New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Catskills Klan: The KKK in Sullivan County, New York

by 1 Comment

KKK cross burning LOCMany people – even those with more than a passing interest in Sullivan County history – are surprised to learn that the Ku Klux Klan was once fairly active in parts of the county. And yet, throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, there were several chapters in the Catskills, most set up by recruiters from the Binghamton area.

These Klan chapters, whether in Livingston Manor, Jeffersonville, Liberty, Woodbourne or some other hamlet, often started out as social organizations, and it was not unusual to see newspaper articles and even advertisements about their charitable activities or their clambakes, sometimes in conjunction with the Kamelias, the organization’s women’s auxiliary. [Read more…] about Catskills Klan: The KKK in Sullivan County, New York

Winter In the Catskills: The Columbia Ski Resort

by Leave a Comment

early 1960s photo advertising the ski hill at the Columbia Hotel in HurleyvilleIt is unlikely that when he built the hotel with the spectacular vistas in 1891 John Harms Knapp envisioned it ever being a year-around resort, let alone one that advertised “superlative skiing,” and yet that is exactly what the Columbia Hotel in Hurleyville in the Catskills became in the early 1960s.

And of all the ski areas in Sullivan County — from Glen Hill to Christmas Hills — the Columbia’s was among the most successful, albeit for a relatively short time. [Read more…] about Winter In the Catskills: The Columbia Ski Resort

Ed Zahniser On Wilderness & New York State

by 3 Comments

Catskill Creek by Thomas ColeNew York State’s Forest Preserve lands of the Adirondacks and Catskills are living fossils of the broad 19th-century movement to protect wild forests of the federal public lands in the West as forest reserves and not as national forest sources of fiber, forage, and minerals.

New York State’s Forest Preserve lands therefore are living proof that the wilderness preservation movement is not an upstart 20th-century offshoot of the mainstream American conservation movement. [Read more…] about Ed Zahniser On Wilderness & New York State

Catskill Park Strategic Planning Group Issues Interim Report

by Leave a Comment

Adirondack Park and Catskills ParkThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the release of the Catskill Strategic Planning Advisory Group’s (CAG) Immediate Action Recommendations Report for public review and comment.

The report includes proposed actions that DEC and its State and local partners could undertake, pending available funding and continued partnership, to balance increasing and diverse recreational use of the Catskill Forest Preserve, protecting the park’s natural and historic resources, and ensuring the experience of using the Park is welcoming, accessible, and inclusive. [Read more…] about Catskill Park Strategic Planning Group Issues Interim Report

Watchable Wildlife: Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area

by Leave a Comment

Mongaup Falls Reservoir courtesy DECThe Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area, located in the Catskills 75 miles northwest of New York City, was designated a Bird Conservation Area because of its unique combination of habitats important to bird species, including forests, reservoirs, and river habitat where bald eagles nest and overwinter. [Read more…] about Watchable Wildlife: Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area

David Gibson: In Adirondack Common Cause

by 2 Comments

Coalition advocating at the State Capitol for full and fair Forest Preserve taxation, March 12 2018 photo courtesy Jim McKenna, Lake PlacidAdirondack Wild and I have been among those who have heralded the NYS Court of Appeals ruling in May that the only way for the Department of Environmental Conservation to construct snowmobile community connector trails in the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve was through a constitutional amendment.

Protect the Adirondacks lawsuit had taken seven years to reach that court. New York’s high court decision upheld the NYS Constitution’s clause that “the lands of the state…shall be forever kept as wild forest land.” New York State, said the court in so many words, lacked the authority to essentially amend the constitution by administrative fiat. Only the people can do that. We joined Protect in celebrating the most important high court decision affecting the Forest Preserve in 90 years. [Read more…] about David Gibson: In Adirondack Common Cause

Peter Bauer: DEC’s Revised Approach to Forest Preserve Long Overdue

by Leave a Comment

Forest Preserve SignThe Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has organized a working group to assist the department in revising and amending a series of policies for New York State Forest Preserve trails stewardship. The DEC organized this working group through the membership of the longstanding Forest Preserve Advisory Committee (FPAC). The working group includes members from trails building organizations, local government, and the environmental community.

The Department stressed that this is a unified management effort for the entire Forest Preserve, and the working group includes members from the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. [Read more…] about Peter Bauer: DEC’s Revised Approach to Forest Preserve Long Overdue

2022 Catskills Fire Tower Hiking Challenge Getting Underway

by Leave a Comment

Hunter Mountain Fire Tower provided by Catskill CenterThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the 2022 Catskills Fire Tower Challenge.

Starting January 1st, 2022, visitors are challenged to hike each of the six historic fire towers in the Catskill Park and submit information about their visit at any time during the year to earn recognition and prizes. [Read more…] about 2022 Catskills Fire Tower Hiking Challenge Getting Underway

A Little-Known Civil War Hero From The Catskills

by 2 Comments

William Henry NewmanHe was born on December 12, 1838 in Highland Mills, in Orange County, and moved with his family to Sullivan County while still a young boy.

He enlisted in the Union Army shortly after the Civil War broke out, eventually achieving the rank of Captain.

In April of 1865, while serving with Company B of the 86th New York Infantry at Amelia Springs, Virginia, he captured the Confederate flag, and a month later was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. [Read more…] about A Little-Known Civil War Hero From The Catskills

Back To The Borscht Belt: Jewish Vacationland Ruins in the Catskills

by Leave a Comment

The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America's Jewish VacationlandThe latest episode of Empire State Engagements features a conversation with Marisa Scheinfeld on her book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016).

She discussed her work as a historian and photographer to document and convey the history, ruins, nature, pathos, and possibility of the shuttered Catskill resorts that transformed Jewish American history and helped form twentieth-century U.S. popular culture. [Read more…] about Back To The Borscht Belt: Jewish Vacationland Ruins in the Catskills