Welcome
Welcome to the MTHS website
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The Mountain Top Historical Society is dedicated to discovering and preserving the unique and rich history of the Catskill High Peaks. The Society is a not-for-profit organization and maintains a Visitor and Art Trail Center and the Ulster and Delaware train depot (shown above) on our campus in Haines Falls. We are located on scenic Route 23A at the gateway to the Mountain Top and are easily accessible from Exit 20 or 21 of the New York State Thruway.
The Town of Hunter, home to MTHS, has been designated a Preserve America Community.
Ron Fleming, MTHS's co-founder and first president, has died.The Mountain Top Historical Society probably would not exist without the vision and efforts of Rev. Dr. Ronald Fleming formerly of Westkill, NY. At the time of the founding of the Society, Dr. Fleming lived in the Westkill home once belonging to Western artist Charles Schreyvogel. It was perhaps that connection to the important artist who has been compared to Frederic Remington and to another 19th Century Westkill resident, Levi Hill, who is credited with producing the world's first color photograph that made Dr. Fleming see the importance of our region to American history.We are grateful to Rev. Fleming for his leadership and vision.An obituary and link to a memorial page can be found in the Windham Journal of January 22 and in the Journal's website. Thinking of Justine...Justine Hommel is at the Kaaterskill Care Facility in Catskill.
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Our 2014 Season--40 Years and Counting
The Mountain Top Historical Society has been around for 40 years fulfilling its mission of discovering, interpreting, and sharing our unique history and preserving the artifacts and documents that tell the story of the towns and the people of the Great Northern Catskills. Over the past 40 years, thanks to a dedicated board of directors and many loyal members and volunteers, we have presented an annual lecture schedule, led hikes through the beautiful and historic area around us, restored the 100-year-old U&D Train Station in Haines Falls, opened a Visitors' Center to welcome tourists to the Mountain Top, built a state-of-the-art archives room to preserve the material (and now also electronic) records of the history that that has been entrusted to our care, as well as maintained our 20-acre campus, all with pride and a keen sense of place.
Our ambitious 2014 season is winding down. We have hiked in the footsteps of John and William Bartram, revisited the history of Laurel House and its relationship to the Kaaterskill Falls, and explored Rip's Retreat. We premiered Tobe Carey's long-awaited film, Rails to the Catskills, and had a sneak peak at a new film by David Becker,To Be Forever Wild. Chuck D'Imperio gave a most entertaining and inspiring talk on small towns in Upstate, NY. A first for us, we hiked to Sam's Point Ice Caves in the Gunks in June, and in July explored Tiskilwa Park in Chichester and visited the Empire State Railroad Museum in Phoenicia.
In September, we held our 3rd Annual Postcard Show thanks to John Duda and friends. In October we introduced a new event -- our exciting Hikefest. From hikes to programs, we had something for everyone this year. Don't miss a thing: watch our events and hikes pages for all the latest information as we plan for our 2015 season celebrating Mountain Top history.
MTHS Needs You
In order to keep all of these activities going we need YOU! We depend on two things to support our efforts: If you are a member of the MTHS but have not yet renewed for 2014, please take a few moments to bring your membership up to date. If you have not yet joined us, click on the link on this page to go to a secure webpage and join us there.
If you have been a volunteer with us in the past couple of years, thank you! If you have not yet volunteered, let us know what you can do and how much time you have to give. We need people to help maintain the buildings and grounds; people to staff the Visitors' Center; people to help with the archives; people to sell raffle tickets and food at our events; and more. Our schedule is flexible and we'll find a way to bring you in. Contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 518 589-6657 and leave a message. We'd love to hear from you!
