New Lake Minnewaska Visitor Center is unveiled to public

The gates to the sky-lake kingdom have always been open, but now the Minnewaska State Park Preserve boasts a stunning 5600-square-foot visitors’ center reminiscent of the old Ski Minne lodge. It has a tiered, angular roofline and windows that stretch from floor to ceiling. One has the feeling of looking through the building from east to west.

The 24,000-acre park is home to rich ecological landscapes, three sky lakes, pine barrens, dramatic white conglomerate cliff faces, wild blueberry bushes, mountain laurel and 35 miles of miles of restored carriage roads. Now it has a $6.1 million interpretive facility.

“We’ve been waiting for this for 30 years,” said longtime park director Eric Humphries, who greeted guests outside his new office this past Friday for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. As those who visit the mountain on a regular basis are aware, progress has been steady and consistent, with infrastructure put in for water and sewer as well as a newly paved and reconfigured 300-space parking lot, with bike racks, EV charging stations, and trees already replanted.

While visitors to the park were able to see the exterior progress, the interior is equally striking. “Now we have a world-class facility that also has running water!” said Humphries. Inside the glass castle is the Jim and Mary Ottaway Exploration Desk, where a park ranger will greet visitors, along with a small concession area and a three-dimensional interactive map of the park that highlights scenic viewpoints and popular hiking and cycling routes. On the west side of the center is a historical exhibit with vintage photographs and a timeline of how the property was developed by the Smiley family, who then sold it to the Phillips family.

Eventually it came into the hands of the state in 1987, after a long, protracted battle by local activists, environmentalists and politicians who wanted to keep the stunning wilderness preserved and available to the public. The Marriott Hotels corporation had proposed development of a resort and condominium complex there.

State parks remained open

“To think that there was no protected land on the Shawangunk Ridge in 1972,” said New York State Parks commissioner Erik Kulleseid as he paused on this autumn day atop the cliffs that overlook Lake Minnewaska. “And now we have 24,000 acres preserved.” Noting that the Gunks were protected from development and open for passive public recreation from Sam’s Point to the Mohonk Preserve, Kulleseid gave enormous kudos not only to governor Andrew Cuomo, but also to his father before him, governor Mario Cuomo, who he said acted in the spirit of Robert Moses. Both invested heavily in the protection and preservation and acquisition of ecologically rich and sensitive lands, not only to protect their environment to help ensure clean air and water, but also for public access to the beauty of healing powers of nature.

“This is a year that is unlike anything we’ve ever experienced,” said Kulleseid, who expressed great personal affection for this particular park. “And in March, everything was closed: restaurants, cafés, museums, theaters, cinemas, shopping centers, art galleries … all of the places we typically go to enjoy ourselves. The governor came out and said that the state parks would remain open. Even when New Jersey closed its parks, New York stayed open, and thank God we did. Our parks were filled every day, and thankfully this virus has proven that it does not like the outdoors.”

Prior to the flood of visitors this past holiday weekend, Humphries said, Minnewaska State Park had already hit record usage numbers. “The most we’ve ever had is approximately 400,000 visitors in one year. This year, we’ve already had 445,000 visitors. That shows a 40 percent increase in visitation prior to the center opening.”

This sense of wonderment

Kulleseid also thanked the men and women who constructed the center and the parking lot and put in the infrastructure. It was their “professionalism and work ethic that helped get this project done on time, right before the busiest weekend of the year for this park.”  He also thanked the Open Space Institute (OSI) which worked in conjunction with the state to help fund this project, and which helped to raise the funds to double the size of the park over the past 40 years, as well as restore the old Smiley Carriage Road.

“I remember vividly the first time I came here” to Minnewaska State Park, said Ulster County executive Pat Ryan. “Believe it or not, it wasn’t until I was in eighth grade. I lived in Kingston, and I was trying out for the cross-country team. They did their long run on the weekend. When I first got onto these trails and saw the view of the lake, I felt this sense of wonderment, like I had landed on an entirely different planet. I was and still am in awe of this landscape.”

Like Kulleseid, Ryan thanked Cuomo and OSI. “This public/private partnership has helped protect so much of the Shawangunk Ridge and the surrounding foothills,” he said.

“There is no more beautiful place in New York than the Shawangunk Ridge, and this visitors’ center, located just next to where the old Wildmere Hotel used to stand, was so carefully thought out. We could have perched it on the cliff, but instead, we kept it back and understated and allowed it to blend with its surroundings, which is so fitting for this park,” said Kulleseid.

Calling the occasion “a day worthy of the building and a building worthy of the day,” OSI president/CEO Kim Elliman added, “The completion of the long-awaited Lake Minnewaska Visitor Center is a capstone project of the Open Space Institute, topping off our 40-year history expanding this park and making it more welcoming and enjoyable to visitors. OSI is proud of this momentous accomplishment and the role we played in designing this inspiring building and interior space, supporting its construction and creating exhibits that match the splendor of this site and will elevate the public’s overall experience here at this beloved park.”
In terms of management, Humphries noted that, while visitation has increased dramatically, “We are capped by the amount of parking we offer,” which totals 475 spots between the park’s upper and lower parking lots. The governor, Kulleseid and Elliman were all hopeful that the center would not only encourage people to “practice good environmental stewardship,” but also to “enjoy a deeper and more rewarding experience highlighting the recreational assets the park has to offer,” said Kulleseid.

A great natural treasure

“Minnewaska State Park Preserve was one of New York’s great natural treasures, offering matchless views and vast open spaces to explore,” said governor Andrew Cuomo. “This new visitor center is an essential addition to this destination park that will allow a whole new generation of visitors to better appreciate the unforgettable and rich history that Minnewaska has to offer.”

Local residents and businesses who have always cherished and fought for the preservation of Lake Minnewaska can be seen in the painted glass etchings of the “Birds of the Shawangunk Mountains,” mounted next to the stone hearth inside the visitors’ center. There was a rendering of a bird “In Memory of Tom Nyquist,” the longtime Village of New Paltz mayor, as well as one for the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers’ Association and a “Thank You to the Park Staff” from Rock and Snow, the everything-outdoors climbing and mountaineering store in downtown New Paltz. One of the most fitting phrases etched beneath the painted birds of the Gunks said, “We need the tonic of wilderness,” from E. Larsen and C. Cohen.

OSI raised $3 million in private funds and grants for building state-of-the-art exhibits and artwork inside the new center.