It is almost impossible to outlive one’s welcome in the Catskill Mountains, or to wear one’s self out with sight seeing, so many are the novelties which greet the gaze.  The Catskills are abounding with traditions quite as interesting and extraordinary as the Rip Van Winkle story.  They were known originally as the “Mountains of the Sky,” a name given them by the Indians, who for so many generations held them in undisputed possession.  Hyde Peak, the loftiest point in the Catskills, was regarded by the Indians as the throne of the Great Spirit, and the Dutch settlers who crowded out the Indians seem to have been almost as generous in their superstitions and legends.  These settlers dropped the name, “Mountains of the Sky,” and adopted the, to them, more euphonic one of the Katzberg Mountains, from which the more modern name has been adopted.

The village of Catskill deserves more than a passing notice.  It is the home of a large number of well-known people, including the widows of many men whose names are famous in history.  The old Livingston Manor was located near the village, and a little farther down is Barrytown, where the wealthy Astors have a palatial summer resort.  A little farther down the river are two towns with a distinctly ancient and Dutch aspect.  They were settled by the Dutch over two hundred years ago, and there are many houses still standing which were built last century, so strongly did our forefathers construct their homes, and make them veritable castles and impregnable fortresses.

Another very old town on the Hudson is the celebrated seat of learning, Poughkeepsie.  Of this, it has been said that there is more tuition to the square inch than in any other town in the world.  The most celebrated of the educational institutions at this point is the Vassar College, the first ladies’ seminary in the world, and the butt of so many jokes and sarcasms.  Poughkeepsie is not quite as old as the hills above it, but it is exceedingly ancient.  Here was held the celebrated State convention for the ratification of the Federal Constitution, in which Alexander Hamilton, Governor Clinton, and John Jay, and other men of immortal names took part.

It is only comparatively recently that the first stone building erected in this town was torn down, to make room for improvements, after it had weathered storm and time in the most perfect manner for more than a century and a quarter.  At Newburgh, a few miles farther south, an old gray mansion is pointed out to the visitor as Washington’s headquarters on several occasions during the Revolution.  Fortunately, the State has secured possession of the house and protects it from the hands of the vandal.

This wonderful old house was built just a century and a half ago.  A hundred and twelve years ago Washington’s army finally disbanded from this point, and the visitor can see within the well-preserved walls of this house the historical room, with its seven doors, within which Washington and his generals held their numerous conferences, and in which there are still to be found almost countless relics of the Revolutionary War.