Kaaterskill Clove is a deep gorge, or valley, in New York's eastern Catskill Mountains, lying just west of the village of Palenville and in Haines Falls. The clove was formed by Kaaterskill Creek, a tributary of

Catskill Creek Catskill Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of the Hudson River that drains the northeastern Catskill Mountains of the U.S. State of New ...

rising west of North Mountain, and is estimated by geologists to be as much as 1 million years old.Dunn, Russell: Catskill Region Waterfall Guide, Kaaterskill High Peak and Roundtop Mountain rise to the south of the gorge, while South Mountain is to its north. This makes the gorge as deep as 2,500 feet in places.

History

Little is known of Kaaterskill Clove's history prior to 1817, when Gilbert Palen built a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

near the entrance to Kaaterskill Clove, giving the village of Palenville its name. After the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, with Americans free to pursue trade without fearing the interference of Great Britain, industry throughout the United States began to expand, with Palenville and Kaaterskill Clove becoming the site of many tanneries due to the large hemlock forests in the clove. Within just half a century, however, deforestation had set in, and the tannery industry collapsed, lacking the trees it required. Palenville reinvented itself as a tourist town, building several boardinghouses and proclaiming itself the home of the fictional character

Rip van Winkle "Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls aslee ...

. The clove was popular with artists and walkers, fleeing the squalor and hubbub of the downstate cities. In particular, artists of the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

painted the Clove: examples include

Asher Brown Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eight ...

's 1849 painting '' Kindred Spirits'', depicting fellow artist

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (December 10, 1850 – August 5, 1936) was an American painter, designer, etcher, commercial artist and illustrator. Brownscombe studied art for years in the United States and in Paris. She was a founding member, studen ...

, one of the founders of the Arts Student's League had a studio there with Hart and poet

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...

, and Sanford Gifford's 1862 work ''Kaaterskill Clove in the Catskills''. Twentieth Century artists such as landscapist Thomas Locker (1937-2012) described the Clove as a vacation spot he returned to many times since his childhood, and many of his paintings depict the Clove and life in it according to a video he filmed for his agent, Richard Michelson of R.Michelson Gallery in Northampton, MA. Numerous mountain houses and hotels were constructed, including the Laurel House, the Catskill Mountain House, the Haines Falls House and others, and trails and walkways were constructed to the many overlooks and waterfalls in the clove. Most notable was the construction of the Rip Van Winkle Trail, now Route 23A, which wound its way up the clove from Palenville to the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Haines Falls. This opened the interior of the clove to visitors from the cities for the first time, and is still a main route into the heart of the northern Catskills (especially in winter when Route 35, which ascends through Platte Clove, is closed).

Attractions

Perhaps the most famous location in Kaaterskill Clove is

Kaaterskill Falls Kaaterskill Falls is a two-stage waterfall on Spruce Creek in the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York, between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County. The two cascades total 260 feet (79 m) in height, making Kaaterskil ...

, a 231-foot waterfall on Lake Creek (a medium-sized tributary of Kaaterskill Creek) commonly thought to be the highest waterfall in New York State. However, there are several other waterfalls in the clove including Fawn's Leap, Buttermilk Falls, and Haines Falls, although the trails that once led to these falls have long since been reclaimed by the gorge, making access difficult. Numerous hiking trails also exist in and above Kaaterskill Clove. The

Long Path The Long Path is a long-distance hiking trail beginning in New York City, at the West 175th Street subway station near the George Washington Bridge and ending at Altamont, New York, in the Albany area. While not yet a continuous trail, relyin ...

passes through the clove, skirting its southern rim. Trails on the northern rim visit Inspiration Point, Sunset Rock, Artist Rock and other locations providing views down into the clove and across towards Kaaterskill High Peak. There is also a campground near North-South Lakes, and access to the site of the former Catskill Mountain House, with views across the Hudson Valley from the top of the Catskill Escarpment.

Gallery

Kaaterskill Clove.jpg, Kaaterskill Clove from Twilight Park Kaaterskill Clove 2016.jpg, Kaaterskill Clove in Winter A_Gorge_in_the_Mountains_(Kauterskill_Clove)_MET_R49X_351R2.jpg, Painting by

Sanford Robinson Gifford Sanford Robinson Gifford (July 10, 1823 – August 29, 1880) was an American landscape painter and a leading member of the second generation of Hudson River School artists. A highly-regarded practitioner of Luminism, his work was noted for its ...

Cole Thomas The Clove Catskills 1827.jpg, Painting by

Kaaterskill Falls 2015.jpg,

References

{{authority control Landforms of Greene County, New York Tourist attractions in Greene County, New York Canyons and gorges of New York (state) Hudson River School sites