The Mountain Top of Greene County, New York was an essential influence as this nation developed an image of itself and projected that image to the world. The natural beauty of the forest and terrain attracted the great American artists and poets of the 19th century. To these European - American artists, the primative landscape didn't have the long cultural association of the old world. They came to see this wild land through romantic eyes.
The romantic movement found expression in the Hudson River School of art which had it's birth in two paintings of Thomas Cole, both depicting landscapes on the Mountain Top. Soon, artists and vacationers saught "the wild" and came to the area in search of the sublime–"a sweet foretaste of heaven".
We can have a sense of the influence of The Mountain Top through the art, postcards, prints, advertising, and historic photographs that were popular images througout the nation and the world.
We present here a growing collection of those images
Developer's Note:
This page was uploaded March 25, 2002. It is under
development. Not all links are working, not all information has been
verified, and some some of the illustrations are temporary files obtained
from a variety of sources. If you see obvious errors or other problems,
or if you have a suggestion for locations that should be added, please notify
rmgilder@yahoo.com