Mount Tremper
Mount Tremper | |
---|---|
Timothyberg, Tremper Mountain | |
![]() Mount Tremper from Route 28 to southeast | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 2,740 ft (840 m)[1] |
Prominence | 300 ft (91 m) |
Coordinates | 42°4′27″N 74°16′39″W / 42.07417°N 74.27750°W[1] |
Geography | |
Location | Shandaken, New York, United States |
Parent range | Catskills |
Topo map | Phoenicia |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Trail/road |
Mount Tremper, officially known as Tremper Mountain and originally called Timothyberg, is one of the
At 2,740 feet (840 m) in elevation, it is well below the higher peaks of the region. Its slopes were a source of two major local products during the 19th century: hemlock bark, a source of tannin, and bluestone used in construction. Later it was the site of Tremper House, one of the Catskills' earliest railroad resorts. Henry Ward Beecher and Oscar Wilde were among the guests there.
In the 20th century it was acquired by the state and became part of the
Geography
Tremper is a sprawling mountain at the south end of a range of low-elevation peaks between Warners Creek and Silver Hollow on the north, Stony Clove Creek on the west, Esopus Creek on the southwest and the Beaver Kill on the southeast. The latter three are closely paralleled by state highways 214, 28 and 212. Its summit dominates the view from westbound Route 28 at the small hamlet of Mount Tremper.[1]
The mountain's lower slopes are gentle, becoming steep around 2,200 feet (670 m) and then leveling off again at the summit ridge. Unnamed tributaries of the surrounding creeks run down narrow valleys on the mountain's slopes. The summit ridge continues northeast to an unnamed summit and then Carl Mountain, both higher than Tremper at 2,820 feet (860 m) and 2,880 feet (880 m) respectively.[1]
![A topographic map with brown contour lines on a green and white background with red, blue and yellow routes overlaid along with black and white icons. Three roads alongside the edge of the map have signs with the numbers 28, 212 and 214.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Mount_Tremper_map.png/300px-Mount_Tremper_map.png)
Most of the mountain is within the Town of Shandaken, whose largest population center, the hamlet of Phoenicia, is at the southwest foot of the mountain. Another smaller settlement named after the mountain is to its south. A small portion of the mountain's lowest eastern slopes is within Woodstock.[1] Most of the land on the mountain is part of the Phoenicia Wild Forest management unit of New York's Forest Preserve, part of the Catskill Park. The rest, including most of the slower slopes, is privately owned.[3] The public land is managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).[4]
Geology
Like the Catskills as a whole, a
Flora and fauna
Because of its low elevation, the forests on Mount Tremper are dominated by a forest type referred to in the Catskills as southern hardwoods.
Tremper has a typical assortment of animal life for the Catskills. Herbivores such as
History
Tremper's human history has two stages. For the century after the area's first settlement it was primarily an economic resource, sustaining several industries. Since the end of that period it has become a recreational resource.
1780–1900: Barkpeeling, quarrying and hotels
The mountain was first known as Timothyberg, in the vernacular of the early Dutch settlers of the Catskills. The area was first settled in the 1780s. Its location near the creeks and valleys made it ideal for barkpeeling, the first major industry of the Catskills. Bark from the many eastern hemlocks on its slopes was a rich source of tannin, and leather hides were often brought to the region to be tanned. The creek valley made it possible to easily transport them to and from the Hudson River at Kingston to the east, and the later development of the Ulster and Delaware Railroad (UDRR) made it even easier. The road up the south side of the mountain, which forest historian Michael Kudish calls the best example of an extant bark road in the Catskills, was built for this purpose. By the end of the century, since a synthetic process for creating tannin had made it less necessary to harvest large acres of forest, it was being used for quarrying instead.[6]
The railroad made another industry possible at that time. In 1879, after hotelier Jacob Tremper opened the Tremper House, a resort on its slopes near Phoenicia, that part of the mountain became known by his name,[10] He invited a number of prominent clergymen of the time to its dedication. Henry Ward Beecher, the main speaker, asked for God's blessing on the location and predicted a prosperous future.[11] Another celebrity guest, Oscar Wilde, shocked the region during a lecture at the Tremper House in 1882 when he proclaimed its location at the foot of the mountain aesthetically preferable to those of hotels such as the Catskill Mountain House located on mountaintops since in valleys, "there the picturesque and beautiful is ever before you".[12]
It remained in business until 1904, when the town, under pressure from UDRR magnate Samuel Coykendall, who owned several competing resorts, rescinded permission for it to become a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. Coykendall, and other hoteliers in the region, alleged that tourists would avoid the region if those patients were present anywhere within it.[13] The vacant hotel burned down four years later, in 1908, and was never rebuilt.[6]
A decade earlier, the legislation that created the state's
1900–present: Hiking destination
The Timothyberg side of the mountain was regularly burned over by
In 1921 the state bought more of the mountain, allowing it to designate the road as a hiking
This trail system remained unchanged for most of the mid-20th century, save for the construction of a new lower section of trail and a trailhead about 0.3 mile (500 m) east of the foot of the road just outside Phoenicia. When the dormant idea of the Long Path was revived in the 1960s, the trail over Tremper was included. A wayward campfire led in 1966 to a wildfire that burned 10 acres (4 ha) just below the summit. Four years later the state closed the tower.[6]
In 1976 the state purchased some more land along the trail and built another lean-to at 2,100 feet (640 m), along the trail below the summit. The next year the tower's two support structures, the observer's cabin and a storage shed, were removed. These were the last significant changes to facilities on Tremper for two decades.[6]
At the end of the century interest in
Access
The Phoenicia Trail, part of the
Less used is the approach from the northeast via the Willow Trail. Its yellow markers begin at the intersection of Jessup and Silver Hollow roads in Willow. It follows Jessup for a mile (1.6 km) before turning into the woods and ascending the south wall of Hoyt Hollow 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to its end at the blue-blazed Warners Creek Trail (also the Long Path). From there the summit and fire tower are 2.2 miles (3.5 km) to the south. This route requires less vertical ascent (1,640 feet (500 m)) but is longer (3.8 miles (6.1 km)). Hikers sometimes park cars at both Willow and Phoenicia to do a 7-mile (10.2 km) shuttle hike across the mountain.[17]
The Warners Creek Trail also makes a long approach possible from Stony Clove Notch to the north. It is 7.6 miles (12.2 km) from the parking area on Route 214 to Tremper's summit, with the trail going over one mountain and up the north slope of Tremper from Warners Creek.[18]
See also
- List of mountains in New York
References
- ^ ISBN 0-607-94760-8. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
- ^ a b Adams 1990, p. 316.
- ^ ISBN 1-880775-46-8.
- ^ "Lower Hudson Valley - Region 3". New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. 2010. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
- ^ Titus 1993, pp. 22–34.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Kudish 2000, pp. 144–148.
- ^ a b Kudish 2000, pp. 34–43.
- ^ a b Kick 2006, pp. 168–171.
- ^ a b Chazin 2000, pp. 237–238.
- ^ a b Annual report, Issue 7. Albany, New York: New York State Forest, Fish and Game Commission. 1902. p. 54. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
- ^ Evers 1972, p. 484.
- ^ Evers 1972, p. 511.
- ^ Evers 1972, p. 675.
- ^ Podskosch 2000, p. 59.
- ^ Herring, Hubert (November 5, 2000). "Phoenicia Journal; Great Views, and a Peek Into the Past". The New York Times. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places listings October 5, 2001". National Park Service. October 5, 2001. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
- ^ White & White 2002, pp. 96–97.
- ISBN 1-880775-31-X.
Bibliography
- Adams, Arthur (1990). The Catskills: An Illustrated Historical Guide With Gazetteer. New York, NY: ISBN 0-8232-1301-3.
- Chazin, Daniel (2000). New York Walk Book. ISBN 1880775301.
- ISBN 0-87951-162-1.
- Kick, Peter (2006). AMC's Best Day Hikes in the Catskills & Hudson Valley. ISBN 1-929173-84-9.
- ISBN 1-930098-02-2.
- Podskosch, Martin (2000). Fire Towers of the Catskills: Their History and Lore. ISBN 1-930098-10-3.
- Titus, Robert (1993). The Catskills: A Geological Guide. ISBN 0-935796-40-1.
- White, Carol; White, David (2002). Catskill Day Hikes for All Seasons. ISBN 0-935272-54-2.
External links
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