Not much to say except wow and holy sh**! There are not enough words to fully describe this area, the hard hike to get here and the beauty that surrounds it. Welcome to Overlook Mountain. The ruins, the wooded scenery... I was fully in my element and I suggest all who can get here to GET HERE! ;-)) I was humbled to sit on the ledge and take in the view over the Hudson River. Join me on this fabulous hike and kets enjoy the view from the top!! Happy Exploring 🍃 The former hotel’s remains are near the summit of Overlook Mountain, which rises over 3,140 feet over Woodstock, New York. Many a hiker often use its steps for a needed rest before their final push to the summit.
The ruins are what’s left of the third building on the site. The first was built in the early 1800s, when New York’s Hudson River Valley was the fashionable vacation spot for New York’s elite.
Writers like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper lured travelers north with accounts of the region’s unspoiled wilderness, and artist Thomas Cole’s stunning Catskill landscape paintings also sparked their interest.
In 1824, developers seeking to capitalize on the travel craze built a luxury hotel, the Catskill Mountain House, in nearby Palenville, its brisk business led other Hudson Valley developers to start their own hotels.
Overlook Hotel suffered some disadvantages which made for slow business. Train service to Woodstock was poor, and most travelers preferred more easily-accessible hotels.
Reports of rattlesnakes in the surrounding woods also may have scared others away. The very first Overlook was a small lodge built in 1833 by a developer who planned to expand it if business took off- but it never did, and he closed after a few years. A new developer, Lewis Wagonen, tried again in 1871, erecting a 300-room hotel on the site; but business still lagged, and the hotel burned down in 1875.
Two brothers from nearby Kingston rebuilt in 1878, then sold to hotelier Morris Newgold in 1917. Then the Overlook burned down again in 1921.
Overlook’s ruins are thus one of the only example of these historic Catskills resorts left standing. The ruins even suffered yet another fire in 1970, but the concrete withstood the blaze.
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