Rondout Creek

19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers

June 8, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 19 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

The nominations include a nineteenth-century church in Jefferson County that developed and promoted Universalism in Upstate New York, a pre-Revolutionary War house owned by seven generations of the Hulse family on Long Island’s North Shore, and additional documentation for New York City’s Hotel Chelsea recognizing its significance as a center of LGBTQ cultural and creative life. [Read more…] about 19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers

Minnewaska State Park Grows to Nearly 24,000 Acres

September 8, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The latest expansion of Minnewaska State Park Preserve includes a 291-acre section of the northern Shawangunk Mountains, safeguarding important ecosystems and protecting viewsheds.

Bringing Minnewaska’s total size to 23,974 acres, this acquisition supports the State’s goal to conserve 30 percent of its lands and waters by 2030. [Read more…] about Minnewaska State Park Grows to Nearly 24,000 Acres

New Upgrades, Permits for Peekamoose Blue Hole

August 31, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A newly constructed Peekamoose Blue Hole parking lot and first phase of a 3,270-foot accessible connector trail is hoped to improved the visitor experience and promotes sustainable use of natural resources in the three-mile Peekamoose Valley Riparian Corridor in the Catskills.

Peekamoose Blue Hole in the town of Denning in Ulster County is one of the most popular and oft-visited wild places in New York State. [Read more…] about New Upgrades, Permits for Peekamoose Blue Hole

Hudson River Defenses in the Revolutionary War

August 6, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The Hudson River is not a place that’s conducive to a leisurely scuba dive. The water in the Hudson is very murky, cold, has uninviting currents, and ship traffic, so underwater archaeology in the Hudson River has mainly relied on remote sensing to image the river bottom.

According to Dr. Daria Merwin, an underwater archaeologist by training and Co-Director of the Cultural Resource Survey Program at the New York State Museum, initial surveys have mapped roughly 300 anomalies that may represent historic shipwrecks and there are already a few known sites from the American Revolution in the Hudson River. [Read more…] about Hudson River Defenses in the Revolutionary War

Ulster County, NY, Colonial Dutch Archive Now Online in English

August 5, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In 1652, the first Anglo-Dutch colonists began arriving in the fertile lowlands of the Esopus River Valley in what is now Ulster County, NY, where the valley passes close to the confluence of the Hudson River and Rondout Creek at modern-day Kingston.

Their earliest colonial records, written in an archaic form of Dutch by colonial secretaries not known for their gifted penmanship, are now freely available online in their entirety in English for the first time. [Read more…] about Ulster County, NY, Colonial Dutch Archive Now Online in English

Rangers Make A Dozen Rescues, Respond to Whiteface Mt Twice, Battle Camp Fire

July 9, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers had a very busy Fourth of July holiday week and weekend, responding to at least a dozen search and rescue incidents around the state, including two separate incidents on Whiteface Mountain on the same day.

This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Rangers Make A Dozen Rescues, Respond to Whiteface Mt Twice, Battle Camp Fire

Backcountry Rescues at Blue Hole, Hunter Mountain, Dry Brook Ridge

July 3, 2025 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State locating and extracting lost, injured or distressed people and policing state lands.

This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Backcountry Rescues at Blue Hole, Hunter Mountain, Dry Brook Ridge

The Natural Cement Industry of Ulster County

June 9, 2025 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

The construction and development of the Delaware and Hudson Canal led to the creation of one of the Hudson Valley’s greatest manufacturing industries in the 19th century — that of the famous Rosendale cement. For a time considered the best cement manufactured in this country it and at the turn of the 20th century was the source of half of America’s production of natural cement.

Ulster County cement was used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge; the Croton Aqueduct, which supplied New York City with water; the dry-dock of the Brooklyn Navy Yard; hundreds of New York City’s largest buildings; and the principal construction projects of the Hudson River Railroad among many other places. [Read more…] about The Natural Cement Industry of Ulster County

Ulster County Archives Puts New Collections Online

January 14, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Ulster County Archives has launched its first digital collections on New York Heritage Digital Collections, offering free public access. [Read more…] about Ulster County Archives Puts New Collections Online

Rangers Fight Fire, Make A Dozen Rescues in Adirondacks, Catskills

August 18, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people and engage in policing on New York State Lands.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Rangers Fight Fire, Make A Dozen Rescues in Adirondacks, Catskills

Kingston’s Boat Building Industry, 1906

April 14, 2024 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

The following article, “All The Yards Are Busy And In Need of More Help. Builders Pay $25,000 Annually In Wages. Several Hundred Men Are Employed,” is from the Kingston Daily Freeman of August 15, 1906. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer researcher George A. Thompson and additionally edited and annotated by John Warren.

One of the most important branches of industry that this city [Kingston] is blessed with is that of boat building, which has more than doubled itself within the past ten years [1896-1906]. But few people outside of the men employed on the yards have an adequate conception of the magnitude of this particular work and the number of men employed at good, substantial wages. [Read more…] about Kingston’s Boat Building Industry, 1906

Repair of Delaware Aqueduct, World’s Longest Tunnel; First Under Hudson River Since 1957

February 24, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Construction on the Delaware Aqueduct was begun in 1939 and it was put into service in 1944 when New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia opened a set of emergency gates to channel Rondout Creek into the newly constructed 85-mile-long water system.

Since then, the Aqueduct has delivered about half of New York City’s water supply — typically about 600 million gallons a day — using only gravity to carry the water from four reservoirs in the eastern Catskills. [Read more…] about Repair of Delaware Aqueduct, World’s Longest Tunnel; First Under Hudson River Since 1957

Burning of Kingston History, Commemoration Events

September 28, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the American Revolution, the small town of Kingston, Ulster County, New York, appears twice as a key location in numerous historical accounts; once as the meeting point for New York politicians, and once as the focal point of British retaliation.

The first meeting resulted in Kingston’s role as the birthplace of the State of New York. One month later, in retaliation for aiding the patriots, the British burned Kingston to the ground. [Read more…] about Burning of Kingston History, Commemoration Events

New Trail, Parking, Campsite Closures Planned For Sundown Wild Forest

August 19, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has finalized the Sundown Wild Forest Unit Management Plan (UMP) Amendment. It’s hoped the amendment will improve infrastructure, increase public safety, enhance natural resource protection, and improve visitor experiences in the Peekamoose Valley Riparian Corridor in the Catskills town of Denning, Ulster County. [Read more…] about New Trail, Parking, Campsite Closures Planned For Sundown Wild Forest

Forest Rangers Make Rescues at Phelps Mtn, Marcy, Peekamoose Blue Hole, Kaaterskill Falls

August 2, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Make Rescues at Phelps Mtn, Marcy, Peekamoose Blue Hole, Kaaterskill Falls

Multiple Upstate NY Wildfires Keep Rangers Busy

May 24, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers were kept busy last week suppressing numerous wildfires around New York State as very dry conditions persisted and drove the Fire Danger to HIGH. Fires were reported in at least five towns in four counties, including in Clinton, Sullivan, Schoharie, and Albany Counties. The fires burned about 50 acres total including a large 30-acre fire that burned ion the town of Black Brook, Clinton County, for two days. At least two fires were caused by illegal debris burning despite the high danger for fire spread.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Multiple Upstate NY Wildfires Keep Rangers Busy

Rangers Recover Body in Adks; Conduct Numerous Rescues

June 7, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Rangers Recover Body in Adks; Conduct Numerous Rescues

DEC Announces First-Ever Adirondack, Catskill Parks ‘Coordinators’

November 30, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the creation of new coordinator positions to help lead efforts to promote sustainable use of public lands in the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserves.

Proposed by the High Peaks Strategic Advisory Group (HPAG) and aligned with Catskills Advisory Group (CAG) discussions to date, these new DEC staff positions are expected to help coordinate efforts proposed and undertaken with the multiple communities and regions that comprise the Adirondack and Catskill Parks to better guide efforts to address the unique problems caused by the uptick in visitors to the two Forest Preserves. [Read more…] about DEC Announces First-Ever Adirondack, Catskill Parks ‘Coordinators’

Permits Required for Peekamoose Blue Hole and Rondout Creek Areas

May 18, 2021 by Editorial Staff 6 Comments

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released updated regulations for visitors to the Peekamoose Blue Hole and nearby Rondout Creek area in the Sundown Wild Forest, town of Denning, Ulster County.

DEC issued the regulations as part of an effort to protect this resource and promote sustainable use. The regulations are expected to help improve public safety and reduce environmental impacts in the area. [Read more…] about Permits Required for Peekamoose Blue Hole and Rondout Creek Areas

Rondout Creek

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