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The Direct path to South Mountain
The Direct path to South MountainPrepared for the Mountain Top Historical Society hike of June 8, 2019 The history of trails near the Catskill Mountain House is complex. The trails grew and changed...
View ArticleHike Fest 2019
On Saturday, October 12, 2019 The Mountain Top Historical Society’s Haines Falls campus will be the place to begin your Columbus Day Weekend. Starting in the KRT parking lot behind the Visitors'...
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Hemlock Spring 2020
The Hemlock, named for the Tree that provided tannin to the local tanneries our first major industry is our quarterly newsletter
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A Towering Sense of Place
By Alexandra Prince Hunter Mountain fire tower. Image from the NYS Archives. Last Saturday night (Sept. 4), the Catskill Center lit each of the five Catskills fire towers (Balsam Lake, Hunter,...
View ArticleSunset Rock and the Echo House
To see the images one at a time click on the >> button below the current page or press start. {besps}Sunset-Rock-photos|ctrls=1|caps=0|auto=0|width=650|height=700|align=1{/besps}
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Rip's Back
It's good to see Rip Van Winkle back in his place of honor on the signpost at the MTHS! For 18 years, Rip had weathered the wind, rain, snow, and sun at the top of Kaaterskill Clove and still looked...
View ArticleEcho-House
Click on the << >> buttons below the current page or press start to view all the images. See the Fall 2021 Hemlock for Scott Koster's article on the Echo House....
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Christmas and the Catskills
Christmas trees harvested in the Catskills make their way to the sidewalks of New York City by horse-drawn carriage. According to The New York Historical Society, the now famous Christmas tree...
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The Sphinx
Recently we shared a postcard image of The Sphinx, a large boulder that sits above Kaaterskill Clove, on our social media pages. The first image shows this tremendous rock today, during the Fall of...
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Then ⏮ & Now ⏩
All Souls Church in Tannersville was originally built in 1894. The church is a favorite landmark in the area notable for its stone construction in the Gothic Revival style and it continues to hold...
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Draperies of Ice
A benefit of the deep freezes of winter are the wonderful "draperies of ice" that form along creeks and waterfalls. Below are three stereographs from the New York Public Library collection showing...
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The Revenge of Shandaken, The Pine Orchard & the Grave of Lotowana
A recent presentation by Evan Pritchard, descendant of the Micmac people and Professor of Native American history at Marist College, briefly mentioned the legend of Chief Shandaken. According to...
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"I Never Objected to the Sapping"
Above: Roberta Christman tapping in February 1981. Photo from the Christman Family. Despite the cold we now experience, soon the days will be warm enough and the nights appropriately cool to signal...
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A Visit to the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church
This morning I paid a visit to the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jewett on Route 23A. I didn't expect to see footsteps in the icy snow leading up to the bulletin board. Following...
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Celebrating the life of Justine Legg Hommel
Justine Hommel and the Haines Falls Free Library Bookmobile in 1950 A librarian, historian, educator, author, expert on the high peaks region of the Catskills and Mountain Top, and Bookmobile...
View ArticleShirley Wiltse Dunn - A farewell tribute
Shirley Wiltse Dunn, 1929-2022A farewell tribute to a Mountain Top native and keeper of local history in the various places where she lived Shirley Wiltse Dunn was born in Tannersville, NY, graduated...
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“The Lord and the Devil and the Bleu Mountains”
A folk tale about the origins of the Catskills and why digging a hole in your spring garden can perhaps more accurately be called excavating. Excerpted from Doris West Brooks’s Short Stories and Tall...
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Inside the Archives: A Q&A with Bob Gildersleeve & John Curran
From the Spring 2022 edition of The Hemlock Every Wednesday, MTHS board members Bob Gildersleeve and John Curran volunteer their time to manage and digitize the extensive collections held in the MTHS...
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Twain on the Mountain
Recently we were pleased to offer research support to two staff members from the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut who are putting together an exhibit on Samuel Clemens’ summer vacation...
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Cemetery Tour & Twilight Inn Fire
Thank you for the outstanding turnout to our “If These Stones Could Talk” Cemetery Tour last Saturday morning! More than 40 people joined Joanne Ainsworth and Dede Terns-Thorpe to explore the...
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