“Nowadays if the electricity goes out, we’re completely helpless. The engineers left not a trace of the civilization they conquered.

And so in the fall of 1917 a great celebration took place. Along the way, you might see bald eagles or deer on the forested slopes that surround the trail. It became customary for locals to drive to the camp on Sundays to inspect their odd new neighbors. I’m not saying we should go backwards, but I do think it’s important to understand that people didn’t always live the way we do today.” Eleven villages were forcibly evacuated and burned to the ground to make room for the 8,300-acre body of water — at the time, the world’s largest reservoir. My mother had fond memories of that area as a child… and never really got over… the hurt of losing the land, home, friends.” As Bob Steuding, a humanities professor at Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge, wrote in his fine history, The Last of the Handmade Dams: The Story of the Ashokan Reservoir (Purple Mountain Press, $12.50), the reservoir destroyed the independent character of a rural place and people. A workers’ camp rapidly arose on the southern slope of Winchell Hill near the town of Brown’s Station. The region’s other industry, tourism, also declined drastically: Once the city had a clean source of water, residents no longer felt impelled to migrate to the Catskills’ boarding houses every summer. Compounding the bitterness, according to Steuding, was the fact that awards made to property owners had varied considerably.

New customers also meant new business models: Local doctors vied with urban M.D.s to administer such cures as amputation for on-the-job leg or arm wounds. Displacing entire towns, removing every living thing, and the graveyards too, is an amazing story!

Thousands of acres of farmland vanished under the new, man-made Ashokan Reservoir. It was only after he grew interested in the history of the dam, and began poking around — literally digging through old boxes in library broom closets — that Steuding realized how much had been lost. The ART can be accessed from three public trailheads: Woodstock Dike Trailhead located at 1285 NY-28 in West Hurley. “An old, successful way of life, rooted in unanimity of purpose and the shared values of self-sufficiency and community, had come to an abrupt and disrupting end. The first of five Catskills reservoirs, the Ashokan project remains a work of integrity, of great engineering skill and even beauty, given its careful siting in a natural glacial bowl created by the last Ice Age.

The watershed area is just over 300 square miles in Greene County. The engineers left not a trace of the civilization they conquered. It was the worst of times for the Catskills. © 2020 New York Department of Economic Development There were Southern blacks who’d journeyed north to ride the big wagons hauled by mules. Steuding recognizes that, for all its painful history, today the reservoir is unquestionably an asset to the area: It preserves open space and provides recreation. Another reservoir in the Catskills is 27 miles north of the Ashokan. By continuing to use our site you agree to our  This is pure mythology — or perhaps wishful thinking. Thousands of acres of farmland vanished under the new, man-made Ashokan Reservoir. Steuding recognizes that, for all its painful history, today the reservoir is unquestionably an asset to the area: It preserves open space and provides recreation.
It was the best of times for New York City. The region’s other industry, tourism, also declined drastically: Once the city had a clean source of water, residents no longer felt impelled to migrate to the Catskills’ boarding houses every summer. According to Steuding, in the area that became the West Basin of the reservoir, there had been 504 dwellings, nine blacksmith shops, 35 stores, 10 churches, 10 schools, seven sawmills and a gristmill. Fishing by permit.

There are 2 parking lots wher you can hike from. Easy money, but it didn’t last long. The Ashokan Reservoir today In sum, four towns were submerged while eight were relocated to build the Ashokan Reservoir.


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