Where the Green Moss Grows is a photograph by Julie Palyswiat which was uploaded on December 10th, 2013.
Where the Green Moss Grows
This photograph is one of many roadside streams that run through John Boyd Thacher Park. ... more
Title
Where the Green Moss Grows
Artist
Julie Palyswiat
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This photograph is one of many roadside streams that run through John Boyd Thacher Park.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Boyd Thacher State Park
John Boyd Thacher State Park is a state park located 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Albany, New York near Voorheesville, in Albany County on State Route 157. Located mostly atop the Helderberg Escarpment, the park has several hiking trails that offer panoramic views of the Green Mountains in Vermont and the Hudson Valley.
The park is open year round, 8:00 am until sunset. The Indian Ladder Trail is open from May 1 to November 15, weather permitting. All other trails are open year round. It is located on the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the best fossil-bearing formations in the USA. There are over 12 miles (20 km) of trails in the park[1] including the famous Indian Ladder Trail. The park has an Olympic-sized swimming pool (closed since 2006 and currently fenced off and overgrown), volleyball courts, children’s play areas and numerous cooking/barbecue areas both open and covered.
Nearby at Thompson Lake, is the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center which opened in July 2001[2] and has permanent and occasional displays for the public to view. The center also offers educational programs and visitor information.
From the top of the escarpment, which reaches 1300 ft (400 m), there are fine views of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys as well as spectacular panoramas of the Adirondacks and Green Mountains of Vermont.
History[edit]
The history of the park area dates back around 400 years to a time when the trail now known as the Indian Ladder Trail was used by the Mohawk Iroquois Indians to reach the trading post run by Henry Hudson.[3]
Tory Cave sign
It was here that in 1777, at a spot known as Tory Cave, Jacob Salsbury found refuge from settlers during the Burgoyne Invasion.
The region is very well drained as all surface water runs into the limestone, making it an infertile area for farming. There are some fertile areas along the streams and Dutch settlers were brought in to the region by Patroons to whom they paid heavy rents until they freed themselves of the burden through the so-called Helderberg War (also called the Anti-Rent War) of 1839.[4]
The park is a window in to New York's geological history, the rocks here take us back in time hundreds of millions of years. In the park, you can see the Schenectady beds, the Roundout "waterlime" or dolostone, the upper and lower Manlius, and many other geological formations.
The park is named after Albany mayor John Boyd Thacher whose widow, Emma Treadwell Thacher, donated the land in 1914.[5] Since its opening the area was designated as a State Park. The park soon became popular with the residents of Upstate New York and many amenities were added. The purchase of 500 acres (2 km²) of land in 2004 [6] with a State grant of $750.00 from the Environmental Protection Fund and a donation of land from the Nature Conservancy of 81 acres (320,000 m²) and the further purchase of 188 acres (0.76 km2) on 3 August 2006 [7] took the total area of the park to 2,155 acres (8.72 km2).
It is most likely that the most prominent feature of the park, the Helderberg Escarpment got its name from the Dutch Helder meaning bright or light and Berg meaning mountain.[4]
Uploaded
December 10th, 2013