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The Delaware Highlands Conservancy

Posted on by Minsi in Local groups

What are these Highlands, anyway?

The word “highlands” refers to an elevated plateau or mountainous region, but so far as we can tell, wasn’t used to refer to the tristate area until the early 1990s, when the Delaware Highlands Conservancy began protecting land along the Delaware River in both New York and Pennsylvania. (Please correct us if you know more history here!). The Delaware Highlands now seems to be roughly defined as portions of Orange and Sullivan Counties in New York, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne Counties in Pennsylvania, and Sussex County in New Jersey.

And the Delaware Highlands Conservancy is a very cool non-profit that prevents over-development of the landscape.

  • The conservancy works with landowners to voluntarily limit their development rights in exchange for tax benefits. As a result, many of the region’s farms, forests, and wetlands are preserved in perpetuity.
  • So far, the conservancy has protected over 18,000 acres from north of Deposit, NY to as far south as Dingmans Ferry, PA.

In normal times, the conservancy also organizes eagle-watching trips, and now instead provides a map to facilitate self-guided eagle observation. We haven’t tried this yet!

Milford Farmers Market

Posted on by Minsi in Food, Milford

Our next stop was the closest farmers market.

We were worried about indoor grocery shopping in early June — hell, I was even a little concerned about outdoor shopping — but we found the farmers market at the Columns Museum in Milford to be a delight. One-way traffic, socially-distanced lines, masks, etc. And delicious fresh produce, cheeses, baked goods, etc, much of it from the farms across the river in New Jersey. We wound up going most Sundays throughout the summer.

A few favorites:

The market is on Sundays 10am to 2pm from May 26 to October 13, 2020, at 608 Broad Street, Milford, PA.

Dingmans Falls

Posted on by Minsi in Hikes

We spent the summer on Silver Lake Road in Dingmans Ferry, so our first hike was Dingmans Falls.

The town of Dingmans Ferry doesn’t really exist any more — much of it was purchased and condemned by the federal government beginning in the 1960s as part of the Tocks Island Dam project. The dam generated fierce opposition and was never built, and the land eventually become the Delaware River National Recreation Area.

In Dingmans, we discovered a small collection of stores at the intersection of 739 and Milford Road (including the amazing Asian grocery Mori), the toll bridge (scenic, historic, and privately operated), George Childs Recreation Site (closed since 2018), and — the main attraction — Dingmans Falls.

Dingmans Falls

  • This is a pleasant and easy hike, suitable for all ages, with all walking on either a paved road or wooden path. When we visited, Dingmans Falls Road was closed to traffic, so we parked at the entrance on 209 and walked to the visitor center and the proper trailhead.
  • The forest is cool and dense, with large trees and two waterfalls.
  • Or more the more detailed description from the National Park Service, “This flat boardwalk trail meanders gently through a pristine hemlock ravine. Almost immediately after starting the trail, Silverthread Falls gracefully drops 80 feet in a thin ribbon of water through a narrow geometric chute. The boardwalk winds through dense rhododendron shrubs, past tall hemlock with dense canopy, and the sound of a powerful waterfall just around the corner. The boardwalk ends at the base of Dingmans Falls, the second highest waterfall in Pennsylvania. The final tenth of a mile is a staircase that leads to a birds-eye view from the upper falls.”