South Mountain - On the Once Beaten Path

Our June 8th, took the historic Direct Path to South Mountain. The path was the main way to climb from the Catskill Mountain House to sites such as Puddingstone Hall, Druid Rocks, and the Second Ledge seen in this illustration from Van Loan's Catskill Mountain Guide and called the Lemon Squeezer by some photographers.

By 1891 a new path approximately the current state trail was established and eventually the "Direct Path" was abandoned. Check back for more details which will be announced when they are complete.

 

Volunteers always needed
We have openings for volunteers, and possible board members, in these areas: membership chair, fundraising chair (including grants writing), volunteer coordinator, and groundskeeping chair. We would love to have more regular volunteers to work on maintaining the grounds, staffing the Visitors' Center, working with us on our Spring Clean-up Day in May, and sorting files for the archives. If you are already on our volunteer list, we will be in touch. If you would like to know more about volunteer activities that will be personally fulfilling and rewarding, contact us by phone at 518-589-6657 or by e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We also ask for your support in the form of membership dollars and your donations to our upcoming capital campaign. Our annual membership drive will begin in May. Watch for the information in the mail and please respond generously.

Working together, we can continue to discover, interpret, share, and preserve the history of the Mountain Top for ourselves and our children.

The 2019 hiking and events schedule Has been very diverse and interesting, and we're not through yet.

Here is another view of the Second Ledge on South Mountain--this one a Loeffler stereograph which names the site The Lemon Squeezer. Loeffler's choice of the name caused us a great deal of confusion because it was also the name of a crevice near the top of South Mountain and differed from the name given by Van Loan in his trail description. Note Loeffler's use of a young boy in the center of the photo, perhaps to make the site look larger than it actually is.

 

 

Thanks to our business sponsors:

2019 Business Sponsors:
Boardwalk Builders, Inc., Brookside B&B, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, Chateau Belleview, Haines Falls Auto/Hunter Towing, Hotel Vienna, Kaaterskill Liquors, Karen’s County Kitchen, Last Chance Antiques & Cheese Cafe, Maggie’s Krooked Café, The Mansion House At Alfie’s, Mountain Propane, Inc., Pancho Villas Mexican Restaurant, Pure Mountain Yoga, Rosehaven Inn, Scribner's Catskill Lodge, Snow Bird Ski Shop, Snowed Inn B&B, Thorpes GMC, Inc., Town Tinker Tube Rental, Traphagen's Honey, The Thompson House, Vesuvio Restaurant, Villa Vosilla, Willow Mixed Media, Windham Pharmacy