In late-July New York State Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) in Sullivan County responded to an antique store in the Town of Mamakating after receiving a tip from a frequent shopper about a mounted mountain lion head being offered for sale there. An undercover officer located the mounted head in the back of the store and made a deal to purchase it just as a uniformed officer responded to the location. [Read more…] about Catskills Antique Shop Found With Illegal Taxidermy
Sullivan County
Rangers Recover Body, Make Multiple Backcountry Rescues
New York State Forest Rangers recently participated in at least seven wilderness rescue missions across New York State, including on the Appalachian Trail and near Kaaterskill Falls; two hikers within an hour near Hurricane Mountain; and several in West Canada Lake Wilderness. [Read more…] about Rangers Recover Body, Make Multiple Backcountry Rescues
Rangers Recover Paddler’s Body, Make Multiple Rescues July 4th Weekend
NYS Forest Rangers had a busy July 4th weekend in which they recovered the body of a paddler; rescued two people on an inflatable kayak from rapids they didn’t know existed on the Saranac River; assisted with an overturned sailboat on Lake Champlain; rescued someone from the rapids in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness; and two teens hiding from a black bear near Lake George. [Read more…] about Rangers Recover Paddler’s Body, Make Multiple Rescues July 4th Weekend
Forest Rangers Respond to Ill, Injured Adirondack, Catskills Hikers
NYS Forest Rangers recently responded to several search and rescue missions for injured and ill hikers in the Catskills and the Adirondacks. These included at least one hiker who was seriously dehydrated.
There is currently an extreme heat wave in New York State. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Respond to Ill, Injured Adirondack, Catskills Hikers
Early Season Paddling Tragedies Are A Cold Reminder
Water currents can be strong at any time of year, but early season boaters, paddlers, anglers and swimmers are at a greater risk in spring when waters are still cold – cold enough to cause cold water shock, hypothermia and death in minutes.
Three recent stories highlight the dangers of recreating on and around cold and fast waters in Spring: [Read more…] about Early Season Paddling Tragedies Are A Cold Reminder
Rangers Respond: Missing Child, Brush Fires, Overnight High Peaks Rescue, Ill, Injured and Lost Hikers
Hot dry weather and lack of rain remains a wildfire concern around state. Since May 4th, New York State Forest Rangers fought two brush fires. In Saratoga County a wildfire began with ashes dumped outside, and a two-acre fire of unknown origin in Warrensburg damaged a structure.
Rangers also provided overnight assistance of two lost hikers in the remote Cold Brook Pass in the Adirondack High Peaks, and aided in locating another near Indian Pass Brook. On May 8th they participated in the search for a missing eight-year-old in Allegany County. Those reports and more are below, provided by DEC: [Read more…] about Rangers Respond: Missing Child, Brush Fires, Overnight High Peaks Rescue, Ill, Injured and Lost Hikers
The Lostkills: Bushwhacking and Hiking the Lesser-Known Catskill Peaks
The Lostkills: Bushwhacking and Hiking the Lesser-Known Catskill Peaks (SUNY Press Excelsior Editions, 2026) introduces readers to a mostly unknown group of Catskill peaks on public land in addition to some lightly used trails.
Alan Via refers to these places as “the Lostkills” as they include off-the-beaten-path hikes, mostly bushwhacks to smaller mountain summits, largely unexplored by the hiking community. [Read more…] about The Lostkills: Bushwhacking and Hiking the Lesser-Known Catskill Peaks
New York Historic Pools Designed by Wesley Bintz
Wesley Bintz was a Civil Engineer who received his training at the University of Michigan, earning a BCE in 1916 and MS in 1918. He moved on to municipal work in Flint, Michigan with two pools made of reinforced concrete, and funded by municipal bonds, which he designed as their City Engineer and completed in 1920.
Bintz subsequently accepted an Engineering position with the City of Lansing, Michigan whose citizens also desired an ovoid swimming pool, and saw their aspiration fulfilled with another a Bintz designed 80 x 120 foot pool constructed during 1922-23. Other communities saw the need for such facilities, which caused Bintz to patent his design, and specialize in his own swimming pool enterprise. Many Blintz pools were built in New York State. [Read more…] about New York Historic Pools Designed by Wesley Bintz
Martin Luther King In The Catskills, 1968
On March 25, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the keynote address at the annual Rabbinical Assembly Convention at the renowned Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake in Sullivan County in the Catskills. Ten days later he was dead, murdered by a white supremacist. [Read more…] about Martin Luther King In The Catskills, 1968
Blacks Bears Rescued from Trap; Deer Rescued from Well
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) recently rescued two young black bears from leg-hold traps in the Catskills and and a whitetail buck from an abandon well in Niagara County. [Read more…] about Blacks Bears Rescued from Trap; Deer Rescued from Well
A Palisades Interstate Park History Podcast
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) was formed in 1900 by Governors Theodore Roosevelt of New York and Foster Voorhees of New Jersey in response to the quarrying operations along the Palisades Cliffs of New Jersey.
Before the creation of the vast Palisades Interstate Park spanning New York and New Jersey, people lived and worked there in small villages and hamlets. [Read more…] about A Palisades Interstate Park History Podcast
Forest Rangers Conduct Multiple Search & Rescue Missions
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 Forest Rangers Conduct Multiple Search & Rescue Missions
Norm Van Valkenburgh: Catskill and Adirondack Conservation Champion
Norman J. (Norm) Van Valkenburgh has slipped his earthly bonds. Of this remarkable Catskill native and champion of the public’s wild forests and wildernesses, I can locate no obituary, only a death notice of Norm’s passing in July 2023 in Orono, Maine at the age of 92 or 93. I join many in saying “I miss him.” He influenced me a lot.
Norm, surveyor, administrator, and advocate for the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve, was one consequential state employee because through his conservation work he altered the landscapes of both the Adirondacks and the Catskills for the better. Moreover, Norm wrote part of that history – found in detailed books and articles devoted to the Forest Preserve. Norm was
a stickler for accuracy in his writing and surveying. [Read more…] about Norm Van Valkenburgh: Catskill and Adirondack Conservation Champion
11 Wildfires Burn in Eight Counties Across Upstate New York
Between April 28 and May 5, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Forest Rangers and local fire departments responded to wildfires in eight counties across New York State, including Chemung, Onondaga, Orange, Oswego, Otsego, Putnam, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties. [Read more…] about 11 Wildfires Burn in Eight Counties Across Upstate New York
Wildfires in Chemung, Chenango, Orange, Sullivan, and Warren Counties
Between April 21 and 28, New York State Forest Rangers and local fire departments responded to wildfires in five counties across New York State which burned more than 21 acres. The largest fire was in Lake Luzerne, Warren County, measuring 14 acres, which started on April 24 and was contained the same day. [Read more…] about Wildfires in Chemung, Chenango, Orange, Sullivan, and Warren Counties
Major Catskill Park Land Acquisition Protects 3,100 Acres
The Open Space Institute (OSI) has acquired more than 3,100 forested acres in the town of Neversink in Catskill Park — one of the largest parcels of privately-owned, contiguous forestland remaining within the Catskill Blue Line.
It’s hoped the acquisition will safeguard sources of clean water, provide habitat for birds, turtles, fish, and other wildlife, and enhance recreational opportunities. [Read more…] about Major Catskill Park Land Acquisition Protects 3,100 Acres
Debris Burning Causes Multiple Wildfires Across Upstate New York
Between March 17 and 24, Forest Rangers responded to 12 wildfires in nine counties across New York State. The fires burned more than 40 acres of land. The largest fire was in Butternuts, Otsego County, measuring 10.5 acres. [Read more…] about Debris Burning Causes Multiple Wildfires Across Upstate New York
Benedict Arnold’s Sullivan County Connection
On February 22, 1767, Benedict Arnold, a young, up and coming businessman, married Margaret Mansfield, whose father was the Sheriff of New Haven, Connecticut.
Arnold, of course, would go on to become one of the most successful of George Washington’s officers in the Continental Army, and shortly thereafter one of the most notorious traitors in American history. [Read more…] about Benedict Arnold’s Sullivan County Connection
The Borscht Belt in Retrospect
In February of 2020, just before the COVID pandemic became national news, this columnist, your Sullivan County Historian, released a new book, In Further Retrospect. The book was a collection of my “Retrospect” newspaper columns dealing with a wide range of topics from shad fishing on the Delaware River to major hotel fires to Nazis in Narrowsburg.
It was the third time the “Retrospect” columns, first published in 1987, had been collected in book form, following the book, Retrospect in 1996 and Remembering the Sullivan County Catskills in 2008. [Read more…] about The Borscht Belt in Retrospect
Noble Sissle’s Lucky Lake: An Interracial Catskills Lake Colony
To many historians, World War I Harlem Hell Fighters Band lead vocalist, composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright Noble Sissle (1889-1975) is the man most responsible for ushering in the Harlem Renaissance.
In Sullivan County, NY history however, he will be forever remembered as the celebrity name behind Lucky Lake, “America’s first and only inter-racial lake colony community.” [Read more…] about Noble Sissle’s Lucky Lake: An Interracial Catskills Lake Colony