Maps and itineries

The Upper Hudson

Fort Crailo, museum on the Dutch colony 

Fort Crailo is a historic, fortified brick manor house in Rensselaer.Crailo refers to a Dutch hamlet close to Amsterdam. 

The area was part of the large patroonship held by Kiliaen van Rensselaer, c. 1585–1643. This property was inherited by Hendrick van Rensselaer, Kilian's grandson, who built the house in approximately 1712. It was expanded in 1762-1768.

Fort Crailo was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961. It is operated by the State of New York as a 17th century historic house museum that focuses on the history of the Dutch colonists in New York state.
Exhibits include clothing, furniture, household and decorative items, and archaeological artifacts from "New Netherland" historic sites in New York and New Jersey. Address:10 Riverside.

Catskill Mountain House Site, the Catskill Falls and Rip van Winkle (p 83)

Mountain House view

The Mountain House's site, the "Pine Orchard," had long been famous for its panoramic views up and down the Hudson Valley and even beyond to the east. 

Artists and writers had discovered the Catskills some time earlier. Shortly after it was constructed, the Mountain House and its surroundings became a favorite subject for Washington Irving and artists of the new Hudson River School, most notably Thomas Cole. Cooper, on a speaking tour of Europe in the 1850s, advised his audience "If you want to see the sights of America, go to see Niagara Falls, Lake George and the Catskill Mountain House.”

Catskill Falls

The falls' name, Kaaterskill Falls came from the Dutch Cat and could mean Bobcat or Mountain Lion, while "kill" means stream in Dutch, the language of the first European colonists in the 17th century.

While the falls are on public land, they can only be reached via the Kaaterskill Falls Trail, a state-maintained yellow-blazed path running 0.4 mile (650 m) uphill from NY 23A, the only road through the Kaaterskill clove.

Little is known of Kaaterskill Clove's history prior to 1817,

when Gilbert Palen built a tannery near the entrance to Kaaterskill Clove, giving the village of Palenville its name. After the War of 1812, industry throughout the United States began to expand, with Palenville and Kaaterskill Clove becoming the site of many tanneries within just half a century, deforestation had set in, and the tannery industry collapsed, lacking the trees it required. Palenville reinvented itself as a tourist town, building several boardinghouses and proclaiming itself the home of the fictional character Rip van Winkle.

Platte Clove

The clove was popular with artists and walkers. Numerous mountain houses and hotels were constructed and trails and walkways were constructed to the many overlooks and waterfalls in the clove. 

Most notable was the construction of the Rip Van Winkle Trail, now Route 23A, which wound its way up the clove from Palenville to the hamlet of Haines Falls. 

This opened the interior of the clove to visitors from the cities for the first time, and is still a main route into the heart of the northern Catskills. Platte Clove is a narrow and steep valley in the Catskill Mountains. 

AMC’s best DAY HIKES, the CATSKILLS & HUDSONVALLEY Palenville Overlook, 5 hours trip 58, p243, Kaaterskill Falls, 1.5 hours trip 49, p213, Inspiration Point, 4 hours trip 48, p 209, Vroman’s Nose, 2 hours trip 59, p249

Rip Van Winkle

"Rip van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. Although the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains, Irving later admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills."

Rip van Winkle

The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. Rip Van Winkle, a villager of Dutch descent, lives in a nice village at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains. An amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect, he is loved by all but his wife.
One autumn day he escapes his nagging wife by wandering up the mountains. There he encounters strangely dressed men, rumored to be the ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew, who are playing nine-pins. After drinking some of their liquor, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes and returns to his village, where he finds twenty years have passed. He finds out that his wife has died and that his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that the American Revolution has taken place.
An old local recognizes him, however, and Rip's now grown daughter takes him in. Rip resumes his habitual idleness, and his tale is solemnly believed by the old Dutch settlers, with certain hen-pecked husbands wishing they shared Rip's good luck.

 

the Mid Hudson

In the surroundings of south west of Kingston (Wiltwijck in the Dutch colony) in the Shawangkung Mountains south of the Catskill mountains an amazing array of Dutch heritage is to be found as well as beautiful scenery that invites to hike or tour by car.

Names of villages and hamlets called Kripplebush, Binnewater en Rosendale remind us of the early Dutch colonists. This part of Ulster county is literally packed with Dutch farms, dutch churches all set in an amazingly beautiful nature.