Walk Back in Time Christopher Boulton

Even when cleared of trees, the relatively thin soil, with many rocks and boulders jutting up, provided only marginal pastureland able to support just a few farm animals. In order to maximize the amount of area for grass growth, most of the early farmers removed as many rocks as possible from the soil.

But where to put the rocks? Some were used to build the low stone boundary walls so characteristic of New York and New England. It was also common for farmers to simply collect any rocks that could be moved and pile them on top of an especially large (and immovable) boulder or a bedrock outcrop.

Here you will see a large, rounded piece of Shawangunk Conglomerate (sometimes called Shawangunk Grit) that a millstone cutter abandoned long ago. In some parts of the Shawangunks, ready access to more suitable exposures of the conglomerate bedrock made it possible to produce excellent, readily-saleable gristmill stones, an important source of income for Trapps families in the 19th century.

Here, the trail crosses a brook located at a point where a farm wagon road once crossed the stream. Its existence is indicated by a number of stones laid on top of one another on each side of the brook to form bridge abutments. The bridge would have allowed the passage of wagons carrying hay, firewood, or cut millstones

Here the trail crosses over an old stone fence, leaving one property and entering onto another. The lands ahead belonged to Ben Fowler who owned about 150 acres. The New York State Agricultural Census of 1865 recorded 29 acres in pasture, 38 acres in meadow for hay making, 2 acres in winter rye, 4 acres in oats, and 8 acres in buckwheat. The census also listed his livestock as consisting of three horses, four pigs, 24 sheep, and a flock of chickens. For the most part, the Trapps Hamlet economy was one of subsistence farming, with most residents owning a few horses, cows, pigs, and a flock of chickens.

Just ahead is Trapps Road, an automobile road that was laid down on top of a much older road called the Wawarsing-New Paltz Turnpike. The turnpike was originally built in 1856 as a toll route over the mountain between the Wallkill Valley (New Paltz) and the upper Rondout Valley (Wawarsing-Ellenville). Tolls were collected on the Trapps Ridge at the gap now spanned by the Trapps Bridge that crosses over Route 44/55, one-half mile east of the West Trapps Trailhead. After a few years as a toll road, the turnpike went bankrupt and became a public road. Travelers were able to spend the night at Ben Fowler’s lodging house and tavern, located a hundred yards up the turnpike to the south. All that remains of the tavern today is a large cellar hole.

Shortly after crossing the auto road, you turn left and enter onto an old dirt road. This road was an early track leading to the pioneer Van Leuven homestead about 1½ miles away on the west side of Millbrook Mountain. (The homestead is presently on the Preserve’s Coxing Trail, which follows, in part, the Van Leuven Road). Later this track became a Gardiner town road, well-traveled by pedestrians, horseback riders, horse-drawn wagons, and even an early Ford or two, before the road fell into disuse.