The Mountains and the River
By Richard Heppner Woodstock Town Historian
As Henry Hudson and the crew of the Half Moon made their way up river in 1609, theirs were the first European eyes to behold the Catskill Mountains. Writing in his journal on September 15, crewmember Robert Juet noted, “At night we came to other Mountaines which lie to the Riuers side.” Looking to the west, Juet, the crew, and Hudson himself could not have failed but be drawn to the silhouette of Overlook Mountain rising above where Woodstock stands today. For, as historian Alf Evers once described, “…the mountain jutted out from the rest of the Catskills [and] seemed to assert its presence.”
What Juet and the others could not have seen, however, as they passed the outlet of what is now the Esopus Creek, was the actual physical connection between the river they explored and the summit of the very same mountain they viewed in the distance. Nor could they have comprehended the web of natural and spiritual resources that connected – and would connect – the river inland, extending its power and influence far beyond the physical shore they anchored near. For, springing from a small lake atop Overlook, the Sawkill Creek began its journey towards the river, spiraling downward to its eventual connection with the Esopus and to the outlet Hudson’s crew now passed. Leaving Echo Lake, the small stream widened as it eventually passed through the center of what was to become Woodstock. It was the same stream that natives had followed to reach the Overlook hunting grounds and it was the same stream that, a century and a half later, would power Woodstock’s first sawmill. In and of itself, sawmills would not be new to a land eventually ruled by the English following the departure of the Dutch. However, as built by Robert Livingston – who had pondered the purchase of the Catskills and its vast timber resources from across the river at his Clermont estate – it would mark the heart of what he would call Woodstock. Once cut and milled, Livingston planned, the timber would be hauled overland to the river that bore Hudson’s name and floated across to Clermont – or down river for eventual sale. Livingston’s vision of the river as a highway of commerce would be shared by industrial efforts in 19th century Woodstock as well – as bluestone from the base of Overlook, leather goods and other products would also make their way down river to New York City and points south.
Woodstock, as much as any town, has drawn on the benefits presented by the Hudson. From economic utility, to capturing the beauty of its silent journey south, the Hudson River and Woodstock have been both physically and spiritually connected across time and history. Though Hudson deemed his passage past the “mountains that lay off the river” a failure, his September arrival in 1609 forever altered the future direction of the river’s neighboring land, the people who once inhabited it, and those who would arrive and take up settlement in a place where the mountains met the river.
