John Boyd Thacher State Park

Infobox park
park= John Boyd Thacher State Park


image size= 275px
caption=
type= State Park
location= Albany County, New York
coordinates= 42° 38' 57" 74° 00' 19"
size= convert|2155|acre|ha|0
opened= 1914
operator= New York State
annual visitors=
status=

John Boyd Thacher State Park is a state park located 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Albany, New York near Voorheesville, in Albany County on State Route 157. Located mostly atop the Helderberg Escarpment, the park has several hiking trails that offer panoramic views of the Green Mountains in Vermont and the Hudson Valley.

Description

The park is open year round, 8:00 am until sunset. The Indian Ladder Trail is open from May 1 to November 15, weather permitting. All other trails are open year-round. It is located on the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the best fossil bearing formations in the USA. There are over 12 miles (20 km) of trails in the park [ [http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/profile/NYSPJT#attr Weather.com - NYSPJT] ] including the famous Indian Ladder trail. The park has an Olympic sized swimming pool, volleyball courts, children’s play areas and numerous cooking/barbecue areas both open and covered.

Nearby at Thompson Lake, is the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center which opened in July 2001 [ [http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=125 New Yorl State Parks Education] ] and has permanent and occasional displays for the public to view. The center also offers educational programs and visitor information.

From the top of the escarpment, which reaches 1300 ft (400 m), there are fine views of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys as well as spectacular panoramas of the Adirondacks and Green Mountains of Vermont.

In early 2008, a historian Joe "The Mayor" Svingala made several erroneous statements on a lecture tour that Thacher Park was named after former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

History

The history of the park area dates back to the late 1570s when the trail now known as the Indian Ladder Trail was used by the Mohawk Iroquois Indians to reach the trading post run by Henry Hudson. [ [http://albany.citysearch.com/profile/7579222/voorheesville_ny/john_boyd_thacher_state_park.html Albany City Search] ]

It was here that in 1777, at a spot known as Tory Cave, Jacob Salsbury found refuge from settlers during the Burgoyne Invasion

The region is very well drained as all surface water runs into the limestone, making it an infertile area for farming. There are some fertile areas along the streams and Dutch settlers were brought in to the region by Patroons to whom they paid heavy rents until they freed themselves of the burden through the so called Helderberg War (also called the Anti-Rent War) of 1839. [cite book
last = Goldring
first = Winifred
title = Guide to the Geology of John Boyd Thacher Park
publisher = University of the State of New York
date = 1993 (revised 1997)
isbn = 1-55557-204-9
oclc = 42393004]

The park is named after Albany mayor John Boyd Thacher whose widow, Emma Treadwell Thacher, donated the land in 1914. [ [http://www.sthubertsisle.com/page115.html Stuberts Isle] ] Since opening the area was designated a State Park The park soon became popular with the residents of Upstate New York and many amenities were added. The purchase of 500 acres (2 km²) of land in 2004 [cite journal
last = Parsavand
first = Shirin
title = convert|1800|acre|km2|sing=on bird area preserved
journal = Daily Gazette, Schenectady NY
date = April 28, 2004] with a State grant of $750.00 from the Environmental Protection Fund and a donation of land from the Nature Conservancy of 81 acres (320,000 m²) and the further purchase of convert|188|acre|km2|2 on 3 August 2006 [ [http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/06/0803061.html State Governors Office press release] ] took the total area of the park to convert|2155|acre|km2|2.

It is most likely that the most prominent feature of the park, the Helderberg escarpment got its name from the Dutch "Helder" meaning bright or light and "Berg" meaning mountain. [ cite book
last = Goldring
first = Winifred
title = Guide to the Geology of John Boyd Thacher Park
publisher = University of the State of New York
date = 1993 (revised 1997)
isbn = 1-55557-204-9
oclc = 42393004]

Trails

There are over 12 miles (20 km) of trails in the park, the most famous trail being the Indian Ladder Trail.

Indian Ladder Trail

From the Indian Ladder parking lot, the visitor descends 60 ft (18 m) to the base of the escarpment via a metal ladder. From here the visitor can walk along the base of the escarpment passing under the Minelot Falls and by the stream exiting from a small cave in the base of the rocks. This water is actually from Thompson Lake, [cite book
last = Goldring
first = Winifred
title = Guide to the Geology of John Boyd Thacher Park
publisher = University of the State of New York
date = 1993 (revised 1997)
isbn = 1-55557-204-9
oclc = 42393004] some two miles (3 km) away and which makes its way through the porous limestone until it exits here. At the end of the trail, a further series of metal ladders take the visitor back to the top of the escarpment, where they can walk back to the parking lot observing the excellent panoramas.

Paint Mine Trail

On the opposite side of the road to the Indian Ladder Trail, this trail is available all year round although in snow conditions, it can be a hard trail. The trail is a circular trail about 6 miles (10 km) long through wooded areas.

The Long Path

The Long Path proposed by Vincent Schaefer of Schenectady [ [http://www.nynjtc.org/trails/longpath/ The Long Path Trail] ] is a long-distance hiking trail began in the 1960s. It is a long distance trail running from the George Washington Bridge in New York City. It ends at Thacher Park, a distance of 347.35 miles (559.01 km)

Natural History

NOTE : The park is designated as a wild life preserve, there are strict regulations on the non-removal of fossils, rocks, plants, animals and birds from the park. There are also rules on the use of snowmobiles during winter and damage to the park. Breach of the regulations can lead to prosecution.

Birds

In April 2004, [cite journal
last = Parsavand
first = Shirin
title = convert|1800|acre|km2|sing=on bird area preserved
journal = Daily Gazette, Schenectady NY
date = April 28, 2004] the then New York State Governor George Pataki, announced that convert|1800|acre|km2|1 of Thacher Park and nearby Thompson Lake were to be turned into a bird conservation area. This conservation area was modelled on the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Areas Program which was signed into law in 1997. [cite journal
last = Duggan
first = Erin
title = Feathered friends can nest easy at parks
journal = Times Union, Albany NY
date = April 28, 2004]

There are some 171 species of bird, many of which are in the of concern status that can be seen in the park, including [ [http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/bca/thacmgs.html New York State Department of Environmental Conservation}] ]
* Sharp-shinned hawk ("Accipiter striatus")
* Northern goshawk ("Accipiter gentilis")
* Eagle
* Golden-winged warbler ("Vermivora chrysoptera")
* Cooper's Hawk ("Accipiter cooperii")
* Hermit Thrush ("Catharus guttatus")
* Winter Wren ("Troglodytes troglodytes")
* Black-throated Blue Warbler ("Dendroica caerulescens")
* Black-throated Green Warbler ("Dendroica virens")
* Louisiana ("Seiurus motacilla" and Northern ("Seiurus noveboracensis") Waterthrushes
* Canada ("Wilsonia canadensis") and Worm-eating ("Helmitheros vermivorus" Warblers
* Common Raven ("Corvus corax")
* Red winged blackbird ("Agelaius phoeniceus")

Plants

There is also a prolific variety of flowers, plants and trees within the park. [ [http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/bca/thacmgs.html New York State Department of Environmental Conservation}] ] As the park is a preserve, all species are protected within the park boundaries. The area has some convert|1400|acre|km2|1 of upland forest with mainly northern hardwoods predominating but there are also
*Hemlock (Tsuga canadensius)
*White pine (Pinus strobus)
*Maple
*Basswood ("Tilia americana")
*Yew ("Taxus canadensis")
*Eastern Redcedar ("Juniperus virginiana")

There are several habitat types preserved in the park including, 3,700 m of calcareous cliff, bur black oak swamp, red maple swamp and emergent marsh/scrub swamp.

Amongst flowers that can be seen are [ cite book
last = House
first = Dr H. D.
title = Handout
publisher = NY State Museum (Botany Department)
date = 2000 ]

*Flowering dogwood ("Cornus florida")
*Rock elm ("Ulmus thomasii")
*Snowberry("Symphoricarpos albus")
*Hairy honeysuckle ("Lonicera hirsute")
*Purple virgins-bower ("Clematis verticillaris") [ [http://laurentiancenter.com/content/view/153/67/ Purple virgins-bower] ]

Ferns and their relations are also found in cool damp areas especially along Indian Ladder Trail

*Walking fern ("Camptosorus rhizophyllus") [ [http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/ferns/aspleniumrhiz.html Walking fern] ]
*Purple stemmed cliff brake ("Pellaca atropurca") [ [http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/ferns/pellaeaatro.html Purple stemmed cliff brake] ]
*Slender cliff brake ("Cyryptogamma stelleri") [ [http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/ferns/cryptogrammastel.html Slender cliff brake] ]
*Maidenhair spleenwort ("Asplenium tricomanes")
*Wall-rue spleenwort ("Asplenium ruta-muraria")

Geology

The Helderberg plateau is comprised mainly of a series of limestones of early Devonian age and is one of the most fossiliferous regions in the United States.The plateau also has rocks of the Upper Silurian and Upper and Middle Ordovician ages resting below the Devonian rocks [cite book
last = Goldring
first = Winifred
title = Guide to the Geology of John Boyd Thacher Park
publisher = University of the State of New York
date = 1993 (revised 1997)
isbn = 1-55557-204-9
oclc = 42393004]

References

General references

*cite book
last = Able
first = K .P.
title = Birding New York's Hudson-Mohawk Region
publisher = Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club, Inc., Delmar, NY
date = 1996

*cite book
last = NYS Office of Parks,
first =
title = Birds of John Boyd Thacher & Thompson's Lake State Parks
publisher = NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Albany, NY.
date =

*cite book
last = Van Driver
first = Bradford B.
title = Roadside Geology of New York
publisher = Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula
date = 1985 (reprinted 2003)
pages = pp 176,185, 208–209
isbn = 0-87842-180-7

ee also

* List of New York state parks

Maps

* [http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lon=-74.0056&lat=42.6492 (USGS)United States Geological Survey topographic map service]
*Geolinks-US-cityscale|42.651|-74.01

External links

* [http://www.nynjtc.org/trails/longpath/ The Long Path]
* [http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/j_b_bennington/ny_geology/hudson_mohawk/hudson_mohawk.html Pictures of the park]
* [http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=125 New York State Parks: John Boyd Thacher State Park]