Mohonk Mountain House

The Mohonk Mountain House, also known as Lake Mohonk Mountain House, is an American resort hotel located on the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, New York. Its location in the town of New Paltz, New York is just beyond the southern border of the Catskill Mountains, west of the Hudson River.

Lake Mohonk Mountain House
Mohonk Mountain House
LocationNew Paltz, New York
Coordinates41°46′07″N 74°09′20″W
Built1869–1910
ArchitectNapoleon Le Brun
James E. Ware
NRHP reference No.73001280
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 16, 1973[1]
Designated NHLJune 24, 1986[2]
Lake Mohonk

History

The National Historic Landmark Program's "Statement of Significance", as of the site's historic landmark designation in 1986, stated:

Begun in the 1870s as a small resort for family and friends by the Smiley brothers, it became so popular that it was enlarged many times. Because of the Smileys' love of the outdoor life, the area around the hotel was treated as an integral part of the attractions of the resort. Much of this area was planned as an experiment in conservation of the natural environment, and as an educational tool for the study of botany, geology, and outdoor living.[2]

The resort is located on the shore of Lake Mohonk, which is half a mile (800 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) deep. The main structure was built by Quaker twin brothers Albert and Alfred Smiley between 1869 and 1910.[2][3]

From 1883 to 1916, annual conferences took place at Mohonk Mountain House, sponsored by Albert Smiley, to improve the living standards of Native American Indian populations.[4][5][6] These meetings brought together government representatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the House and Senate committees on Indian Affairs, as well as educators, philanthropists, and Indian leaders to discuss the formulation of policy. The Haverford College library holds 22,000 records from the 34 conference reports for researchers and students of American history.[7]

The hotel hosted the Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration between 1895 and 1916,[8] which was instrumental in creating the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands.[9] Those conference papers were donated by the Smiley Family to Swarthmore College for research.[8]

The house was given a United Nations Environment Programme Award in 1994 in honor of "125 years of stewardship". According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, "Through its buildings and roads, its land, and its spirit, Mohonk exemplifies America's history and culture. Mohonk has since managed to maintain its 19th century character into the 21st century."[10]

The resort was sued in 2014 by 200 guests who had become ill in a norovirus outbreak after staying there. They claimed that the owners had been aware of the gastrointestinal illness at the resort prior to the guests' arrival.[11][12][13] The resort settled the claims for $875,000 two years later.[14]

Description

Mohonk Mountain House has 259 guest rooms, including 28 tower rooms, an indoor pool and spa, and an outdoor ice-skating rink for winter use. The property consists of 1,325 acres (536 ha), and much of it is landscaped with meadows and gardens. It adjoins the Mohonk Preserve, which is crisscrossed by 85 miles (140 km) of hiking trails and carriage roads. The Smileys conveyed the majority of their property to the preserve.


Notable guests

Mohonk Mountain House has hosted many famous visitors including industrialist John D. Rockefeller, naturalist John Burroughs, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, and American presidents Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Bill Clinton.[15][16] Guests have also included actor Alan Alda [17], former First Lady Julia Grant, author Thomas Mann, and religious leaders such as Theologian Lyman Abbott, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, Reverend Ralph W. Sockman, Reverend Francis Edward Clark.[18] `Abdu'l-Bahá, the eldest son of Bahá'í Faith founder Bahá'u'lláh, stayed there in 1912 during the Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration as part of his journeys to the West.[19] William James Roe II described the resort as a "palace of peace" after his stay there, writing an article of the same name, published in Harper's Young People.

The resort was the filming location of the film The Road to Wellville (1994), starring Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Broderick.[20]

The resort is mentioned in the 22nd episode of the eighth season of Blue Bloods.

Scenes from the Prime Video television series Upload were filmed at the resort.[21]

The resort was featured in the second episode of the fifth season of Billions. [22]

Awards
Seen from Skytop observation tower

Condé Nast Traveler has given it nine awards since 2008, including "Number One Resort Spa in the United States" (2013).[23] Travel + Leisure has given the resort seven awards since 2009, including "Number Two Hotel Spa in the United States" (2013)[24] and "Number Six Hotel Spa in the World" (2013).[25]

Fodor's listed it as one of "10 Best Spa Trips" for 2012,[26] and in 2010 named it as one of 10 Best Hotels for Kids and Families.[27] In 2011, Every Day with Rachael Ray listed Mohonk as one of "Our Eight Favorite Resorts".[28]

Mohonk Mountain House is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[29]

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See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Lake Mohonk Mountain House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-11. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10.
  3. Turkel, Stanley. "Hotel History: Mohonk Mountain House (1869), New Paltz, New York". historichotels.org.
  4. Powers, Lilian D. Report of the Thirty-First Annual Annual Lake Mohonk Conference on the Indian and Other Dependent Peoples, Volume 30. Lake Mohonk Conference on the Indian and Other Dependent Peoples, 1913. Preface.
  5. Burgess, Larry (1972). The Lake Mohonk Conferences on the Indian, 1883-1916 (PhD). Claremont.
  6. Helleson, Linda Louise (1974). The Lake Mohonk conferences of the Friends of the Indian, 1883-1916 (PhD). University of Denver.
  7. "Haverford College Library Special Collections: Smiley Family Papers, 1885-1983 bulk 1885-1930" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  8. "Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration Records, 1895-1937". Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  9. Report of the Annual Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration, Volume 20, Part 1914. Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration, 1914.
  10. Mohonk Mountain House – History. Historic Hotels of America. National Trust for Historic Preservation.
  15. Mitchell, Paula Ann."DESTINATIONS: Mohonk Mountain House a castle like no other". Daily Freeman. January 27, 2013.
  16. "Mohonk marks 145 years in 2014" Archived 2014-05-17 at the Wayback Machine. Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce. January 30, 2014.
  17. "'Makeover at Mohonk'". New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  18. "Resolution J24-2009: Congratulating the Mohonk Mountain House upon the occasion of celebrating its 140th Anniversary". New York State Legislature. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  19. Report of the annual Lake Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration. Lake Mohonk: Harvard University. 1912. pp. 42–44.
  20. "Filming locations for The Road to Wellville". IMDb.
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZfZj2bn_xg
  22. "'Billions' Recap, Season 5, Episode 2: Chess and Ayahuasca". WSJ. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  23. "Top 10 Spas in the U.S.". Condé Nast Traveler. February 2013.
  24. "Best Hotel Spas in the United States" Archived 2014-03-20 at the Wayback Machine. Travel + Leisure. 2013.
  25. "Top 10 Hotel Spas in the World". Travel + Leisure. 2013.
  26. "10 Best Spa Trips for 2012". Fodor's. February 27, 2012.
  27. "Gold Awards 2010: Best Hotels for Kids and Families" Archived 2014-03-20 at the Wayback Machine. Fodor's. 2010.
  28. "Our Eight Favorite Resorts". Every Day with Rachael Ray. April 2011.
  29. "Mohonk Mountain House, a Historic Hotels of America member". Historic Hotels of America. Retrieved January 28, 2014. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Further reading
  • Burgess, Larry E. Mohonk: Its People and Spirit, A History of One Hundred Years of Growth and Service. Purple Mountain Press, 1996. ISBN 0-935796-42-8
  • Josephson, Robi. Mohonk Mountain House and Preserve. Arcadia Publishing, 2002. ISBN 978-0-7385-1104-7
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