• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Shawangunk Ridge

NYC Man Rescued After 50-Foot Fall Into Crevice At State Park

October 26, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Gertrude's Nose seen from Hamilton Point in the Minnewaska State Park (courtesy wikimedia user Mwanner)A 54-year old New York City man was rescued after falling into a deep crevice in a New York State Park, according to Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about NYC Man Rescued After 50-Foot Fall Into Crevice At State Park

Filed Under: Hudson Valley - Catskills, Recreation Tagged With: climbing, Forest Ranger Reports, Forest Rangers, Gardiner, Minnewaska State Park, OPRHP, Search and Rescue, Shawangunk Ridge, State Parks, State Police, Ulster County

The Shawangunk Fire Complex: Active Wildfires in Minnewaska State Park

August 30, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Three wildfires are burning on or near the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, including at at Naponach Point in Minnewaska State Park.

The three blazes in the Shawangunk fire complex include the Napanoch Point fire in Minnewaska State Park, which started Sunday afternoon as a result of a suspected lightning strike and is estimated at 270 acres on Wednesday afternoon. A smaller fire approximately two miles east of the Napanoch Point fire, named Stony Kill, was detected on Monday, grew to about 1.5 acres and was 95% contained on Wednesday afternoon. The Wurtsboro fire in the town of Mamakating was reported early Saturday afternoon and was approximately 70 acres on Tuesday afternoon. [Read more…] about The Shawangunk Fire Complex: Active Wildfires in Minnewaska State Park

Filed Under: Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Catskills, Mamakating, Minnewaska State Park, Shawangunk Ridge, Ulster County, Warwarsing, wildfires

Shawangunk Ridge Author Talk in Sullivan County

November 4, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

the gunksAuthor Ronald Knapp is set to give a presentation: Shawangunk Ridge and Towns: Then and Now on Sunday, November 24, at 2 pm at the Time and the Valleys Museum on St. Rt. 55 in Grahamsville, Sullivan County.

Based on his book, The Gunks: (Shawangunk Mountains) Ridge and Valley Towns Through Time (America Through Time, 2015), Knapp will discuss the Gunks, renowned for stunning landscapes, rugged topography, glistening grey-white escarpments, magnificent Victorian hotels and precipitation-fed lakes, and framed by the valleys of the Rondout Creek and the Wallkill River. While focusing on the ridge, his talk will explore the mutually beneficial economic impacts of other historical developments in the valleys. [Read more…] about Shawangunk Ridge Author Talk in Sullivan County

Filed Under: Books, Events, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Books, Shawangunk, Shawangunk Ridge, Time and the Valleys Museum

Washington Irving’s Spooky Tale of Mamakating Hollow

October 23, 2014 by John Conway Leave a Comment

IrvingIt was once without question the best known ghost story set in Sullivan County, written by one of America’s most respected writers, and yet it is largely unknown today.

It combines detailed descriptions of the rich and bountiful beauty of this area in the 19th century with cleverly conceived ghouls as hideous as any in American literature.

It is Washington Irving’s 1838 short story “Hans Swartz: A Marvelous Tale of Mamakating Hollow” and it is still appropriate reading this Halloween season, more than 170 years after it was penned. [Read more…] about Washington Irving’s Spooky Tale of Mamakating Hollow

Filed Under: History, Arts, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Catskills, Esopus River, Halloween, Literature, Martin Van Buren, New Netherland, Shawangunk Ridge, Sullivan County, Washington Irving

Wicked Ulster County: Tales of Desperadoes

October 14, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Situated in the scenic Hudson Valley, Ulster County is a lovely location to make a home and raise a family, but it wasn’t always so pleasant. Unsavory characters and immoral events have sullied its name.

In the 1870s, the Shawangunk Mountains inspired fear rather than awe, as groups like the Lyman Freer and Shawangunk gangs robbed and terrorized locals, descending from the protection of the wooded peaks. Kingston was torched, arson blazed in Kerhonkson and even the Mohonk Mountain House was threatened by flames. In 1909, the Ashokan Slasher’s bloody crimes and sensational trial captured headlines across the country. A.J. Schenkman’s Wicked Ulster County: Tales of Desperadoes, Gangs and More features these and other salacious stories buried in Ulster County’s history. [Read more…] about Wicked Ulster County: Tales of Desperadoes

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: AJ Schenkman, Crime and Justice, Hudson River, Shawangunk Ridge, Ulster County

Lower Hudson Valley History: Stories on the Wind

January 2, 2012 by A. J. Schenkman 4 Comments

When I was a boy I worked on a farm in Little Neck, Queens in New York City. It was the only working farm left in Queens. The land was originally settled by a Dutch family. Every morning I would awake and bike from one side of Queens to the other. There I would feed ducks, cows, till, gather eggs, and eat my lunch under a huge tree or when it rained in the barn. [Read more…] about Lower Hudson Valley History: Stories on the Wind

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Agricultural History, AJ Schenkman, Catskills, Kingston, Orange County, Queens, Shawangunk Ridge, Ulster County

Minnewaska State Park Master Plan Adopted

July 20, 2010 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission have adopted a master plan for Minnewaska State Park Preserve. State Parks has reinstated the master planning process throughout the park system, and Minnewaska State Park is among the first to complete a new master plan. Park master plans define a long-term, sustainable vision for parks by helping to identify best uses for a specific site, make the most of limited resources, and protect the environment.

The Minnewaska master plan includes natural resource protection measures and more avenues for recreation, including expansion of hiking, biking, equestrian and climbing opportunities, and reuse of the former Phillips House as the preserve office and visitor center. [LINK]

The master plan outlines OPRHP’s vision for potential capital improvements, operational enhancements and natural and cultural resource stewardship within Minnewaska State Park for the next ten to fifteen years. Factors such as the availability of funding, the need to invest in rehabilitation of existing park infrastructure, and other pressing needs in the entire state parks system will influence the sequence and timing of the improvements.

Highlights of the plan include:

• Developing a climbing management plan to indicate additional areas suitable for rock climbing;

• Creating a looped single track mountain bike trail system and enhancing the existing woods roads for hiking and horseback riding;

• Implementing ridgewide efforts focused on fire management, deer impacts on biodiversity and invasive species control; and

• Reusing the former Phillips House as the preserve office and visitor center and improving parking lot designs.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Minnewaska State Park, OPRHP, Shawangunk Ridge, Ulster County

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • David Bentley on Civil War Albany Rises To Action
  • Arlene Steinberg on Sunshine, Coffee and Shoelaces: Keys to Immortality
  • Carol Kammen on Royal Government in the Declaration of Independence
  • Kera Demarest on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Pat Fiske on The Rockland County Work Camp That Inspired The Civilian Conservation Corps
  • Rev. John Renolfe Binder, Jr. on Comic Book Artist Jack Binder & Fort William Henry History
  • A Staten Island Side Story in Black History: Bill Richmond’s Punch to Emancipation – The British-American Historian on Staten Island Boxer Bill Richmond Delivered the Punches
  • Paul on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Edythe Ann Quinn on Forest Rangers Recover Body From Ausable Chasm, Search for Homicide Evidence
  • Bob Meyer on Cremona to Central Park: Stradivari & Nahan Franko’s Legacy

Recent New York Books

hessians book
The Transcendentalist and their world
“The Amazing Iroquois” and the Invention of the Empire State
american inheritance
Norman Rockwell's Models
The 1947 Utica Blue Sox Book Cover
vanishing point
From the Battlefield to the Stage
field of corpses
Madison's Militia

Secondary Sidebar

Mohawk Valley Trading Company Honey, Honey Comb, Buckwheat Honey, Beeswax Candles, Maple Syrup, Maple Sugar
preservation league