- Sam's Point Preserve
Sam's Point Preserve, or Sam's Point Dwarf Pine Ridge Preserve, is a 4600-acre (19 km²) preserve in Ulster County on the highest point (2,289 feet/697 m) of the
Shawangunk Ridge inNew York . It is owned by theOpen Space Institute and managed byThe Nature Conservancy . Its unique environment features dwarfpine trees along the ridgetop. Located within the park isLake Maratanza , the highest lake on the ridge, andice caves .The name derives from a story that a man named Sam, pursued by Indians, jumped off the cliff to avoid capture and miraculously survived the drop. Roads throughout the preserve were built as fire roads in the 1930s by the
Civilian Conservation Corps .The
Long Path long-distancehiking trail crosses it, eventually reachingVerKeerderkill Falls . A branch leads to Sam's Point (with a view of land for many miles, sometimes as far asHigh Point inNew Jersey ), and another to ice caves, with solar powered lights. Visitors who want to get to Sam's Point have to go through Cragsmoor. Sam's Point Preserve is near theMohonk Preserve andMinnewaska State Park Preserve .The land was once owned by the nearby village of Ellenville to protect its watershed and partly by a company which offered tours of the ice caves. The Open Space Institute, working with The Nature Conservancy bought it with assistance from the Lila Acheson and Dewitt Wallace Fund for the Hudson Highlands, after the village considered selling the land to developers.
In 2005, the Preserve opened the Sam’s Point Conservation Center with education facilities, exhibits and a gift shop. A parking fee of $7 per vehicle is charged.
External links
* [http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/preserves/art12207.html Sam's Point Dwarf Pine Ridge Preserve]
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