Abandoned homes on Catkill trails

[Adk_dib]

It seems that everytime I hike a trail in the Catskills, I run into a stone fence or house outline in the middle of nowhere. They are usually 1000 feet or more up. I don't see the same in the adirondack's. Is it becouse the rich cats from the city wanted to get away from it all ?

 

[Rivet]

I don't think they were "rich". More likely early settlers who lived off the land.
The stone fences were boundary lines usually.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I don't think they were "rich". More likely early settlers who lived off the land.
The stone fences were boundary lines usually.

They were subsistence farmers who were relocated during the Great depression in many cases. The soil was very poor and the government paid for them to move to places with better soil.

 

[Jay H]

Also, after the early revolutionary wars with the europeans, etc., the army generals, elisted, etc, would also have been given land in the catskills for their service to the army... Since the catskills were fairly populated before places further north and from the hudson/NYC, the catskills were early settlers for the ex-europeans.

Jay

 

[Mark Schaefer]

You find similar stone fences and stone house ruins all over southern New England, southern New York, Pennsylvania, and points to the south. These were areas where settlers tried to make a go at farming on thin and/or poor soils. The stone fences were built as much to clear the fields of nuisance stones as they were to create/mark field and property boundaries. Areas in northern New England and northern New York were less temperate and less productive so they were settled less.

As new lands opened in western states these farmers moved on to find better opportunities. Over time these farms reverted to mixed hardwood and hemlock forests. In the Catskills and during the CCC era some of the recently abandoned farm fields became the sites of red pine and Norway spruce reforestation areas. So now you will find many stone walls running through mature and climax forests.

Many Catskill trails follow old roads, so you do see these abandoned farms along the trails. But you will also find many more such old farm sites on other old roads throughout the Catskills.

 

[Puck]

As pointed out the Catskill are may have been impacted by the same trends that hit New England. The Northeast did have a large displacement of populations from rural areas to the new industrial areas. This migration started in the 1860's.

One trend that affected Vermont much earlier was the Merino wool explosion (insert "sis boom baa" joke here) IICR in 1830-1840s. The industry provided wool for the textile mills in Southern NH and MA. Then the wool industry moved west and farms in VT collapsed. Perhaps a similar event happened in the Catskills.

another industry that was popular in CT was making charcol for foundries. I think there was a change in the smelting methods and use of coal brought this industry down....There are still remnants in the CT forests.

 

[Chip]

another industry that was popular in CT was making charcol for foundries. I think there was a change in the smelting methods and use of coal brought this industry down....There are still remnants in the CT forests.

From the pictures I've seen, the Northwest of CT looked like a scene from Lord of the Rings - and not the pretty mountain scenes, I'm talking about the foundries, smoke and cleared forests. Things change and people forget. The sand dunes on Cape Cod are due to the clear cutting of forests. Many of the old/really old foundations around here are near rivers and lakes that were dammed for reservoirs and hydroelectric. With the Catskill's settlement, battles, farming, mining, boom and bust economy...there are probably as many stories as empty foundations.

 

[Chip]

Good paper on the history of the area, celebrating 400 years this year.

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

The Catskill region was settled long before people travelled to the Adirondacks. In the days of horses as the primary means of transportation, all those extra miles from the major population center of NYC was significant.

 

[The Hikers]

In addition to the reasons already mentioned, the civil war took many young men off the farms and showed them that a living could be made easier in other parts of the country.

 

[Dennis C.]

" .... stone fence or house outline in the middle of nowhere."

There are some exceptions, of course .... even in the Adirondacks. Just wait until you go way in there to get Spruce Lake and West Canada Mtns. I spotted a beautiful mountain home (no back woods camp) while approaching Spruce Lake Mtn. I used the long logging road from Nobleboro (SW of there), then hiked in a few miles in to this approx. location: Insert N 43.51358 W 74.68180 into http://mapper.acme.com/ click Topo and adjust view.

 

[woodstrider]

Catskills stone fences...

May go back to the original patent. I've seen quite a few myself- usually while off trail.

 

[mudhook51]

May go back to the original patent. I've seen quite a few myself- usually while off trail.

Correct, some are the original patent walls, running from the Hudson to the Sushq. Many Catskill surveys are based on Great Lot #'s and Great lines. The Old Hardenburgh Manor House is along Rt 23 at the base of Round Top Mt.
The greatest resident population for the Catskills was around the mid 1800's, after the tanneries had cleared all the land. Hardscrabble farms were everywhere, families living hand to mouth, and with a 2 month growing season at upper elv's many moved away to the easier farm lands which were being opened in the west.