Catskill, New York - Day 2

Who knew?!

The “Christmas Tree” was born in 1851 when Catskill Farmer Mark Carr hauled two ox sleds of evergreens into New York City and sold them all.  By 1900, one in five families had a Christmas Tree, and 20 years later the custom was nearly universal.

There are between 1,500 and 2,000 black bears in the Catskills.

The Catskill Mountains highest peak is Slide Mount at 4,180 ft.

The Catskills provide 95% of the drinking water for New York City.

Fictional character Rip Van Winkle lived in the Catskills.

It is the birthplace of American fly fishing.

Catskill tanneries supplied most of the saddles used in the Civil War.

In the early 1800's trappers hunted the range clean of many animals.  The Kaaterskill Mountain Range was absolutely teaming with Mountain Lions, Panthers, Bobcats, Gray Wolves, Black Bears, Deer, etc.  Some of these species were hunted to extinction.

Beautiful Manhole Cover

Mural

In a town embellished with cat sculptures, I did find the one random dog sculpture!