The rain started to fall during the last hour of MTHS Open House on Saturday, August 28. Little did we know as we ducked under tents and threw down tarps that Tropical Storm Irene would be the storm of the century on the Mountain Top. We were fortunate that our campus withstood the storm’s ravages.  Other organizations did not fare as well and MTHS directors and members have pitched in with the effort to speed their recovery.
Our headline story for 2011 is that construction of the MTHS archives has begun. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on August 7.  Delayed by the storm and its aftermath, foundation work started at the end of September. The addition, on the north side of the existing Visitor Center building on Route 23A, is named the Justine Hommel Room in honor of our president emeritus. It provides approximately 140 square feet of storage space and is constructed of concrete and has an independent climate-control system.

This year our continuing educational programming for the schools supported a student art show and poetry contest in conjunction with the Windham Arts Alliance.  The works, created on the theme of waterfalls, were displayed at the August Open House and prizes were awarded to the winners. Catskill waterfalls were the theme of several hikes and a lecture as well.  Our Spring Fling in May has become an annual event and our evening lectures focused on topics as diverse as Hudson River Landscape Gardens and Songs of the Railroad.

Our dedicated groundskeeping volunteers kept the campus neatly groomed. Despite the challenges presented by our new residents, a ground hog family, we persevered with our horticultural efforts and received a community garden award from the Twilight Park Gardening Club. With the help of our faithful volunteers, we kept the Visitors’ Center open for another year from May to October five days a week, including weekends.
The first stage of the Kaaterskill Rail Trail, from the MTHS Train Station to Laurel House Road, is in the active planning stage.  Together with MTHS, the Town of Hunter, the Department of Environmental Conservation, Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District, Parks and Trails New York and the New York/New Jersey Trail Conference are engaged in planning and promoting the trail.

We will never see another year like 2011.  We are moving ahead on several fronts and our members’  interest and support mean a great deal to our continued progress.

The MTHS Board Reviews CAP Reports

Draft copies of two Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) reports were received last month and presented to the MTHS board of directors at the July 17 meeting. Last fall, the Mountain Top Historical Society was the recipient of a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant which gave the Society funds to hire a professional conservator to assess the collections and a historic preservation architect to assess the campus buildings

Based on the reports, MTHS President Larry Tompkins presented three preliminary recommendations to the board which were approved. These include board agreement that the Visitor and Trail Center on Route 23A continues as the site of the MTHS archives, that a heating and cooling expert be hired to assess climate conditions in the building and that a thunderstorm deterrent system be installed on the roof of the Visitor Center.

The draft CAP reports were highly favorable in describing the current conditions and storage of MTHS archival materials. The final reports of Conservator Ellen Riggs Tillapaugh and Architect Marilyn Kaplan will be available in August.

Two New Directors Named to MTHS Board

The MTHS Board Welcomes Adrienne Larys and Daryl Legg. They were elected at the July 17 annual meeting. Ms. Larys has worked at Rensselear Polytechnical Institute and is a long-time participant in MTHS hikes. Mr. Legg is the owner of Legg’s Garage in Tannersville and is on the Town of Hunter board. Both were elected for three-year terms. The terms of board members Justine Hommel, Bob Gildersleeve and officer Peter Swords were renewed. The board retained the following officers for the 2010-2011 term: Larry Tompkins, President; Richard Haines, Vice President; Eleanor Alter, Secretary and Peter Swords, Treasurer.

Last fall, the Mountain Top Historical Society was the recipient of a $7,190  Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant which gave the Society funds to hire a professional conservator to assess the collections and a historic preservation architect to assess the campus buildings.  The grant period runs until November 2010, but MTHS got a quick jump on the program and scheduled the assessor’s visits for late March and early April.

Conservator Ellen Riggs Tillapaugh traveled from  Cooperstown for  her assessment of the Society’s archival collection.  Tillapaugh, whose specialty is paper conservation,  has assessed collections at the Zadock Pratt Museum,  the Herkimer, Susquehanna and Rye Historical Societies, the National Museum of Racing and other organizations.  Because 90% of the MTHS archives are paper-based, her experience was a good fit for the Society’s collection. On March 31, 2010 Ms. Tillapaugh met with board members LaPierre, Gildersleeve, Tompkins and Curran and Executive Director Barbara Mattson, and reviewed the archival collection which is stored in acid-free boxes and folders at the Visitor’s Center  building on Route 23A in Haines Falls.

Architect Marilyn Kaplan visited the MTHS campus for the first time on April 7.  Ms. Kaplan has worked on architectural projects ranging from the New York State Capitol, the FDR Presidential Library, Thomas Cole House and the Durham Museum. She toured the 20-acre campus, visited all the buildings and interviewed MTHS board members Gildersleeve, Tompkins, Hommel and Curran and Executive Director, Barbara Mattson.

Both Tillapaugh and Kaplan returned to the campus on April 16 and presented their preliminary conclusions, which were encouraging, with MTHS board members and the director (below).

Tillapaugh rated the Society’s storage and care of its collection as a nine on a ten-point scale.  Kaplan indicated she was impressed with the size and general condition of the campus, the variety of buildings, and the potential of the buildings and site to accommodate many different types of activities.   Although both assessors were impressed by the facilities for the archival collections, recommendations for further enhancement will be provided in the final reports.

MTHS President Larry Tompkins was pleased the visits went well, too.  He said “We’re glad we got off to an early start with the assessor’s visits.  We expect to receive preliminary reports in June, conduct board discussions over the summer and receive the final report in August.  This will give us a solid basis for planning future use of the campus and the storage and preservation of our archives.”

Gunnar Berg has won the prestigious 2009 Harold Ostroff award, recognizing his contributions as an archivist for one of the organizations making up the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. Berg, a weekend resident of Maplecrest, works as an archivist for the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research. The YIVO Archives has amassed thousands of unpublished materials in a variety of media documenting the history, language and culture of Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jews. In addition to Berg’s professional contribution, the award cites his calm, soft-spoken stability, personality traits that those who know him also appreciate. Congratulations, Gunnar!

Black Dome Press was awarded a literary prize during a public ceremony on September 17 at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Kingston. The regional publisher received the first-ever “Focus on New York” Award for Outstanding Regional Literature.

Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Carol Scalzo stated that “Black Dome epitomizes excellence in its ongoing commitment to the region. With publications that present early photography, nature, geology, hiking; kayaking, Dutch and English colonialism, Native Americans, the artists of the Hudson River School, community histories, historic architecture and a myriad of specialty subjects, Black Dome Press has consistently supported local authors and contributed outstanding literature to the reading public.” Eric Burger, Barnes and Noble’s Regional Buyer for the Northeast, presented the award to Black Dome Press publisher Deborah Allen and editor Steve Hoare. Among the many well-wishers on hand was Robert Gildersleeve, former director of the Mountain Top Historical Society and author of Catskill Mountain House Trail Guide, published by Black Dome Press in 2005.

The Daily Mail newspaper in Catskill, NY reported yesterday in a front page article that the Town of Hunter has received federal recognition as a Preserve America Community. The program provides acknowledgment of a community’s historic significance and achievements in preserving it.

Earlier this year the Mountain Top Historical Society applied for the Town’s designation which recognizes its celebrated past in America’s cultural and natural history and its ongoing commitment to preserving and protecting that heritage. Hunter is the first community to be so designated in Greene County. A letter from First Lady Michelle Obama was sent to Hunter Town Supervisor Dennis Lucas last month congratulating Hunter as one of 26 communities nationwide to be named as Preserve America communities this year, the first under the new administration. (For the full release click here .)

The designation makes the Town eligible to participate in a federal program administered by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Park Service. Grant funding through this program can provide from $25,000 to $250,000 to eligible communities. Since 2006 Preserve America grants of $17 million have been disbursed for 228 projects across the country.

To obtain this designation, the MTHS had to prove the Town’s historical importance, detail how Hunter protects and celebrates its heritage and describe how these historical assets can be used for heritage tourism programs. The Mountain Top Historical Society’s Annual Open House, participation in the Hudson River School Art Trail and restoration and maintenance of the Train Station and Visitor and Art Trail Center on the Haines Falls campus were key to proving the community’s interest in preserving and promoting the Town’s historical assets.