Title: Minnewaska Mountain Houses
Author: Anonymous
Release date: October 15, 2013 [eBook #43958]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Chuck Greif (This file was produced from images
available at The Internet Archive)
The Wildmere House
The Cliff House
S located on the summit of the Shawangunk Mountains, ten miles
southwest of New Paltz, in Ulster County, New York. New Paltz, a station
on the Wallkill Valley Railroad, is eighty-eight miles (about three and
one-half hours) distant from New York; nine miles west of Poughkeepsie,
on the Hudson, and fifteen miles southwest of Kingston. N.Y.
This lake, which is fed by springs and is very deep and clear as crystal, is held in a strikingly picturesque, rocky and well-wooded bowl, rising one hundred and fifty feet above the lake on the eastern side and sixty feet on the western, and from either edge the rocks tumble precipitously down to the Wallkill and Hudson River Valleys on the one side, and to the Rondout Valley on the other.
Minnewaska is now widely known as a summer resort:
First. For the remarkably bracing and restoring quality of its atmosphere. It being on the crown of a ridge, dew seldom falls. The drainage of each house is away from the lake and far down the mountain side, and the hills all around are covered with resinous pine forests.
Second. For the remarkably select character of the guests who frequent the place, a large portion of whom return year after year.
Third. For the wonderful and unique combination of the grand and the picturesque in its scenery.
Within a mile of the lake are these picturesque falls, above sixty feet
high; and about half a mile lower down, the same stream falls over one
hundred feet by a series of pretty cascades.
Awosting falls
The Wildmere
Awosting Lake
About three-quarters of a mile distant are a series of wonderful rents
in the mountains over one hundred feet deep, some of the fissures being
open to the light and others covered.
One and three-fourths miles from the lake are the Millbrook Mountains,
where the cliffs are in some places perpendicular, and in others
over-hanging the rocks five hundred feet below. The views here are
remarkably grand and impressive.
Still nearer, in a deep glen of the mountain, is the Palmaghatt, where
is a large forest of massive primeval hemlocks. To all these and many
other strange and picturesque places, good walks have been constructed,
and a large number of covered seats and summer-houses (about ninety in
all) have been built. Three drives have been built recently to Millbrook
Mountains, Kempton Ledge, and Beacon Hill.
Since last season over two thousand acres adjoining Minnewaska have been
added to the estate, which now covers above five thousand acres of land.
This new tract includes the magnificent Awosting Lake, having four times
the extent of Lake Minnewaska; also the lofty High Point; the bold
Hamilton Ledge, several miles long and several hundred feet in
perpendicular height; the picturesque Stonykill Falls, ninety-five feet
high, and much other strange scenery peculiar to the Shawangunk
Mountains.
A fine road, three and one-half miles long, has been built from
Minnewaska to Awosting Lake, passing through the wild Huntington Ravine
(Dark Hole). During the spring and summer this road will be extended
around the lake four and one-half miles farther. Another road has been
built through the Palmaghatt to the edge of Hamilton Ledge. All these
roads are of very easy grades, being for the most part nearly level, and
are specially adapted to the use of the bicycle.
The ferns
By West Shore Railroad to Kingston, and by special trains to New Paltz.
By New York, Ontario & Western Railway from New York to New Paltz, via Cornwall and Campbell Hall.
By New York Central & Hudson River Railroad or by New York and Albany day boats to Kingston Point, and by rail to New Paltz.
By New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad to Goshen, and by Wallkill Valley Railroad to New Paltz.
The Highland & New Paltz Electric Railroad will make good connections with New York Central and West Shore trains at Poughkeepsie and Highland.
After the summer time-tables are arranged, schedules of trains, etc., will be sent on application.
Tickets from New York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia will be sold to and from New Paltz, and baggage checked through.
Parties wishing to inspect the rooms in May will be met at the train upon proper notice being given, and when wishing to stay over night, can be comfortably accommodated at one of the houses.
The Wildmere
Opened in 1879 and enlarged in 1881, will accommodate about two hundred and twenty-five guests.
This house is located on the eastern side of the lake on a commanding height, eighteen hundred feet above tide-water, or nearly as high as the Catskill Mountain House; and from nearly every room in the hotel there are magnificent valley and mountain views, taking in the mountains of New Jersey on the south; the highlands of the Hudson and Newburg Bay to the southeast; the Housatonic Mountains of Connecticut to the east; the whole line of the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts and the Green Mountains of Vermont to the northeast; the Helderberg Mountains to the north; the bold outline of the Catskills and the Shandaken Mountains to the northwest: and the Neversink and Shawangunk Hills to the west. The views embrace several river valleys, including the valley of the Hudson from Cornwall to the mountains about Lake George. From the cupola of this house six States can be seen at one view.
To accommodate the constantly increasing patronage, a new hotel was opened in 1887 on the western edge of this rocky rim, called the
This is somewhat larger than the Cliff House, and commands very similar views. The Wildmere is lighted with gas, the halls are heated by furnaces, while the rooms, both public and private, are mostly provided with open fireplaces for burning the resinous mountain pine that abounds in this region. A large portion of the rooms in both houses are provided with private balconies.
Reading Rooms.
In each house is a large and well-lighted reading-room, containing all the leading English and American monthly and quarterly periodicals and weekly and daily papers, and also a carefully selected library of books for reading and reference.
Postal and Telegraph Offices
Will be open during the season at the lake. Telegrams should be addressed to Lake Minnewaska, N. Y., and letters to Minnewaska P. O., Ulster County, N. Y.
A Good Physician
Will reside permanently at the lake.
The Wildmere house
Opens June 15th and closes October 1st to 10th.
The Cliff house
Opens June 29th and closes about September 15th.
Both Minnewaska houses
Will be kept on a strictly TEMPERANCE PLAN. The same arrangements with regard to meats, fruits, cream, etc., that have made the table so satisfactory for the past nineteen years, have been made for the coming season.
Visitors
Are not expected to arrive or depart on Sunday.
No dogs taken.
June: single rooms, $11 to $14; double rooms. $22 to $25. July and August: single rooms, $15 to $20; double rooms, $25 to $35. From September 1st to close of the season: single rooms, $14 to $16; double rooms, $25 to $28. Day rates: June. $2; July and August, $3; after September 1st, $2.50. Liberal arrangements will be made for families coming early.
For further information, address
ALFRED H. SMILEY. Proprietor,
MINNEWASKA P. O., N. Y.
Summer house on Lake
Boat liveries are operated in connection with both houses. They are
provided with the celebrated St. Lawrence River skiffs, which can be
rented by the week or day, with or without oarsmen, at reasonable rates.
Eight skiffs have been added to the fleet since last season. Owing to
the land-locked location of the lake, ladies and children can enjoy the
pleasures of boating with perfect safety.
Another of the many attractions of the lake is the delightful
still-water bathing. The water is soft, becomes warm early in the
season, and the bathing is free from enervating effects usually
experienced in fresh-water bathing. Two new bath-houses, exclusively for
ladies, have been constructed, and a bathing-master and life-guard are
always present to assist ladies and children.
Exercise in the open air is acknowledged by every one to be of the
greatest assistance in the recuperation of the nervous system and a
grand specific for building up the physical body. Every effort has been
put forth to stimulate and foster active exercise. Walking parties find
each year new paths leading through deep forests to quiet recesses of
the mountains and points of vantage hitherto unapproachable.
The ball ground, tennis courts, bowling alleys and shuffle boards give
an ample field for the spirit of contest, while the many delightful
walks and drives meet the requirements of those in search of moderate
exercise.
A view of this charming cascade is shown on this page. The falls are
situated two miles beyond Awosting Lake.
HE management at Lake Minnewaska has aimed to provide the comforts of a
good home at reasonable rates for the refined and moral classes, where
they could enjoy the splendid scenery without molestation from the fast
and rougher elements of society. That this object has been attained, the
proprietor would respectfully refer to the following persons, nearly all
of whom have remained at the lake for a considerable period of
time—many of them for several years in succession. None of these
persons have been consulted as to this use of their names, but any of
them, doubtless, if approached at proper times, would be glad to give
any information they may possess about the lake. The names are selected
to represent a variety of professions and circles of society and are
arranged alphabetically.
NEW YORK.
Peterskill falls
BROOKLYN.
PHILADELPHIA.
Cliff house Looking South
MISCELLANEOUS.
The Wildmere Cliff Summer houses
The Cliffs from Wildmere
Lake Shore Walk
