Tag Results
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The Catskills Via The Ashokan, The Mohican and the Rip Van Winkle Trails
Excerpts from a travel guide book from 1934 to the Catskills highlighting the old roads used which became part of the rail system. We have focused on the section of trails that runs through Delaware County along the western Ashokan Trail and the end of the Mohican and Rip Van Winkle Trails. The original guide may be found at at the Delaware County Historical Association's office in Delhi. The descriptions of the towns focus on the natural resources and healthful benefits, but keep in mind not all things referenced here are still in existence or may be closed to the public.
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Anti-Rent War: Rebellion In The Catskills
We never know when we may be caught up in a vortex of circumstances and events large than our own small world. One day may swallow up the rest of our lives. This was the fate of small quiet farming communities in eastern Delaware County in 1845. The steady, reassuring ritual cycle of plowing, planting, mowing, and harvesting took a back seat to Anti-Rent protest.The Anti-Rent conflict began in 1839 in the Helderbergs in Albany County. Tenant farmers rebelled against oppressive leases under which they labored as little more than serfs of wealthy landlords, without opportunity to ever own the land. They had also begun to question the legality of the landlords’ titles to the land. The outbreak was triggered by the demand of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV for back rents which his father had not collected during economic hard times.
