North-South Lake
Encyclopedia
North-South Lake is an 1,100-acre (4.4 km²) state campground in the Catskill Forest Preserve near Palenville, New York
operated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
near the site of the historic Catskill Mountain House
overlooking the Hudson River
. The escarpment on which the lakes are located is at 2,250 feet (685.8 m), 1,700 feet (518 m) above the valley floor, providing a view of five states in clear weather.
The area is rich in history. It was a favorite subject of painter
s in the Hudson River school
, particularly Thomas Cole
. For a long time, the prestigious resort hotels in the area made it synonymous with the Catskills.
Today, the area provides hiking, swimming, boating (no electric motors), and fishing.
This goes back to the years before the Revolution
, to 1753, when early naturalist
John Bartram
visited the area with his son to collect samples of balsam fir
, which was sought for its alleged medicinal
properties. While the seedlings he gathered failed to flourish in Britain
when replanted by his patrons, his account of the expedition, "A Journey to Ye Cat Skill Mountains with Billy," became popular in the colonies and in Britain.
In the early years of the 19th century, American artists seeking a subject matter unique to the new nation were drawn away from New York City
and up the Hudson Valley
. There they focused on the wildness of the landscape where mountain
s drew close to the river, first in the Hudson Highlands
and then, further north, the Catskill Escarpment
, where mountains rise to nearly 4,000 feet (1219 m) from a flat valley floor. Their work was known, at first derisively, as the Hudson River School
and eventually became America's first homegrown artistic movement.
On that escarpment they found the two lakes. Painters like Thomas Cole
depicted themhttp://hamiltonauctiongalleries.com/Cole1825Laketrees.jpg in many works that sold far and wide.
Cole would be a frequent guest at, and lend his fame to, the Catskill Mountain House
, built in 1823 by a group of businessmen from the nearby village of Catskill
on the "Pine Orchard" overlook that the Bartrams had made famous in their visit 70 years earlier. In 1839, Charles Beach took over. He made it into a premiere attraction for the country's elite, a sort of Hamptons of its day where politicians (including some presidents), captains of industry, artists, poets and writers would rub shoulders, admire the view, take walks in the adjacent forests by day and excellent dinners by night.
The hotel owners told guests that an Indian
legend had it that the two lakes were the eyes of a fallen giant, and his buried body the escarpment itself (in reality, there is no such legend).
Other hotels were built in the area. Beach's remark to a dissatisfied guest, a Philadelphia businessman, that he should build himself his own hotel led to the creation of the Hotel Kaaterskill near the top of neighboring South Mountain, and the smaller Laurel Hotel boasted control over one of the top attractions of the area, Kaaterskill Falls
.
The popularity of the resorts led to the construction of narrow-gauge rail spurs and an incline railway up the escarpment to more efficiently bring guests to their destinations. The rights-of-way
remain in the area to this day although the tracks themselves are long gone.
The area's reputation suffered a major blow in the early 1880s when Arnold Henry Guyot
, an occasional visitor, undertook to do in his spare time the first complete survey
of the Catskills and found that, contrary to the claims of Beach and other hoteliers in the area, the highest mountain was not nearby Kaaterskill High Peak
, which dominates the view south over the lakes, but Slide Mountain
, some distance to the southwest in the Ulster County
town of Shandaken
. They at first disputed this claim vigorously and even tried to cast aspersions on Guyot's reputation, but by 1886 his results had been confirmed by others and the North-South lake region had lost some of its cachet.
In the early 20th century the hotels began to decline as other mountain regions in the Northeast
and elsewhere began to attract guests and automobile
s began to displace rail as the primary means of intercity transport, making vacations of a weekend's duration possible rather than the weeks and months guests had often stayed at the Mountain House.
Fires leveled both the Kaaterskill and Laurel; neither was ever rebuilt.
, took advantage of the downturn in the hotel business to acquire some of the land around the lakes and keep them "forever wild" under Article 14
of the New York State Constitution. At that time the two lakes were separated by an earthen dam, and South Lake and the land east of North Lake beach were privately owned. The original campground consisted of 10 sites (there are currently 219 sites) and a small picnic area.
The beaches were added in 1936.
Eventually, the state was able to acquire all the land save that around the original Mountain House, which finally closed for good after a failed attempt to revive and relaunch it in 1940. After the war that, too, would come into state ownership.
While preservationist
s fought to save the remains of the Mountain House throughout the 1950s for their historical value, the policies under which Forest Preserve land was managed required the state to remove most structures on it, and they were becoming an attractive nuisance
as well. Accordingly, the Mountain House was razed one winter morning in 1963.
In the 1970s, the dam between the lakes was removed and a new dam built at the outlet of South Lake to create one large lake.
The campground now plays host to 219 sites and thousands of visitors, both day and overnight, annually. It is the most popular state property in the Catskill Park.
Visitors can choose from a wide array of recreation, either waterborne or land-based. The most common activity is the same as it was in the days of the Mountain House ... hiking
via the many trails to nearby points of interest such as the ruins of the Kaaterskill and the Mountain House, Kaaterskill Falls
, Mary's Glen and its smaller waterfall, and the many views of the Hudson Valley
along the Escarpment Trail. The latter retain names from the 19th century such as "Artists' Rock." Some have etchings dating back to those days as well.
The hardiest visitors usually take in the trip up North Mountain
to the views at North Point.
Closer to the ground, there are also many clever balanced-rock displays made by hotel guests. One rarely missed is Alligator Rock, in which a pair of glacial erratics that formed an open mouth had "teeth" added over the years so it looks like an alligator
's open mouth.
DEC charges a $8 fee for day users of the campground between May and October.
Palenville, New York
Palenville is a hamlet in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 1,037 at the 2010 census.Palenville is in the southwest part of the Town of Catskill, located at the junction of Routes 23A and 32A. It lies at the foot of Kaaterskill Clove, nestled against the base of the...
operated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is responsible for the conservation, improvement, and protection of natural resources within the U.S. state of New York. It was founded in 1970, replacing the previous Conservation Department...
near the site of the historic Catskill Mountain House
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley, built in 1824. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by three U.S. presidents The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel...
overlooking the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. The escarpment on which the lakes are located is at 2,250 feet (685.8 m), 1,700 feet (518 m) above the valley floor, providing a view of five states in clear weather.
The area is rich in history. It was a favorite subject of painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s in the Hudson River school
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
, particularly Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century...
. For a long time, the prestigious resort hotels in the area made it synonymous with the Catskills.
Today, the area provides hiking, swimming, boating (no electric motors), and fishing.
Early America
The North-South Lake area is not only the beginning of the recreational history of the Catskills, but "America's First Wilderness."This goes back to the years before the Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, to 1753, when early naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
John Bartram
John Bartram
*Hoffmann, Nancy E. and John C. Van Horne, eds., America’s Curious Botanist: A Tercentennial Reappraisal of John Bartram 1699-1777. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 243. ....
visited the area with his son to collect samples of balsam fir
Balsam Fir
The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...
, which was sought for its alleged medicinal
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
properties. While the seedlings he gathered failed to flourish in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
when replanted by his patrons, his account of the expedition, "A Journey to Ye Cat Skill Mountains with Billy," became popular in the colonies and in Britain.
Hudson River School
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and up the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
. There they focused on the wildness of the landscape where mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s drew close to the river, first in the Hudson Highlands
Hudson Highlands
The Hudson Highlands are mountains on both sides of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York, between Newburgh Bay and Haverstraw Bay, which form the northern region of the New York - New Jersey Highlands....
and then, further north, the Catskill Escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
, where mountains rise to nearly 4,000 feet (1219 m) from a flat valley floor. Their work was known, at first derisively, as the Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
and eventually became America's first homegrown artistic movement.
On that escarpment they found the two lakes. Painters like Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century...
depicted themhttp://hamiltonauctiongalleries.com/Cole1825Laketrees.jpg in many works that sold far and wide.
Resort hotels
Catskill Mountain House
The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley, built in 1824. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by three U.S. presidents The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel...
, built in 1823 by a group of businessmen from the nearby village of Catskill
Catskill (village), New York
Catskill is a village in Greene County, New York, USA. The population was 4,081 at the 2010 census.The Village of Catskill is in the northeast part of the Town of Catskill. Catskill is the county seat of Greene County.-History:...
on the "Pine Orchard" overlook that the Bartrams had made famous in their visit 70 years earlier. In 1839, Charles Beach took over. He made it into a premiere attraction for the country's elite, a sort of Hamptons of its day where politicians (including some presidents), captains of industry, artists, poets and writers would rub shoulders, admire the view, take walks in the adjacent forests by day and excellent dinners by night.
The hotel owners told guests that an Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
legend had it that the two lakes were the eyes of a fallen giant, and his buried body the escarpment itself (in reality, there is no such legend).
Other hotels were built in the area. Beach's remark to a dissatisfied guest, a Philadelphia businessman, that he should build himself his own hotel led to the creation of the Hotel Kaaterskill near the top of neighboring South Mountain, and the smaller Laurel Hotel boasted control over one of the top attractions of the area, Kaaterskill Falls
Kaaterskill Falls
Kaaterskill Falls is a two-drop waterfall located near in the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York, on the north side of Kaaterskill Clove, between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County's Town of Hunter...
.
The popularity of the resorts led to the construction of narrow-gauge rail spurs and an incline railway up the escarpment to more efficiently bring guests to their destinations. The rights-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
remain in the area to this day although the tracks themselves are long gone.
The area's reputation suffered a major blow in the early 1880s when Arnold Henry Guyot
Arnold Henry Guyot
Arnold Henry Guyot was a Swiss-American geologist and geographer.-Biography:...
, an occasional visitor, undertook to do in his spare time the first complete survey
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
of the Catskills and found that, contrary to the claims of Beach and other hoteliers in the area, the highest mountain was not nearby Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak
Kaaterskill High Peak is one of the Catskill Mountains, located in the Town of Hunter in Greene County, New York, USA. It was once believed to be the highest peak in the entire range, but its summit, at 3,655 feet in elevation, places it only 23rd among the Catskill High Peaks. It is, however,...
, which dominates the view south over the lakes, but Slide Mountain
Slide Mountain (New York)
Slide Mountain is the highest peak in the Catskills. It is located in the Town of Shandaken in Ulster County, in southern New York. While the contour line on topographic maps is generally accepted as its height, the exact elevation of the summit has never been officially determined by the U.S...
, some distance to the southwest in the Ulster County
Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...
town of Shandaken
Shandaken, New York
Shandaken is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 3,235. The name is from a native phrase for "land of rapid waters."...
. They at first disputed this claim vigorously and even tried to cast aspersions on Guyot's reputation, but by 1886 his results had been confirmed by others and the North-South lake region had lost some of its cachet.
In the early 20th century the hotels began to decline as other mountain regions in the Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
and elsewhere began to attract guests and automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s began to displace rail as the primary means of intercity transport, making vacations of a weekend's duration possible rather than the weeks and months guests had often stayed at the Mountain House.
Fires leveled both the Kaaterskill and Laurel; neither was ever rebuilt.
Public ownership
In 1929 the state parks department, under the leadership of Robert MosesRobert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
, took advantage of the downturn in the hotel business to acquire some of the land around the lakes and keep them "forever wild" under Article 14
Forest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
of the New York State Constitution. At that time the two lakes were separated by an earthen dam, and South Lake and the land east of North Lake beach were privately owned. The original campground consisted of 10 sites (there are currently 219 sites) and a small picnic area.
The beaches were added in 1936.
Eventually, the state was able to acquire all the land save that around the original Mountain House, which finally closed for good after a failed attempt to revive and relaunch it in 1940. After the war that, too, would come into state ownership.
While preservationist
Preservationist
Preservationist is generally understood to mean historic preservationist: one who advocates to preserve architecturally or historically significant buildings, structures, objects or sites from demolition or degradation...
s fought to save the remains of the Mountain House throughout the 1950s for their historical value, the policies under which Forest Preserve land was managed required the state to remove most structures on it, and they were becoming an attractive nuisance
Attractive Nuisance
Attractive Nuisance, released in 2000, is The Loud Family's fifth full length album. It featured the same line-up as on 1998's Days for Days...
as well. Accordingly, the Mountain House was razed one winter morning in 1963.
In the 1970s, the dam between the lakes was removed and a new dam built at the outlet of South Lake to create one large lake.
Today
Visitors can choose from a wide array of recreation, either waterborne or land-based. The most common activity is the same as it was in the days of the Mountain House ... hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
via the many trails to nearby points of interest such as the ruins of the Kaaterskill and the Mountain House, Kaaterskill Falls
Kaaterskill Falls
Kaaterskill Falls is a two-drop waterfall located near in the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York, on the north side of Kaaterskill Clove, between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County's Town of Hunter...
, Mary's Glen and its smaller waterfall, and the many views of the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
along the Escarpment Trail. The latter retain names from the 19th century such as "Artists' Rock." Some have etchings dating back to those days as well.
The hardiest visitors usually take in the trip up North Mountain
North Mountain (Catskills)
North Mountain is a peak in the Catskill Mountains of New York, on the border between the towns of Catskill and Hunter, in Greene County. It is part of the Catskill Escarpment....
to the views at North Point.
Closer to the ground, there are also many clever balanced-rock displays made by hotel guests. One rarely missed is Alligator Rock, in which a pair of glacial erratics that formed an open mouth had "teeth" added over the years so it looks like an alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
's open mouth.
DEC charges a $8 fee for day users of the campground between May and October.