Author: Stephen M. Silverman Publisher: Knopf ISBN: 1101875887 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 466
Book Description
The Catskills (“Cat Creek” in Dutch), America’s original frontier, northwest of New York City, with its seven hundred thousand acres of forest land preserve and its five counties—Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, Ulster, Schoharie; America’s first great vacationland; the subject of the nineteenth-century Hudson River School paintings that captured the almost godlike majesty of the mountains and landscapes, the skies, waterfalls, pastures, cliffs . . . refuge and home to poets and gangsters, tycoons and politicians, preachers and outlaws, musicians and spiritualists, outcasts and rebels . . . Stephen Silverman and Raphael Silver tell of the turning points that made the Catskills so vital to the development of America: Henry Hudson’s first spotting the distant blue mountains in 1609; the New York State constitutional convention, resulting in New York’s own Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and its own constitution, causing the ire of the invading British army . . . the Catskills as a popular attraction in the 1800s, with the construction of the Catskill Mountain House and its rugged imitators that offered WASP guests “one-hundred percent restricted” accommodations (“Hebrews will knock vainly for admission”), a policy that remained until the Catskills became the curative for tubercular patients, sending real-estate prices plummeting and the WASP enclave on to richer pastures . . . Here are the gangsters (Jack “Legs” Diamond and Dutch Schultz, among them) who sought refuge in the Catskill Mountains, and the resorts that after World War II catered to upwardly mobile Jewish families, giving rise to hundreds of hotels inspired by Grossinger’s, the original “Disneyland with knishes”—the Concord, Brown’s Hotel, Kutsher’s Hotel, and others—in what became known as the Borscht Belt and Sour Cream Alps, with their headliners from movies and radio (Phil Silvers, Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle, et al.), and others who learned their trade there, among them Moss Hart (who got his start organizing summer theatricals), Sid Caesar, Lenny Bruce, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Joan Rivers. Here is a nineteenth-century America turning away from England for its literary and artistic inspiration, finding it instead in Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and his childhood recollections (set in the Catskills) . . . in James Fenimore Cooper’s adventure-romances, which provided a pastoral history, describing the shift from a colonial to a nationalist mentality . . . and in the canvases of Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Frederick Church, and others that caught the grandeur of the wilderness and that gave texture, color, and form to Irving’s and Cooper’s imaginings. Here are the entrepreneurs and financiers who saw the Catskills as a way to strike it rich, plundering the resources that had been likened to “creation,” the Catskills’ tanneries that supplied the boots and saddles for Union troops in the Civil War . . . and the bluestone quarries whose excavated rock became the curbs and streets of the fast-growing Eastern Seaboard. Here are the Catskills brought fully to life in all of their intensity, beauty, vastness, and lunacy.
Author: Allison Serrell Publisher: Chronicle Books ISBN: 0811844668 Category : House & Home Languages : en Pages : 204
Book Description
It has been called America's Loire Valley, the Napa Valley of the East, and the new Hamptons. Deemed by the US Congress "the landscape that defined America," New York's Hudson River Valley is a region rich in history, boasting exceptional architecture, celebrity residents, lush landscapes, and a burgeoning art and cultural scene. Each year, 50 million visitors flock to the counties along the river to escape the frenzy of city living and to rejuvenate in quiet, idyllic surroundings. Many stay and buy second homes, and many more dream about it. At Home in the Hudson Valley takes an intimate tour of 20 exceptional dwellings, including Karim Rashids Carl Koch Tech Built house in Croton on Hudson, an original Marcel Breuer home in Salt Point, and architect Peter Franck's celebrated residence with its breathtaking views of the Catskills. Magnificent color photographs (250 in all), an extensive resource list, and map of the region make this a gorgeous visual excursion and valuable resource for residents and tourists alike.
Author: Larry Tompkins Publisher: ISBN: 9781883789756 Category : Catskill Mountains (N.Y.) Languages : en Pages : 256
Book Description
Over 400 illustrations culled from the author's remarkable collection of historic Catskill Mountain photographs, maps, and ephemera document the visual record of the Greene County villages of Windham, Prattsville, Ashland, Big Hollow (Maplecrest), Hensonville, and their outlying settlements such as East Windham, Union Society, Red Falls, Brook Lynne, and North Settlement from the 1890s through the 1940s. Settled shortly after the Revolution, these Catskill mountaintop communities began as a scattering of subsistence farms and mill towns harvesting forest resources. In the early 1800s turnpikes brought commerce and travelers, and the seeds were sown for what would become one of the premier summer vacation venues in Upstate New York. That hospitality tradition continues today as the region has become a year-round vacation destination with one of New York¿s largest and finest ski areas. Nearly forty years ago, Larry Tompkins, a seventh-generation resident of Greene County¿s Catskill mountaintop community, began collecting antique photographs, postcards and ephemera¿business cards, invoices, bills of sale, advertisements¿of the northern Catskill Mountains. Over the years that collection grew to become one of the most remarkable records of community life to be found anywhere in the Catskill Mountain region. The 400 photographs, maps, and ephemera in this book are just a sample.
Author: Peter Kick Publisher: ISBN: 9780881505788 Category : Sports & Recreation Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
A new installment of the bicycling series profiles less-traveled and quieter roads and byways accessible from New York City, in a traveler's reference to the Hudson Valley and Catskills that provides mile-by-mile directions, accessible maps, and a wealth of historical, cultural, and natural information. Original.
Author: Joanne Michaels Publisher: The Countryman Press ISBN: 0881508233 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 465
Book Description
Details the attractions, historic sites, accommodations, restaurants, and outdoor activities of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains.
Author: Joanne Michaels Publisher: The Countryman Press ISBN: 1581577214 Category : Travel Languages : en Pages : 520
Book Description
The bestselling and most complete guide to the gorgeous Hudson Valley is back in a new, totally revised edition. Rich with historical and cultural attractions and natural beauty, the Hudson Valley has become a choice getaway. Local author Joanne Michaels guides you through its treasure trove of restaurants, cozy inns, galleries, antiques shops, and wineries, and to its many outdoor activities. Completely revised; from the most respected travel writer in the region.
Author: Gregory R. Long Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications ISBN: Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 264
Book Description
Overlooking the majestic Hudson River, the Hudson Valley has long been a favored place to live. Historic Houses of the Hudson River Valley is a sumptuous presentation of 33 houses in the region, ranging from the earliest Dutch cottages still extant to the grand Gothic and Italianate revival, stately Georgian, Federal, and beaux-arts country homes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Author: Stephen M. Silverman
Author: Roland Van Zandt
Author: Washington Irving
Author: Allison Serrell
Author: Larry Tompkins
Author: Peter Kick
Author: Joanne Michaels
Author: Joanne Michaels
Author: Gregory R. Long
Author: Norman James Van Valkenburgh