Mohonk Preserve
The Mohonk Preserve is New York State's largest visitor- and member-supported nature preserve, with 165,000 annual visitors and 8,000 acres (32 km2) of cliffs, forests, fields, ponds and streams. It is located on the Shawangunk Ridge, a section of the Appalachian Mountains, 90 miles (140 km) north of New York City in Ulster County, New York. The Preserve maintains over 70 miles (110 km) of carriage roads and 40 miles (60 km) of trails for hiking, cycling, trail running, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and horseback riding. It is also a major destination for rock climbers, hosting 50,000 climbers each year who enjoy more than 1,000 climbing routes.
The origins of the preserve date to 1869, when twin brothers Albert and Alfred Smiley purchased Lake Mohonk and established the Mohonk Mountain House. On February 26, 1963, the Smiley family, friends, neighbors and supporters formed the Mohonk Trust to protect the area's unique natural landscape for future generations. The "property" of the Mohonk Trust on that day in 1963 consisted of $100, a gift from Mabel Craven Smiley. Land was acquired by the Mohonk Trust over the years, and it became the Mohonk Preserve Inc. in 1978. According to their 2012 IRS Form 990 their assets today exceed $20 million. Through the support of members, donors and partners, the preserve has become a center for outdoor education and a conservation advocate, especially for natural lands in the Shawangunks and the Hudson Valley. Its mission includes land protection and stewardship, sponsorship of environmental education programs, which according to Preserve officials have served more than 100,000 children over a thirty-year period, and maintenance of biological, weather, and natural history records spanning more than a century.
In 1986, the Mohonk Preserve and Mohonk Mountain House together were designated a National Historic Landmark.
The name "Moggonck" appeared in early boundary records referring to the "high hill", the crag now named Skytop where the Smiley Tower is located. The spelling change from "gg" to "h" was probably done for aesthetic reasons. The word Moggonck was possibly derived from the Lenape maxkwung, "place of bears", or from the Munsee maxkawenge, "hill of bears".
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