Hudson Valley Ruins worth exploring?

[funkyfreddy]

I posted to the thread abut ghost towns in NH and someone PM'ed me about stuff in the Hudson Valley. I'm going to post a short list below off the top of my head and would love it if other VFTT'ers could post suggestions as well. Fall is coming soon and the leaves will start falling - a good time to look for those abandoned homes, cemetaries, stone structures, etc. that are part of our collective past.

Harriman St. Park - an abandoned village (Doodletown), old cemetaries, cellar holes, firetower, ruins, and many other things of interest

Schunemunk Mt. - site of Native American village

Appalachian Trail, NY, west and east of the Hudson - goes through a lot old stone walls that were used in the Revolutionary War. Just south of Fahenstock State park it goes through an area with many former entrenchments and a lot of stone chambers can be found in the vicinity.

Fahenstock St. Park - stone walls, stone chambers, cellar holes, etc.

Ninham Mt. - cellar holes, a stone chamber, stone walls, firetower

Overlook Mt., Catskills - old hotel ruins, firetower

Van Wyck Mt., Catskills - cellar hole, plane crashes, bear pits

Bannermann's Castle, Hudson River - would anyone care to organise a trip w me?

This is a very short list, would love to have people add to it as I'm always looking for new places to explore in the Hudson valley. Thanks, Fred

 

[Jay H]

Fred, there's also a bunch of ruins of an old farm and mill site I think north of Mt Taurus and south of Breakneck Ridge, the trail that splits the two goes right through a bunch of ruins.

There are a TON of different ruins spread amoung northern NJ and the hudson Valley, including the ones you've mentioned above.

Doodletown, in Harriman was recently renovated with new signs and stuff. There's a cemetary there that could be haunted...

As far as Bannerman's castle, I think exploring the island is off limits:

http://www.bannermancastle.org/

But there are tours of it, as operated by the folks above and also I believe HV Pack and Paddle/HV outfitters have permission to lead some kayak trips there.

Have you seen this website:

http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org

There are also a lot of ruins in NJ that can be found via websites like Weird NJ and other abandoned places websites...

Jay

 

[frytz]

Doodletown, in Harriman was recently renovated with new signs and stuff. There's a cemetary there that could be haunted...

Jay

There are at least 4 cemeteries in Harriman that I can think of - probably a few more. With all the hikers going through, they aren't resting in peace!

Fred

 

[Kevin]

There is also the 'Gates of Heaven' cemetary along the AT outside of Pawling NY... Kind of wierd to emerge from the woods and see a large wrought iron gate with 'Gates of Heaven' on it in the middle of no where. Stephen King could not created a better setting, at least I think. It is the cemetary for the now closed state hospital in Pawling.

 

[JeffAndrews]

On the AT south of Fahenstock St. Park there are also the remains of an old mining railroad. It must have been pretty tiny. The trail actually follows where the tracks were laid for awhile. At one point it is raised up on a platform about 10 feet off the floor of the forest. Before I knew it was a railroad bed, I couldn't figure out why someone would have built a hiking path so far off the ground. Although I thought it was a nice gesture as it smoothed out the trail quite nicely!

 

[Mark Schaefer]

In the Gunks:

• Trapps Mountain Hamlet ghost town, late 1700s through 1956 when the last resident Irv Van Leuven died. There is a short 0.75 mile trail from the West Trapps parking area through the ghost town, a designated national historic district. The Van Leuven cabin has been restored by the Mohonk Preserve. There are the many other foundations, but little else that remains of the hamlet that had a population of 200 in the 1880s.
• There are ruins of an old power house at the base of Sheldon Falls, and remnants of the old Minnewaska ski center tows along the Peterskill in the Lost City rock climbing area of Minnewaska State Park.
• There are many ruins of huckleberry picker shacks at the Sam's Point Preserve and along the Old Smiley Carriage Road in the Minnewaska State Park. The history and many locations are detailed in Marc Fried's books: The Huckleberry Pickers, A Raucous History of the Shawangunk Mountains, 1995, and Shawangunk, Adventure, Exploration, History, and Epiphany, 1998.

Catskills: Coykendall Lodge, Alder Lake, Millbrook Ridge trailhead. Some pictures are here. Although it has been spared from demolition at the request of some historic preservation groups, it may not remain forever. So see it while you can.

Some great estate ruins:

• Hoyt House, designed by Calvert Vaux are in Ogden Mills State Park, Staatsburg.
• remains of the Norrie Estate in the adjacent Norrie Point State Park, Staatsburg.
• ruins of an early Livingston mansion at the Clermont State Historic Site, Clermont.