Algonquin Park, Landscape of Ruins. Newburgh, N.Y. Orange County Park Series #2

Algonquin Park truly is ruin heaven!
Once known as Orange Mills, this modern day park is a great place to discover how past industries operated and thrived.

42 acres of Newburgh history, playground, picnic areas , three ponds and plenty of hiking trails, wildlife and a waterfall.  

     Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this park affords both passive and active recreation in a historic setting that feels much like an outdoor museum or sculpture park. This park is a beautiful setting among the ruins of Civil War era powder mill buildings for hiking or family picnicking.
     Named in recognition of it’s historic Native American connections by Colonel Fredric Delano in 1934 when he gifted the property to the city of Newburgh. Orange County obtained the park from the city of Newburgh in 1978 due to financial burdens.
    Since 1936, the park’s softball and soccer fields have been available to the general public. Although swimming is not permitted, fishing is allowed with a required NYS Fishing license. Handicap access is available. Group picnic and event areas require a permit which can be obtained by contacting the Park Administration Office at (845)615-3830.

Sign reads, “Dynamite And Blasting Supplies”

     Towns grow up around industry and water. In the town of Newburgh, the black powder mills along Quassaick Creek operated "the most complete and extensive works in the country", according to a statement made by local historian Edward Ruttenber.
     The Quassaick Creek Watershed was a vital part and the main reason for the gun powder industry that once operated on this piece of land. It provided a natural power supply to run the machinery that powered the mills. This watershed covers the drainage areas of the Quassaick Creek and it's primary tributaries, the Bushfield Creek and Gidneytown Creek. These creeks are in the towns of Plattekill, Marlborough, Newburgh and New Windsor including the city of Newburgh.

     

Quassaick Creek

      The Orange Mill Historic District is the only historic district in the Town of Newburgh in Orange County New York.  Known today as Algonquin Park it is a public county park. It is located on the corners of Powder Mill Rd. and N.Y. Rt. 52, just a mile northwest of the city of Newburgh and bordering the hamlet of Gardnertown.

     This area takes it’s name from the gunpowder mill industry that was built by Asa Taylor in 1815. It was operated by the Laflin & Rand Powder Company after 1869.  All operations ceased by 1901.

          The powder mill operated here still ranks as one of the more successful enterprises in it’s field of industry. From humble beginnings when black powder was produced on a small scale, the plant expanded and improved until it was processed  nearly two million pounds of gunpowder at full capacity.

     Because of the nature of it’s product, gunpowder, Orange Mills was built to withstand destruction by accidental explosion. Workers in the wooded areas along Powder Mill Rd. used painstakingly carefulness in preparing volatile ingredients that were refined into gunpowder which they then packed and shipped around the country.

     Wood and copper tools were used to avoid sparks and stone structures were built with thick walls to redirect any explosive forces. Accidents were inevitably unavoidable and the mill survived twenty explosions during it’s operations. Many of which were heard and felt many miles away.

Trolly track was used to transport supplies and end products. 

 In an almost fairytale like setting, Algonquin park is a great place to introduce kids to the wonder of exploring tangible history.

Water entry in one of the turbines.

I hope you will find this park as fascinating as I have.  If you plan to visit, please check out the link below for the Orange County Parks Department website to learn more.

https://www.orangecountygov.com/1463/Algonquin-Park

     

Washington Headquarters. Newburgh, N.Y.

Washington’s Headquarters 2020 Women in History!

Every year by January 10th, the Newburgh located State Historic Site accepts nominations for the 2020 Martha Washington Woman of History Award.

Washington’s Headquarters selects a recipient for this award and is given to a woman who is distinguished in the field of Hudson Valley history. This honor is presented at the Site’s annual program, The General’s Lady held in March during Women’s History Month. The Woman of History award acknowledges Martha Washington’s important place in our history as a devoted patriot in support of the American Revolution and our budding nation.

18th century engraving looking south down the Hudson River , West Point to the  right in distance.

  Let’s start at the very beginning and talk about what Washington’s Headquarter’s really was, a private home.  It was the residence of Colonel Johnathan Hasbrouck and his wife Tryntje Dubois.

     

     Built in 1750 by Col. Hasbrouck on a gentle rise overlooking the Hudson River, two additions to enlarge the house were added later in 1770.  During the Revolutionary War, Tryntje Dubois Hasbrouck rented the house to General George Washington. The house became his headquarters from April 1782 until August 1783 and for a year’s time Washington’s wife Martha lived in the house..

Interpreter standing beside what is said to be George Washington’s  actual desk.

      

     Washington’s Headquarters is located at 84 Liberty St. in Newburgh, N.Y. and is the oldest house in said city. This property was acquired by New York State in 1850 and became the first ever publicly operated historic site in the country. The first substantial restoration work on the Hasbrouck House began in 1912 and has been continuous throughout the years. As new information and technologies have become available, the house’s integrity has remained steadfast and true to it’s most accurate original form.

approx. 1900

     The very first fieldstone house on this spot may have been built in 1725 by Burger Mynderse and later the property was sold to Elsie Hasbrouck. She turned it over to her son Jonathan and his wife Catherine (Tryntje) Dubois and they built the structure we see today. Using the original footprint and foundation if any still existed, this work was done in 1750.

     The house was surrounded by stock farms in what is now hard to imagine as quite expansive and open countryside. Existing buildings such as stables and barns also occupied the property. Hasbrouck house is endeared to me especially for not only it’s million dollar view, but it’s original to structure “Dutch Jambless” fireplace. This is an open floor plan fire “pit” or platform, sideless, no walls and without flue between base and ceiling height where smoke is drafted out through the chimney located directly above the platform.

Dutch Jambless fireplace.

     The brick museum filled with artifacts was built 1910. An exploration of this fantastic museum entices one to spend quite possibly hours upon hours cross referencing protected artifacts to the electronic catalog system. Great fun for kids! This award winning exhibit, Unpacked & Rediscovered: Selections from Washington’s Headquarters’ Collection features over 1,300 objects highlighting the headquarter’s diverse collections.

Easy self research!

Museum on south lawn at Washington’s Headquarters.

“The Minuteman” by Henry Hudson Kitson. Erected, Nov. 11, 1924.

     While visiting, please take the tour of the Tower of Victory that dates back to 1887. The 132 year old monument to peace has been reopened as of April 27, 2019.  I attended  the ribbon cutting on that blustery, winter like spring day, celebrating it’s use to the public for the first time since 1953. The ceremony was lovely, capped off with my very first entry into the tower. The walk up the spiral staircase to the belvedere at the top afforded a beautiful view of the surrounding neighborhood, including  north to south view of the Hudson River. Most interestingly, an eastern view of Mt. Beacon where Revolutionary War fires were lit to signal approaching British ships.

      The 53ft tall limestone monument has four large archways. An atrium and two decorative iron spiral stairs in it’s northern corners. Both leading to the top of the structure. A red granite pedestal  with a life size bronze statue of George Washington, sculpted by William Rudolf O’Donovan. The construction of the tower commemorated the end of the Revolutionary War 100 years earlier. The well known architect commissioned in 1883 was John Hemenway Duncan. Secretary of War Robert T. Lincoln, the first son of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary, designated this tower to be built honoring the place where Washington created the Purple Heart medal. It was completed in 1887.

View of one spiral staircase from the other!

Looking down on the bronze statue of George Washington.

View south from the belvadere .

The Tower of Victory.

Please visit Washington’s Headquarters soon. It’s a full day or part time research. Enjoy the large open lawn, stretch out, take pictures, paint or just go for a walk. Take the tour, bring the kids. No doubt they will be fully engaged!
When you’re finished or just want to take a break, there are several nice places to eat along Liberty St. that are within easy walking distance of the museum.

https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/17/details.aspx

Storm King State Park. Cornwall on Hudson, N.Y.

Gratitude is not only the memory but the homage of the heart rendered to God for his goodness.

-Nathanial Parker Willis

   Although these words were spoken long ago, they mean everything to this conscious local whose parents joined the fight for better or worse over this beautiful mountain.

 Environmental politics were in turmoil in the 1960’s.  Something N.P.  Willis did not have to bear in his life as a 19th century writer when he settled near what the early Dutch described as a “ lump of butter rising above the Hudson River”. Originally named “Butter Hill”, hence the prior description, Willis suggested the mountain be renamed “Storm King”. In his day, clouds descending it’s slopes in the early morning were considered “the most sure fire teller of a storm”. 

     In my time we may not refer to the mountain as a meteorologist, but we can refer to it as a strong landmark by thwarting a most significant environmental disaster we could have ever imagined. The was year 1962, and Consolidated Edison announced plans to build a hydropower plant carved into the side of this mountain.

     Storm King Mountain became a pioneer in the environmental movement and set a precedent in the turbulent  fight that ensued to protect this mountain culminating in the “Storm King Doctrine “.  By becoming a legal instrument for scenic preservation this mountain caused the American conscience to reach it’s highest level inciting Pres. Lyndon Johnson to pledge in his 1965 state of the union address, “ to end the poisoning of our rivers and the air we breath”.

     The magnificent terrain of Storm King Mountain was originally preserved by Dr. Ernest Stillman, a New York physician. In 1922 he gave approximately 700 acres in Storm King Clove to the Palisades Park Commission, (PIPC), to ensure the preservation of the beautiful surroundings of the old Storm King Highway, known to most as Rt. 218. This tract of land now forms the foreground to the eastward view from the present Storm King Highway (U.S. Rt. 9W), before turning west in it’s decent towards Cornwall.

     The ruins on the mountain you see are usually a mystery to most. How they came to be is a true “rags to riches” story. Built by Albrecht Pagenstetcher Jr. in 1905, this once well maintained estate boasted a 20-room home named “ Upyonda” on the Storm King Property at the end of a winding, switchback driveway that is just over a mile long. The entrance of which remains flanked by two stone pillars guarding the entrance off the Mountain Rd. side of the yellow Stillman Trail.

     Albrecht Jr.’s father, was an influential businessman in the latter part of the 19th century. He brought revolutionary technology to the American paper industry in 1866. Together with his cousins, Alberto and Rudolf they purchased the rights to the Voelter patent for making paper from ground wood.

     Storm King Mountain is quite majestic indeed. At the northernmost part of the Highlands, the mountain is one of the most striking along the Hudson River. It’s looming eastern end rising sharply in sheer walls from the river to well over 1,300 feet. It’s rugged sides dropping sharply along the fault line that forms it’s steep northern walls, this mountain offers spectacularly fine views of the river.

Storm King park is open from dawn until dusk year round.

Hunting and camping not allowed.

Dogs are allowed but only on a 6ft. leash, and please pick up after them.

There are no garbage cans, please take care of your own garbage and take it out with you.

If you hike in the winter please be aware that the Stillman yellow trail on the north side of the mountain can be treacherous, sometimes choked with snow drifts and ice is there most of the cold months and can stay until March.

https://parks.ny.gov/parks/152/hunting.aspx