II. - NATURAL FEATURES - SCENOGRAPHY

The surface of the town is generally a hilly upland, and the soil a fine quality of sandy loam, fertile and productive. Large quantities of hay are raised in the town, and it ranks high as a fruit producing section.

The Shawangunk Mountains extend along the west border. Paltz Point, the most prominent feature of this range in the town, attains an elevation of twelve hundred feet above tide-water. From it can be obtained a fine view of the surrounding country, nature and art vying each with the other in diversifying the broad panorama spread out before the eye.

The Wallkill flows in a northwesterly course through the center of the town It is bordered by broad, fertile flats, which render rich returns to the industrious husbandman.

At an altitude of twelve hundred feet above the Hudson, in a deep rocky gorge of the mountains, lies the sweetest of highland lakes, Lake Mohonk, half a mile in length, deep, clear, and surrounded by headlong precipices. The whole mountain is a vast tumble of rocks, piled in the most fantastic shapes, heavily wooded, and a natural flower garden. Here the arbutus, the azalea, and the laurel in succession clothe the rocky slopes with early summer beauty. There is an endless variety in the wondrous rock scenery, and a whole season would hardly suffice to explore this wild and wonderful labyrinth. But from the two summits, Sky-Top and Eagleís Cliff, in addition, an outlook is gained not inferior to any in the whole Catskill region, in some respects unrivaled in America. In the valleys of the Roundout and the Wallkill below, beautiful as paradise, lie the great grazing and dairy farms of the city. Eastward can be traced the course of the Hudson and the line of the Green Mountains, with their most commanding summits. The whole western horizon is crowded by piled-up walls of azure, stretching from the Alleghanies in the southwest to the cone of Overlook in the north.

The Lake Mohonk House, a picturesque frame building, with numerous gables and balconies, in built on the lower edge of the lake, and its style of architecture is altogether in keeping with the general character of this unique spot. It faces the lake, on the other side of which Sky-Top rears its lofty summit. The rear of the hotel looks out upon the extensive Roundout Valley, bounded by the Shandaken Mountains and some of the Catskills on the north. It is a well-kept summer hotel, visited by the most refined and intelligent people, and devoid of the usual noise, bustle, and confusion of places of its class.