Palenville

History

Palenville takes its name from the Palen family, who built and operated tanneries throughout the Catskills starting in the 1820s. The tannery era was short. When the local supply of hemlock bark was exhausted, the tannery closed, leaving Palenville to reinvent itself. With many waterfalls and natural vistas nearby, Palenville was an important center of the Hudson River School of painting during the 19th century. Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and other notable painters stayed and worked in Palenville during the height of the movement. The famous painting Kindred Spirits depicts Cole and William Cullen Bryant near Kaaterskill Falls, just uphill from the town. The famous Catskill Mountain House was also located just outside Palenville. Palenville was the fictional home of Rip Van Winkle (the subject of a short story by Washington Irving). Palenville historically was described as the "First Art Colony in America" Dr. Roland Van Zandt, in The Catskill Mountain House. With the coming of the twentieth century, the large boarding houses of the mountain top started to close, but Palenville and the surroundings were often visited by city dwellers. Palenville was one of the Catskills' vacation resorts, hosting nearly two dozen small and medium-sized boarding houses and many hotels at the turn of the century. Palenville, Kaaterskill Creek, and Kaaterskill Clove have been subjects for several painters, including those listed above. Late in the 20th century an art gallery opened on Palenville's Main Street, and the Pine Orchard Summer Festival was founded. Opening in 1980 and hosting its first national juried show in 1981, the privately owned and funded Terrance Gallery exhibited more than 1,200 American artists, in a call to revisit the historic gathering place of the…

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