Recently we ran across an online image of a Thomas Cole painting that we had never seen before. And then we learned that the original painting is on display at Cedar Grove: the Thomas Cole Historic Site in the Village of Catskill. Take a look at our first photo. We have long been most fond of the Hudson River School of Art and Cole is widely regarded as its founder. Well, seeing a painting that was new to us was exciting enough, but it got a lot better when we read that its title was unknown. That means that nobody knows where it was sketched. It was informally and vaguely named “Clove in the Catskills.” We thought it would be fun to try and find where it was done. And important too; art historians should know where Cole did his work.
That was a challenge. We have been all over the Catskills, so if we could not figure out where it was done then who could? We thought that our knowledge of Catskills geology might help. That is almost certainly the Hudson Valley in the distance, so this was a clove along the Catskill Front. But this was only a middle-sized one, so it was not big enough to be either Kaaterskill or Plattekill Cloves. Those two were the products of relatively large post ice age streams; this one must have been formed by a much smaller creek. There seems to be a large ledge to the left and that helps. Then there was that boulder in the foreground. But the fact of the matter was that the two of us almost instantly agreed where this was. We both pointed and saw it as being what is mapped by the U. S. Geological Survey as “Rip Van Winkle Hollow.” In fact, you too might know where the painting was done. We took you there in our September 29th column. Take a look at our second illustration. We think that’s the place as it was when Cole was there. You can get there by taking Bogart Road north from Palenville until you can turn west onto Mountain House Road. At the end of that you arrive at the trailhead of what is now the Old Mountain Turnpike Trail. Climb up the trail for about 45 minutes and look for a small stream crossing a sharp bend in the trail - and there you are.
Our illustration is a Currier and Ives print of Rip Van Winkle Hollow as it was in the middle 1800’s. This small building was something of a quick stop for people taking the stagecoach ride up to the Catskill Mountain House. Their long journey was a rough one so a stop for refreshments must have been most welcome. We want you to imagine standing right there - right in front of that quick stop and back then in time. Now turn around and look down the Canyon. Out there is that glimpse of the Hudson Valley. Above to the left is the great ledge we think we have seen in the painting. We are arguing that Thomas Cole did just that. He stood in front of the Rip Van Winkle House, took out his sketchpad and drew the image that would become his painting. We didn’t find that boulder but that may well have been an artistic fiction.
We just can’t think of any other place where this could have been sketched. If so, then we have earned the privilege of giving that painting a proper name. We dub it “View from Rip Van Winkle Hollow in the Catskills.”
Contact the authors at randjtitus@prodigy.net. Join their facebook page “The Catskill Geologist. Read their blogs at “thecatskillgeologist.com.”
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