page_title: Wallkill Valley Rail Trail
section_title: Rosendale
hierarchical_section_title: Wallkill Valley Rail Trail / History / Rosendale
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of the northern half of the Rosendale, New York trestle bridge taken from Joppenbergh Mountain.
context_page_description: The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail is a 23.7-mile rail trail and linear park that runs along the former Wallkill Valley Railroad rail corridor in Ulster County, New York. It stretches from Gardiner through New Paltz, Rosendale, and Ulster to the Kingston city line. The trail is separated from the Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail by two state prisons in Shawangunk, though there have been plans to bypass these facilities, and to connect the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail with other regional rail trails. The northern section of the trail forms part of the proposed Empire State Trail.
  Plans to create the rail trail began as early as 1983, when New Paltz considered uses for the then-defunct Wallkill Valley corridor; the railroad had ceased regular traffic in 1977, and by 1983 had begun to remove its tracks. In 1991, a local land trust purchased the 12-mile section of the former rail corridor between New Paltz and Gardiner, and conveyed the New Paltz section to the town and village of New Paltz. The trail was formally opened between New Paltz and Gardiner in 1993, though Gardiner did not purchase its section from the trust until 2007.
context_section_description: The Rosendale portion of the rail bed runs 11.5 miles (18.5 km) from Rosendale through Ulster to Kingston and contains the 940-foot (290 m) Rosendale trestle. The trestle rises 150 feet (46 m) above the Rondout Creek and State Route 213, and also spans the former Delaware and Hudson Canal. At the time of its construction it was the highest span bridge in the United States.
  Conrail sold the Rosendale section, including the bridge, in 1986 to a private businessman, John E. Rahl, for one dollar. Rahl maintained that the purchase granted him the right to "restore rail service on the whole Wallkill line", and to joint ownership of Conrail. Between 1989 and 1991, Rahl installed planking and guard rails on the southern half of the bridge, which was then opened to the public. He intended to allow bungee jumping off the bridge, and did so until a January 1992 court order held that it violated zoning laws. Douglas Hase, an entrepreneur who had run both bungee jumping and hot air ballooning companies, tried unsuccessfully in 2003 and 2004 to get a variance for such a venture.
  After Rahl failed to pay $13,716 in property taxes over a period of three years, Ulster County foreclosed on the 63.34-acre (25.63 ha) property on April 15, 2009. The Wallkill Valley Land Trust and Open Space Institute placed a bid on the land parcels comprising the Rosendale section on April 22, 2009, and agreed to pay all outstanding taxes before receiving full ownership on July 8, 2009, with the intention of adding it to the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail. Following an engineering survey, the bridge was closed to the public in June 2009 for repairs. Renovations were completed in 2013, allowing for the bridge to be opened to the public.
  Canopy Development, a green development company from Northampton, Massachusetts, owns a portion of the former rail bed in Rosendale. It has agreed to establish a right-of-way, rerouting the trail to allow public access. Another obstruction between Rosendale and Ulster is a private swimming pool, which will be bypassed. The Mohonk Preserve and Open Space Conservancy were given a $20,000 state grant in March 2011 to maintain the portion of the trail by Kingston. By the end of summer 2013, the last outstanding trail segment along the Rosendale-Kingston extension was opened to the public, completing the entire 23.7 mile rail trail.
  A regional business association has proposed a link between the trail, in Rosendale, and a series of regional rail trails. The proposal would create a 35-mile (56 km) network of rail trails across the towns of Marbletown, Rochester, and Wawarsing. Several involved towns have been working toward accomplishing such a connection.
caption: The northern half of the Rosendale trestle in 2008, without decking or guard rails
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