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Minnewaska
Mountain
Houses
Lake Minnewaska
IS located on the summit of the Shawangunk Mountains, ten miles southwest of New Paltz, in Ulster County, New York. New Paltz, a station on the Wallkill Valley Railroad, is eighty-eight miles distant from New York; nine miles west of Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson, and fifteen miles southwest of Kingston. N.Y.
This lake, which is fed by springs and is very deep and clear as crystal, is held in a strikingly picturesque, rocky and well-wooded bowl, rising one hundred and fifty feet above the lake on the eastern side and sixty feet on the western, and from either edge the rocks tumble precipitously down to the Wallkill and Hudson River Valleys on the one side, and to the Rondout Valley on the other.
Minnewaska is now widely known as a summer resort:
Awosting
Falls
Within a mile of the lake are these picturesque falls, above sixty feet high; and about half a mile lower down, the same stream falls over one hundred feet by a series of pretty cascades.
The Great
Crevices
About three-quarters of a mile distant are a series of wonderful rents in the mountains over one hundred feet deep, some of the fissures being open to the light and others covered.
Millbrook
Mountains
One and three-fourths miles from the lake are the Millbrook Mountains, where the cliffs are in some places perpendicular, and in others over-hanging the rocks five hundred feet below. The views here are remarkably grand and impressive.
The
Palmaghatt
Still nearer, in a deep glen of the mountain, is the Palmaghatt, where is a large forest of massive primeval hemlocks. To all these and many other strange and picturesque places, good walks have been constructed, and a large number of covered seats and summer-houses have been built. Three drives have been built recently to Millbrook Mountains, Kempton Ledge, and Beacon Hill.
Awosting
Lake
Since last season over two thousand acres adjoining Minnewaska have been added to the estate, which now covers above five thousand acres of land. This new tract includes the magnificent Awosting Lake, having four times the extent of Lake Minnewaska; also the lofty High Point; the bold Hamilton Ledge, several miles long and several hundred feet in perpendicular height; the picturesque Stonykill Falls, ninety-five feet high, and much other strange scenery peculiar to the Shawangunk Mountains.
New
Roads
A fine road, three and one-half miles long, has been built from Minnewaska to Awosting Lake, passing through the wild Huntington Ravine . During the spring and summer this road will be extended around the lake four and one-half miles farther. Another road has been built through the Palmaghatt to the edge of Hamilton Ledge. All these roads are of very easy grades, being for the most part nearly level, and are specially adapted to the use of the bicycle.
Approaches to
Minnewaska
The Highland & New Paltz Electric Railroad will make good connections with New York Central and West Shore trains at Poughkeepsie and Highland.
After the summer time-tables are arranged, schedules of trains, etc., will be sent on application.
Tickets from New York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia will be sold to and from New Paltz, and baggage checked through.
Parties wishing to inspect the rooms in May will be met at the train upon proper notice being given, and when wishing to stay over night, can be comfortably accommodated at one of the houses.
The Cliff House
Opened in 1879 and enlarged in 1881, will accommodate about two hundred and twenty-five guests.
This house is located on the eastern side of the lake on a commanding height, eighteen hundred feet above tide-water, or nearly as high as the Catskill Mountain House; and from nearly every room in the hotel there are magnificent valley and mountain views, taking in the mountains of New Jersey on the south; the highlands of the Hudson and Newburg Bay to the southeast; the Housatonic Mountains of Connecticut to the east; the whole line of the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts and the Green Mountains of Vermont to the northeast; the Helderberg Mountains to the north; the bold outline of the Catskills and the Shandaken Mountains to the northwest: and the Neversink and Shawangunk Hills to the west. The views embrace several river valleys, including the valley of the Hudson from Cornwall to the mountains about Lake George. From the cupola of this house six States can be seen at one view.
To accommodate the constantly increasing patronage, a new hotel was opened in 1887 on the western edge of this rocky rim, called the
Wildmere house
This is somewhat larger than the Cliff House, and commands very similar views. The Wildmere is lighted with gas, the halls are heated by furnaces, while the rooms, both public and private, are mostly provided with open fireplaces for burning the resinous mountain pine that abounds in this region. A large portion of the rooms in both houses are provided with private balconies.
Reading Rooms.
In each house is a large and well-lighted reading-room, containing all the leading English and American monthly and quarterly periodicals and weekly and daily papers, and also a carefully selected library of books for reading and reference.
Postal and Telegraph Offices
Will be open during the season at the lake. Telegrams should be addressed to Lake Minnewaska, N. Y., and letters to Minnewaska P. O., Ulster County, N. Y.
A Good Physician
Will reside permanently at the lake.
The Wildmere house
Opens June 15th and closes October 1st to 10th.
The Cliff house
Opens June 29th and closes about September 15th.
Both Minnewaska houses
Will be kept on a strictly TEMPERANCE PLAN. The same arrangements with regard to meats, fruits, cream, etc., that have made the table so satisfactory for the past nineteen years, have been made for the coming season.
Visitors
Are not expected to arrive or depart on Sunday.
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