The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-07
4 HOT WEATHER PLAYGROUND.
NEW YORK CITY SHOULD CALL
SULLIVAN COUNTY BLESSED.
Where Folks Can 60 to He Cool without
travelling Far From the Town
Good Country for All Ages and Pock.
ets-POints About the Shawangunks.


Just about this time Of the year the man
with s., 500 a year-and some men with
less faces the problem of sending his wife
and little ones away from the hot city out
of the summer heat and Of taking as long
vacation as may he himself,
He usually wishes to combine the two
objects and he does not care to send the folks
too far away for he likes to run down at
week ends to see that the country air Ia do
Ing its work properly. And he does not want
to keep them near at hand, for New York
city lies low and the heat OF July and An
gust envelopes all the country round about.
Sometimes he talks to his friends about
II. and in nine cases out Of ten the friends
say, with one accord:
why not try Sullivan county,
The County'Sullivan, as they would call it
II it wore in old Ireland, and as by all rights
OF nomenclature il ought to be, is one Of
New York cty's distant blessings. The
city has three grent Fairgrounds within
its own State-the Adirondack, the Cats
kill Mountains and Sullivan county. And
the greatest Of these is the last.
The Adrondacks Is the sportsman's
land pure and simple. The Catsklls are
more particularly the region of the health
seeier-h he or she who cuts loose from the
city for longer or a shorter period and
benefits thereby. But Sullivan county
Is both.
The sportsman goes there to fish and to
hunt, and if not ambitious for great things
he is satisfied. The health-seeker takes
his month or 80 there and comes back
rejuvcnated and refreshed. But most of
ali its boarding houses, its farms and its
pretty. hcmelike hotels are the refuge
OF the women and the young folks who
are escaping from the heat of the city, and
the temporary abiding place OF their hus-
bands. fathers and brothers, whenever
they can drop out OF business life for a
few days to he with them
There it is never hot. There the air is
ever dry and clear and pure. There the
buzz of the mosquito is never heard, and
the malaria germ finds no abiding place.
1t is the greatest elevation Of any consider
able size between New York city ana the
Great Lakes 1t has fish to be caught and
game birds to be shot. 1t has picturesque
woodland and clear, crystal lakes. And
two or three hours will land the New Yorker
in the heart of it with as little trace of the
city with him as If he we're a thousand miles
away.
Sullivan county is really misnomer for
this playground. 1t is too biz to be con-
fined within the limits OF single county,
and it laps over into Ulster and Orange, and
there are even bits Of it, confidingly sup
posed by the mere city person to be all part
OF the same precious county. which are
really across the border in Delaware county
Blu what does it matter? The name
Is generic. 1t covers the whole Shawan-
IA. TA
all the gridiron Of streams tributary to the
Susquehanna and the Delaware on this
side of the State line. 1t covers Lake
Mohonk and Lake Minnewaska. and a
hundred or so more lakes and lakelets
more or less well known, and as many
quaint old villages and towns which are
little more than ambitious villages.
1t Is neither poor mans nor a rich mans
playground, All classes throng to it and
,s for rssss
body. Rich men have their summer cot
tages and hunting clubs there, and the
man OF moderate means goes up for q week
catches as many fish as his Weather
neighbors, even II he doesn't take an auto
mobile and a split bamboo rod along.
Thoroughly representative Of all classes in
OF aacens Ssxes
with . few score Of fine summer hotels
with all the modern advantages dropped
In among the old farmhouses that one
finds there Take Liberty. one Of its most
altitude OF 900 feet above the level Of
New York citys streets, and the centre of
a group Of fine hotels built on hills from
400 to 800 feet higher.
in 1907. 1t was then little collection Of
log cabins, most Of them having only one
room. Twenty years later there were only
twelve houses, and only one Of those could
boast a coat Of paint; 1t has had rail-
But 1t lies in land from early June until
late July gorgeous with mountain laurel
and rhododendron. The scented pink
bushes ;c S the edge Of every clear
and snipe abound. The lakes are full Of
lusty pickerel and bass. And when it is
hottest down in the city they sleep under
blankets up there.
50 New Workers soon discovered it, and
now it has score of good hotels in and
around 1t. Smooth roads have been cut /
through its picturesque woodland II has |
prosperous stores and a trotting track news |
papers. telegraph service and golf links. |
by handsome residences, and in the season |
fine equipages from the city pass along tho |
streets and the lightest and daintiest Of !
cedar skffs and sailboats cover the nearby |
lakes.
About White Sulphur Springs. four miles !
away, summer cottages and prosperous |
hotel have sprung up and a health cure
resort in miniature is already in existence J
where the medicinal qualities of the waters |
are constantly in evidence.
Then there is the county seat, Monticello, |
which, freely translated, means Heavenly 1,
Mountain. In summer it is full of city
folks none Of whom finds any lack of modern
conveniences. And yet 1t is as quaint
and old-fashioned a mountain settlement
as can be found in the old State.
This is farlner-made village. and it is
we'll made. A century ago, Samuel F. Jones
and John p. Jones bought Of the executor
Of one Cuban Verplanck 1851 acres of
land. including what is now within the
corporate bounds of Monticello. They
had faith that there would one day be a
hourishing village on the site and the next
year John P.Joaes laid out it's Main street"
He laid his street as straight as the com
pass would Indicate, made 1t a mile in length
and 100 feet wide. and then surveyed
park Of two and half acres. He lived to
see his village the seat OF a county not then !
even anticipated. and ne was able TO have
the first turnpike road for many miles
turned right along the line of his Main
street
Many New Workers. have made this quaint
old village their place of permanent resi-