one of three Smiley family-owned vacation destinations for the well-heeled. All were set above pristine, glacially- formed lakes and astride the Shawangunk white conglomerate cliffs, each hotel’s magic drawing parched thousands every year to “take the air.” The other two hotels, [Read More…]
The Riordon School
Spring 2009
Archery is “taught by Chief Crazy Bull (Ta Tan Ka Witko)—grandson of the heroic warrior of the Sioux, Sitting Bull…” That’s from the opening paragraph of a four-page brochure, Authentic American Archeryproduced by The Raymond Riordon School, Highland, Ulster County, New York, informing prospects this won’t be education-as-usual. Ulster County has had a number of [Read More…]
Promised Land: Father Divine’s Interracial Communities in Ulster County, New York
Spring 2009
From the Preface of Promised Land: Father Divine lifted the despairing from the gutter to self-respect, but his methods troubled many observers. He commanded substantial wealth, but he mystified much of the world as to how he acquired it. He had charismatic power, but his talk of his supernatural abilities was difficult for the public [Read More…]
The Rise and Fall of Cedar Glen
Ruins in Reese Preserve—The last remains of a sad family
Fall 2008
The newest park in the Town of Lloyd, the Franny Reese Preserve, provides spectacular views of the Hudson River and Poughkeepsie. But it also contains a mystery. Go a bit further along the trails, and you will come across castle-like ruins and the remains of several other stone structures. Something important must have been here [Read More…]
Hudson Valley Seed Library Fall Workshops
Fall 2008
As the bounty of the season rolls in, gardeners’ thoughts transform. Worry over the fate of tender seedlings and the year’s insect pressures is replaced by gratitude as the sweet tomatoes and peppers of late summer fill the harvest basket, as the crunchy cabbages and succulent broccoli of fall take your garden eating into winter. [Read More…]
