Catskills Visitor Center

June 2, ‎2024 – Mount Tremper, NY

Map: Catskills Customer Heart Trails Map

Deal with: 5096 NY-28, Mt Tremper, NY 12457

The grounds are open to the general public day-after-day throughout daylight.

Public restrooms, free wifi and cell service.

Cellphone: 845-688-3369

Overview:

Located on 60 acres of forest, fields, and wetlands within the hamlet of Mount Tremper is the Congressman Maurice D. Hinchey Catskills Customer Heart (CVC).

Catskills Customer Heart

The CVC is the official customer middle for the Catskill Park and is operated by Catskill Heart in partnership with the New York State Division of Environmental Conservation.

Discover the peaceable grounds to find the 80-foot tall Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower; 1.5 miles of nature trails (together with ADA accessible trails); picnic areas; a coated pavilion; wildlife viewing; Esopus Creek entry and way more. Whether or not you’re new to the world or simply passing by way of, it is a good place to cease for info and get useful perception from the pleasant employees.

Upper Esopus Fire Tower - Catskills Visitor Center

Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower – Catskills Customer Heart

The Catskills Customer Heart serves as a gateway for outside fans to study concerning the Catskills Park’s alternatives to benefit from the nice outdoor. The middle showcases the Catskills’ pure sources and leisure alternatives with details about the 700,000-acre park, New York Metropolis’s one million-acre Catskills/Delaware consuming watershed, and methods to recreate and luxuriate in these treasured pure sources.

The Catskills Customer Heart is open year-round with all the data, maps, and recommendation you should plan your finest Catskill journey.

Historical past:

The Catskills Customer Heart opened in July 2015 because the Maurice D. Hinchey Catskill Interpretive Heart. In 2019 the identify was modified to the Catskills Customer Heart. It stays devoted to the late Congressman Maurice Hinchey.

Catskills Customer Heart

The customer middle continues as a partnership between the Catskill Heart and the NYS Division of Environmental Conservation.

The Congressman Maurice D. Hinchey Catskills Customer Heart seeks to teach and inform guests concerning the historical past, tradition, pure sources, leisure alternatives, and geography of the Catskill Park and the Catskill Area. The Catskills have been shaped 300 million years in the past and have been carved by the glaciers of the final ice age 25,000 years in the past. People have been occupying the Catskill Area for the previous 10,000 years. Extra lately, the Catskills have been settled by tribes of the Lenni Lenape folks, then the Dutch adopted by the English and quite a few different European teams together with the French and folks of German heritage.

Catskills Customer Heart

Many individuals assume the Catskill Forest Protect and the Catskill Park are the identical factor, however they don’t seem to be. The Catskill Park is a mixture of private and non-private land, outlined by the “blue line,” a boundary the state established in 1904. The Catskill Forest Protect is state-owned land that’s protected as “without end wild” throughout the park.

Catskill Park signal – (Lori Van Buren / Occasions Union)

Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower:

The Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower was initially named the Venetia Fireplace Tower, and used for fireplace surveillance in Venice, Florida. It was fully restored for its new residence within the Catskills. It was rebuilt on the grounds on the Catskills Customer Heart within the fall of 2019. This 80-foot metal tower is an effective way for hikers, informal and superior, to take pleasure in a view of the world with solely a 1/4-mile stroll from the parking space. It’s recommended that you simply name the Catskills Customer Heart at 845-688-3369 earlier than you head out to verify that the tower is open.

Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower – Catskills Customer Heart

The story of the Venetia Fireplace Tower started a number of a long time in the past and greater than 1,300 miles south on the West Coast of Florida, within the metropolis of Venice. The hearth tower sat in a distant space with no different residents apart from just a few farm homes scattered close by. Hovering 80-feet above floor, this Aermotor MC-39 mannequin fireplace tower as soon as served as a Florida Division of Forestry lookout tower for many years till it was decommissioned within the 1970’s.

It’s estimated that the Venetia Fireplace Tower was first constructed within the mid 1940’s, probably 1945. The State of Florida has only a few data of their fireplace towers, however had 310 of them at one cut-off date. The hearth tower was bought on-line for $1,000. The tower was then shipped and introduced again to life on the Catskills Customer Heart.

Venetia Fireplace Tower

Including the ultimate piece on the CVC.

Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower – Catskills Customer Heart

The Aermotor MC-39 is a closely galvanized free-standing, batter-legged, hurricane-proof construction with a 7×7′ steel cab. It’s 79’6″ tall, with 8 flights of stairs and 97 steps.

On October 3, 2019, the New York State Division of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) formally devoted and introduced the opening of the brand new Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower on the Maurice D. Hinchey Catskills Customer Heart.

My Go to:

I walked the Ashokan Reservoir Promenade West on a Sunday morning in June and determined to take a look at the Catskills Customer Heart on the conclusion of my stroll. It is just 10 miles away (15 minute drive) and value testing. I particularly went there simply to climb the fireplace tower since I used to be within the neighborhood, however I additionally went inside to see what they have been all about. In case you are unfamiliar with the world or simply concerned about exploring the Catskills, it is a good place to go to.

Catskills Customer Heart

The hearth tower is open!!

Catskills Customer Heart

The Catskills Customer Heart is a gateway to the Catskill Area and the Catskill Park. The employees and volunteers are available that will help you plan your Catskill adventures, from details about native communities, to the very best trails for quite a lot of customers.

Catskills Customer Heart

Skilled employees and volunteers will assist reply any questions you’ll have.

Catskills Customer Heart

The Catskills Customer Heart’s Reward Store has all kinds of books and guides concerning the Catskill Park, the Catskill Mountains and the encircling areas. In addition they carry a big collection of high quality path maps and path guides that will help you have a protected and pleasing journey on the paths.

Catskills Customer Heart

Along with books, maps and guidebooks, the Catskills Customer Heart Reward Store affords, fireplace tower merchandise, together with Catskill Fireplace Tower patches and quite a few objects that will help you take pleasure in your keep within the Catskills.

Catskills Customer Heart

Visiting The Fireplace Tower:

From the parking zone of the Catskills Customer Heart, stroll a couple of quarter of a mile on the red-blazed Interpretive Loop Path.

The Interpretive Loop Path circles the Customer Heart and passes by the fireplace tower alongside the best way. The path is ADA accessible. Alongside the path, there are a number of interpretive panels, telling the story of the Catskills Customer Heart website, the ecology, and historical past of the Catskills.

Interpretive Loop Trail - Catskills Visitor Center

Interpretive Loop Path – Catskills Customer Heart

The view whereas standing in entrance of the interpretive signal.

Interpretive Loop Path – Catskills Customer Heart

The Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower weighs 18,000 kilos and stands 92 toes excessive from the bottom to the height of the cab. It stands at an elevation 670’ above sea stage.

Higher Esopus Fireplace Tower – Catskills Customer Heart

NYSDEC employees constructed a nature path across the tower and a kiosk at its base with details about the entire Catskills Fireplace Towers.