With one of our occupational responsibilities being to drive to various locations throughout the Catskills, our director would remind us that we work in a beautiful place. He’d encourage the staff to leave enough time to enjoy the trip. Really, it’s just a matter of several minutes, either way, that would determine whether you were that singly focused driver that wished the car in front of you wasn’t there, or you were the one that would be taking it all in and letting that car pass.
Not waiting to the last minute clearly has its practical benefits but the deeper message here is positioning yourself so that the spirit flowing from the place not only communicates with you but moves you, even pulls you in, to a point of reverence that reflects why you are here. This reverence often seems to be missing nowadays, and not just by the hurried motorist. Yet, that point of divergence marked by the advent of the automobile is quite illustrative of our relationship with the Catskills. Revisiting some of the literature of the time is revealing, but perhaps its greatest enjoyment is in the language that delivers an inherent sense of appreciation for the Catskills.
In writing Our Catskill Mountains (1931), author H. A. Haring took special care to “tempt the visitor to do more than hurry through on the paved highways. He should tarry awhile. For, in order to taste the real enjoyment offered by these green-clad slopes and to experience the sheer delight of lovely mountain twilights, it is necessary to linger. And it is notable that those who do come, even for a brief weekend, return again and again for a deeper, and sweeter, draught from this fountain of health and wholesomeness.”
His thorough accounts render an accurate glimpse into what the roadside landscape was like along Catskill highways back in the day. Numerous “roadside fireplaces… for the convenience of automobile picnickers” were begun by the State Conservation Department (now DEC) in the 1920s. We also see at this time the state’s creation of five scenic driving routes in the Catskill and Shawangunk Mountains, including the Mohican Trail (Route 23), the Rip Van Winkle Trail (Route 23A), and the Onteora Trail (Route 28). Waring also notes the state’s more elaborate “fireplace camp-sites,” sometimes located 200 or 300 feet from a highway and even accommodating “as many as fifty or sixty persons at a time.”
Despite these amenities, Waring encourages exploration on the lesser-known roads:
“The visitor who drives over only the principal motoring routes will miss the best of Catskill scenery, those intimacies that can hardly be expected of the main highways, those close contacts of Nature and the mountains themselves that linger in the memory for months, even years, after the visit is ended. To drive directly through the Catskills is one experience; to motor rather leisurely to out-of-the-way spots, and through some of the ravines where space is barely enough for the car to pass between outjutting rocks, is quite another… for the Catskills abound in temptations to drive off from the boulevarded main highways. Miles of woodland wilds provide sun flecked glimpses into nature’s deep tranquility. These bits of unsullied beauty make the motorist forget the cares of yesterday...”
The next step for the present-day traveler is of course to leave enough time to stop, get out of the car, and explore. While this seldom seems to materialize due to the obligations of most any given trip, we nevertheless make note of certain locations that look inviting for some future visit – and we loosely promise ourselves. After pointing one of these places out to my family, they recently took the opportunity to visit the location - without me. It just worked out that way. And this was motivation – along with a picture of the waterfall they texted – for me to get there.
On the western outskirts of Delhi up Franklin Street, past the end of the sidewalk and near the crest of the hill, is Reservoir Park. The improvements to this site, including a stream restoration/ flood mitigation project, a new entry sign, a fresh road that swoops down toward Steele Brook, have caught peoples’ attention. Halfway through writing this column, I made it a point to visit Reservoir Park, no matter how much it kept raining. What I found – right on the heels of revisiting Our Catskill Mountains - was an interesting and related surprise, or so it seemed.
At the base of the entry road, I took a right and soon reached that glorious set of cascades for the first time. Above the site of the former dam, the meadowy expanse of the bygone reservoir set a pronounced contrast against the backdrop of the thick forest. Heading back through the t-intersection, the road pulled closer to the stream and lulled me farther into the ravine. The wooden guiderails, though obviously new, brought a sense of yesteryear, as if the road was an old highway, now resting from active duty as the cars passed above on the wet pavement. Soon the old road culminated at circular turnaround with four picnic tables next to the stream. This is the heart of Reservoir Park.
Had I found one of the old roadside fireplaces? The romantic part of me reveled in this possibility until a glance at some historical maps seemed to indicate that the road to the former Delhi Waterworks was not part of the regional motoring network. But a streamside picnic area it is, and a fine one at that. Owned by the village, it expresses the pattern that components of a water supply system become a public park. This is the case on a regional scale, where recreational opportunities compatible with watershed protection abound.
In many ways, the Catskills continue to invite us to duck out of the mainstream rush, pause for a moment, and absorb what the world around us has to say. Reflecting upon a time when roadside pull-offs were an integral part of Catskill touring is not too different than today. In the shadows of modern changes – we now have specific pull-off areas on the NYS Thruway for texting – there’s still another waterfall to be discovered in a place that moves at its own pace.
Last year, the now former of mayor of the village of Delhi Sridhar Samudrala proposed upgrades to the park at a meeting of the county board of supervisors. He shared the special nature of the park, explaining that he recently had friends visit from Virginia and they “spent the whole day down there.” That can happen, as we well know – in the Catskills.
Peter Manning is the executive director of the Catskill Mountain Club. To learn about CMC projects, events, membership, and to join the mailing list, visit catskillmountainclub.org
