Facts of the Great Northern Catskills

There's a lot about Greene County and the Great Northern Catskills you may not know. Read below for some interesting fast facts and unique details about our region.

Greene County is home to:

• America's First Vacationland – Starting with Catskill Mountain House
• Highest Cascading Waterfall in NYS
• 5 of 10 Catskill High Peaks
• Thomas Cole National Historic Site – Cedar Grove
• Birthplace of Hudson River School of Painting
• Bronck House –Oldest surviving dutch home in the Hudson Valley
• Boyhood Home of Uncle Sam
• Long Path from George Washington Bridge to Albany
• Hudson River Estuary –Ramshorn Livingston Preserve – Catskill Creek, 480 acres of the Hudson's largest tidal swamp forest
• Catskill Creek is one of the deepest water ports on the Hudson
• Rip Van Winkle Bridge – One of only 10 bridge crossings across the Hudson River, connecting our sister County of Columbia
• Nathanial Greene– One of 14 counties names after the revolutionary war general
• Pratt's Rock – Over150 years old, Pratt's Rock is one of the earliest civil war monuments in the nation, Ripley's Believe It Or Not called it "New York's Mount Rushmore"
• One of the oldest intact boxing gyms from the 1920's, Cus D'Amato's Gym is famous for training boxers of the like of Mike Tyson, Jose Torres, Floyd Patterson
• Athens Lighthouse – One of 7 remaining lighthouses along the Hudson and is still active today
• NY State Zipline Adventure Tours - Highest and longest zipline in North America
• Flint Mine –Original Native American Village along Hudson River

Did you know?

• As a Congressman, Zadock Pratt created the Bureau of Engraving and Patents and initiated the first survey of the Transcontinental Railroad. He was a Colonel in the New York militia, but did not serve during a war.
• At 315 miles long, the Hudson River is home to 10 bridges: George Washington Bridge, the Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge, the Bear Mountain Bridge, the Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge, the Walkway Over the Hudson Pedestrian Bridge, the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge, the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge,and the I-90/I-87 Bridge at Albany.
• The Long Path goes from the George Washington Bridge to Altamont, NY (Thatcher State Park). In Greene County, the Long Path is in Hunter, Catskill, Cairo, Windham and Durham.
• The Hudson River was originally called Mahicanituk by the Native Americans living on its shores. It meant "continually flowing water."