A study of the colorful history and legends of the Catskills provides insight into the forces that have influenced its development

The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock

History

Evers, Alf

Americas

Abrams Press

Alf Evers is the preeminent historian of the Catskills, and this book collects nineteen of his best essays for an irresistible short dip into Catskill history and lore.The pieces cover a wide range of subjects, some celebrated, some lesser-known, that hold a special place in the history of the region, from the enduing mystique of the Kaaterskill Falls to the rise and fall of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad. Evers guides the reader in the footsteps of the earliest adventurers to explore the Kaaterskill and Plattekill Cloves, relates the history of log cabins in the Catskills and describes the (sometimes unlikely) pursuits and attractions that beguiled visitors of another age, from a hot-air balloon in Margaretville to steamboats on Halcottsville Pond. Taken together, these essays offer an enlightening look at some of the significant personalities, places and ways of life that have shaped the distinctive character of these mountains.All of the essays bear the incomparable Evers touch - the meticulous research and delightful writing - that has made his books so overwhelmingly popular. Originally published in the newsletter of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, the premier membership organization for the study and preservation of the Catskills, the essays are gathered here for the first time in a book that will be welcomed by residents, visitors, students, history buffs and Alf Evers's many, many fans.

In Catskill Country: Collected Essays on Mountain History, Life, and Lore

Denny Meech is accustomed to being teased at school, especially during hunting season. There was a time many years ago when the Meeches were unruly mountainmen who lived off the land and ignored the game laws. But that was long ago. Now Denny finds himself in the middle of a mystery. Where are those silent flashes of light coming from in the middle of the night? What is Boot, his dog, barking at when Denny can see and hear nothing? Denny must get to the bottom of this. But how? He convinces Uncle Frank and his cousin Bert to help him, and together they solve the mystery and capture the deer poachers.

The Deer-jackers

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

Amulet Books

Few small towns in America have as colorful a history as that of Woodstock, New York. Long before it was put on the map by the Woodstock Festival at Max Yasgur's Sullivan County farm in the summer of 1969, Woodstock was established as a haven for free-thinkers driven to the "earthly paradise" to pursue their vision of a Utopian, self-sufficient community. In this captivating history, Alf Evers shows how this community has been constantly redefined as successive generations of bohemians, artists, and exiles from the city have settled in this town, both unique to and exemplary of the American culture of which it has been so vital a part.

Woodstock: History of an American Town

Long before it was put on the map by the Woodstock Festival at Max Yasgur's Sullivan County Farm in the summer of 1969, Woodstock was established as a haven for free-thinkers driven to the "earthly paradise" to pursue their vision of a Utopian, self-sufficient community. Alf Evers's Woodstock is the definitive history.Few small towns in America have as colorful a history as that of Woodstock in Ulster County, New York. Set in a countryside of exceptional natural beauty, Woodstock from the first embodied the most enduring characteristics of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley. From the early days of Indians, trappers, farmers, and land barons, to the present day of rock musicians, craftspeople, and refugees from the urban scene, Alf Evers’s extraordinary history tells the tale of a very special American place.Long before the Woodstock Festival put the name of Woodstock Village on the map and drew young people from all over the world, Woodstock had an earlier incarnation in which free-thinking ideas held sway. In 1902, inspired by the social philosophy of John Ruskin and William Morris, three men―Hervey White, Ralph Whitehead, and Bolton Coit Brown― brought their Utopian vision to the Catskills, looking for a place to settle. With a number of requirements in mind, they came upon this small hamlet set in the mountains on a tract of land given to Robert Livingston. They decided unanimously that it was here that “man’s mightiest creative energies might be released,” and they would feel free to pursue their talents while living in a self-sufficient community. The “earthly paradise” they discovered was, of course, the cheerful, industrious, and well-kept town of Woodstock, and in it they built their historic new society.From the 1920s on, the town was known as a familiar art and cultural center, with two competing communities―Byrdcliffe and Maverick―working to develop a style of life that would integrate arts and crafts with advanced social ideas. Following these early American bohemians came the Yippies and Beat artists of the Fifties and the “Woodstock Generation” of the Sixties. The conflict between the more traditional town, the conservative agricultural community, and the exiles from Greenwich Village, the artisans of the craft colony, waxed and waned with each new generation, each side vigorously defending a way of life and inevitably benefitting from the continuing existence of the other.Woodstock: History of an American Town is the result of fifteen years of research by the distinguished local historian Alf Evers. His previous work, The Catskills, prepared the groundwork for the present and more detailed study of a village which became one of the most famous towns in America. It is, in many ways, the story of the birth, growth, and coming of age of the American way in its evocation of the early pioneer values of individualism and self-sufficiency with those of the community and commonweal. It is a captivating tale. 58 black-and-white images

Harry N. Abrams

Alf Evers, who completed this work months shy of his 100th birthday, was perhaps the foremost chronicler of the history and color of the Hudson Valley region. Inhabited by Indians since pre-history, colonized by Dutch traders in the seventeenth century, oppressed by British Colonial rule, and an important locus of action during the American Revolution, Kingston was also the home of progressive thinkers in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A fascinating history told by the region's most distinguished historian, Kingston will delight all readers of American history and Americana.

Kingston: City on the Hudson

Contemporary

This is the story of the struggles and survival of one mountain – and how it has been affected by those who live on and around it. Although it focuses on New York State’s Hudson Valley, the tale is applicable to many parts of the country where mountains were seen as opportunities for exploitation, where wilderness gave way to settlements. Written for children, it is also a book enjoyed by adults because of its poetic language and penetrating ideas. The fictionalized version of what happened to one mountain (fashioned after Overlook, the Catskill peak most often painted), it spans the time from its geological birth to today. It covers the first encounters between Indian and European, the beaver trade, the growth of such American industries as glassmaking, tanning, quarrying, deforestations, the emergence of the Hudson River "School," the attempts to clean up the mountain’s streams, new challenges and what plants and animals now live there. Throughout, the profile of a "watchdog" as part of the mountain is a visual statement -- as if the mountain itself offered nature and man protection from total devastation. The story about the beaver is especially touching as we learn how Indian children made pets of young beaver who played in their villages. In the chapter that begins with the question "Who can own a tree?" we learn why "Ben Sims hated trees" -- and why so many men tore them down. But trees teach Ben a moral lesson that changes him. In chapters on the fire and the flood (there were many fires and floods in these mountains) the reader can trace the path of a fire, follow the sparks and the wind that carries a blaze and watch with their imaginations as animals had their fur singed and scurried to and fro or buried themselves; or, follow the motions of a flood down eroded mountainsides and learn how certain trees offered leaf and needle carpet cover to hold the water, how otherwise it tumbles in unfettered response to the pull of the Earth's gravity. Again and again, the the author paints his beautiful word pictures of the "mountain's living coat."

Treasure of Watchdog Mountain: The Story of a Mountain in the Catskills

Woodstocker Books

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Books by Evers, Alf

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Evers, Alf. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock

In Catskill Country: Collected Essays on Mountain History, Life, and Lore

The Deer-jackers

Woodstock: History of an American Town

Woodstock: History of an American Town

Kingston: City on the Hudson

Treasure of Watchdog Mountain: The Story of a Mountain in the Catskills