Bee Ready
Winter 2011
In late March the native mason bees begin to emerge to begin their brief fruitful lives. They are one of nature’s best pollinators and will give you hours of enjoyment watching them come and go bringing food and mud to feed and protect their next generation. Harmless and amusing and easy to lure to your [Read More…]
Ulster Bounty
Fall 2011
The first thing newcomers notice about Ulster County is how green it is—how trees fill every vista. It is said there are more trees here now than 100 years ago. With a land and water area of 1,161 square miles, Ulster boasts some of the largest tracks of woodlands and forested areas in New York. [Read More…]
Inspired Architecture
Summer 2011
For many of us, the soul of religious architecture is the achievement of an element soaring upward, lifting us from this mortal coil. Rarely do we see a building dedicated to one’s God that does not have an arch or spire—some symbolic element visible from the distance beckoning supporters to “come home.” If the effect [Read More…]
Loyd — Centerville: Reflections of a Forgotten Hamlet
Summer 2011
When determining land boundaries, surveyors tell us there must be a “point of beginning.” That said, we turn our attention to the township of New Paltz. But first, a little bit of history. The late Beatrice Hasbrouck Wadlin, former town historian, stated in her book, Times and Tales of the Town of Lloyd: “Prior to [Read More…]
Walkway To The Hamlet of Highland’s History
Summer 2011
Walkway Over The Hudson strollers and cyclists can now continue their exploration of the Hudson Valley by following the paved Hudson Valley Rail Trail west, passing under Route 9W, and taking the exit that brings them to the Hamlet of Highland. The exit is just west of the 9W underpass, and leads up to Tillson [Read More…]
Esopus Turns 200
Summer 2011
The colorful and inspirational individuals who lived in, and often shaped, the Town of Esopus over the past two hundred years have included a former slave, ship captains, millionaires, preachers, a presidential candidate, a world-renown naturalist, world-shaping entrepreneurs, a world-famous walker, and many philanthropists. Below are a few. Truth Today, the Town of Esopus [Read More…]
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…]
