There are so many beautiful place in the world. However, the Catskills have always been a place that tugs at my heart. It is the place where my earliest memories of vacation reside. From the time I was little my parents rented a bungalow at a bungalow colony called Mirth in the tiny village of Mountaindale NY. I remember tree-covered roads and lakes with turtles and streams with salamanders.
The Amazing Ms. D and I spent a weekend in the Catskills when she was invited as a participating writer at the 2nd annual Festival of Women Writers in the town of Hobart NY. Hobart is a small hamlet in the north-west corner of the Catskill Mountains. It is the “Book village of the Catskills” with 6 bookstores in a town of around 440 people. The stores range from high end antiquarian and rare books to used mass market, and there is a wide range of choices.
Mysteries and More
The Amazing Ms. D in Mysteries and More
Liberty Rock Books
Around the World with Books and Cooks
William Adams Antiquarian Books
As I said, Hobart is small, but many of the buildings show the history of the town: This barn is right on Main Street.
Supreme Court Chambers? It says so in the window!
Where the sidewalk ends…
Hobart lies along the West Branch of the Delaware River, which is a small trickle here.
For those who like to hike through nature this part of the Catskills has a an old rail bed that has been turned into a very nice trail. The Catskill Scenic Trail stretches from the town of Roxbury to a point about halfway between Hobart and Delhi.
One of the things that I love about the Catskills is that there are wonderful scenes that just appear, seemingly out of nowhere, as you drive from place to place. One my way to Oneonta I has just passed through the town of Davenport Center when I came across a wonderful bend in a river:
Or driving into the town of Stamford I saw this vista:
