Local History with Dede Terns-Thorpe - Thomas Cole Brought The Catskills to the Attention of the World

Today's story was written 25 years ago by Mr. Theodore Hilscher. When thinking of the multitude of the Mountain Top's amazing talent, I thought it should be shared.

Mr. Hilscher said that when THomas Cole painted in the CLove, the name Hudson River School of Artists was unknown until after his death. (Research showed that Cole came to America when just 17 years of age when the Industrial Revolution hurt his father's small businesses with larger factories).

He was a 24-year-old Englishman when he traveled up the Hudson River. He had just won acclaim with an exhibition at the American Academy of Fine Art of Paiting he made based on his trip to the Catskills. Cole returned to Catskill where he said the mountains are nearest to the river. Hilscher said Cole was in the right place at the right time!

It was the 1820s and 1830s when times were changing due to the industrial revolution. Young men and women went into the factories and away from their parents' farms. The railroad came soon afterward traveling fast and making the world seem smaller.

He talked about all that was happening. Thomas Cole was discovered the same year the Erie Canal was completed. Washington Irving wrote Rip Van Winkle (1819) and was soon followed by James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers, with woodsman Natty Bumppo. Natty Bumppo was asked what he could see from the mountain peaks, and he explained, "All Creation, My Lad, All Creation."

Thomas Cole, never a healthy young man, died from pneumonia in 1849, at the age of 48.

Cole brought the Catskills to the attention of the world.

Thanks for reading. Be careful outside and stay sade.

Dede Terns-Thorpe, Hunter Historian