Mount Beacon NY Revoloutionary War Cave

[spidermonkeykiss@hotmail.]

North and South Mount Beacon rise to 1,531 and 1,635 feet elevation. It is the highest point between the Catskills and the Atlantic Ocean. The Indians used the mountain as a signal site. North Beacon was chosen by George Washington during the American Revolution to have a rectangular pyramid thirty feet high built of logs filled with brush wood for signaling militia that the British were approaching. The signal system ran from Philadelphia to Albany and Boston. According to local legend there is a cave. It is located on the mountain somewhere. It was told to me by a local that it is at the top of a mule shoot? Im guessing that is a trench that runs down the mountain. We looked on and off for two years but never located it. Its a very large mountain and lots of area to cover. If your not careful youll find yourself on another mountain before you know it. Alledgedly in the cave is barrels left there in war time. The barrels contain battle residue. As we never found it while I lived there I can neither confirm or deny its existance. I will say if you go looking for it be prepared its a long way up. On a side note there is the remnants of an old resort on the top of the mountain as well. Good place for hunting. The Otis Elevator Company erected the steepest incline railroad, 2,364 feet high with an average grade of 64% on May 30, 1902. The incline stopped operations in 1976. Atop the summit are the remains of the incline railway’s wheelhouse, including impressive remnants of the original machinery. Passing the foundations of the Beaconcrest Hotel and Casino (in reality a dance hall).

If your into Civil war there is the swift streams running into the Hudson River. It furnished water power for milling and textile
factories.The Tioronda Hat Works on the Fishikill Creek in Beacon has been undergoing demolition since September 2011 (or earlier). Begun in 1879, the mill, like many in the area, expanded with new construction in the following decades. The last mill to occupy the brick buildings was the Merrimac Hat Company. In 1949, Merrimac sold the property to Beacon Terminals Corporation, which used the buildings for warehousing. In 1997, real estate developer William S. Ehrlich formed a different company under the name of Beacon Terminal Associates and acquired the former Tioronda Mill and about 20 other properties in Beacon, NY, many of which have remained vacant.At one time, Beacon was second only to Danbury, Connecticut in the manufacture of hats. Now the exciting part. The buttons for the hats were dumped. A huge cache can be found behind the building. On a strip of land that is between the back of the factory and the Fishkill River. I know they are there because I found them in 2007. Someone more familiar with Civil War buttons may find this a treasure trove. Good Luck

 

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[blackbeard1717]

good research is this private property

 

[spidermonkeykiss@hotmail.]

Its part of a park, Madam Brett Park hugs Fishkill Creek, which played a prominent role in Beacon's development. Along it stood a gristmill owned by the park's namesake — Catheryna Rombout Brett (1687-1764), the first European settler in the present-day city. The mill was an important gathering place for farmers and Native Americans inhabiting both shores of the Hudson River hereabouts. In the 1800s, the creek powered a profusion of hat factories (including the Tioronda Hat Works, located in the brick building adjacent to the park), which earned Beacon the nickname "New York's Hat-Making Capital."

Today the park provides a perfect place to explore the ecology of a vital Hudson River tributary and the tidal wetland at its mouth. Fishkill Marsh supports an extraordinary variety of wildlife. It furnishes a home for amphibians and aquatic mammals, including muskrats; serves as a hunting ground for ospreys, bald eagles and other raptors; and is a stopover for migratory birds. A boardwalk and observation platforms afford up-close discoveries of these and other creatures. A waterfall at the park's eastern end is especially impressive — and raucous — in spring or after heavy rains.

 

[WorkingDawg]

Thank you for posting this thread. Very interesting information about an area that I travel through on a regular basis. It just goes to show how many places we pass by without taking the time to think that they too played a part in our history, and the shaping of the country we have today.

 

[Citiboy289]

Great Post - Used to live up that way , Wasnt there a cog railway that ran up to the top of the MT where there was a resort? Also somewhere on the WEB there was a story about a hermit who lived on the Mountain and vanished , they found him a few days later floating in the Hudson, Rumor had it he had stashed his money somewhere on the Mountain --------

 

[davinci]

I know some great things found up there!