"Guests are not received on Sunday, and are not expected to leave on Sunday, except for very special reasons. Dancing is not permitted." From
"Impressions of Mohonk," written in 1923.
New Paltz, NY - Light rain pattered mist-shrouded Lake Mohonk, and the loudest morning noises were child-like complaints. "What are we going to do
now?"
The answer was not television because there are no in-room TV's at the Mohonk Mountain Housein New York's Hudson Valley.
So how about video games? An elbow-cramping room with six video games crowded together was also not in use. Welcome sounds of silence.
Many children could be found in organized kid's programs.
Admittedly, arts and crafts instead of rock climbing, at least this morning.
Some families were in the resort's main meeting area, the Lake
Lounge, playing "Clue" or Monopoly" or putting together puzzles from a wide variety of games and classic old style entertainments available
her. Other families donned rain gear and braved the elements to hike a portion of
the resort's 85 miles of trails.
At this point, it dawned on me: The real test of any family
destination, particularly with it comes to children, is what to do on a rainy day.
The nature-filled mountaintop Mohonk Mountain House, located 90 miles north of New York City, easily passed the test. Which is not to say
that it rains every day, but on clear days this more than a century old resort that is a sort of throwback to the past is only a little less than
Heaven-like for families.
There's plenty to do.or nothing at all. on the grounds of the 2,020-acre National Historic Landmark for everyone from grandmothers
sitting in rocking chairs to tykes barely able to walk.
Take tykes, for example. These are defined at Mohonk as two to three years old.
There are morning and afternoon sessions at the Tykes' Room, which has a wide selection of toys that include a play castle, kitchen
set, wagons, rocking horses, trucks, blocks, puzzles, arts and crafts. Obviously
motivated and usually young staff members teach art, sponsor sing-a-longs and do storytelling. Activities also include hikes, pony rides, boat
rides, splashing around at the beach and visiting the playground.
Explorers are the four to six-year-olds. They start with a get-acquainted period, and then go on to several main activities which
include choices. Hiking or frog hunting, in the morning. Swimming and arts and
crafts, perhaps, in the evening.
For Adventurers, seven to 12-years-old, typical activitiesmight be rock scrambling, tennis and golf clinics, sports tournaments, and
even grown-up corporate style team building.
For non-ambitious adults, rocking chairs abound. Greenhouses
and lush gardens as well.
For the more active minded, there's tennis and golf.
There are often-changing theme weeks, and organized activities such as nature walks, ballroom dancing and kitchen tours are
popular
During my visit there, a single day featured a breathless
schedule. Adults could start the day (after your continental or buffet breakfast) with an 8 a.m. fast-paced walk starting in the fitness
center. Then, they could go on to a morning prayer/meditation at 9:30 a.m., followed
by a nature hike to collect Mohonk blueberries.
While nature is emphasized, there are also many cultural and
self-help programs. One popular offering is the "Tower Babble," a language learning
"immersion" that has upwards of two dozen languages, including American sign language.
Throughout the day, visitors probably would need rocking chair breaks to rest from the busy schedule of tennis doubles
mixers, stretching sessions and various exercise classes. After that, visitors could
sit back or watch a film, "Field of Dreams," or reward themselves with the ritual afternoon tea and cookies in the Lake Lounge (included in the cost of
a room).
"We try to organize our programs so that families can get together for part of the day and yet have their own separate
programs. Mornings, we have children's programs while mom and dad can take the time to
read the papers or do things on their own. Then, from 2 to 5 in the afternoon, for many people its beach time when the whole family can get
together," says Heidi Jewett, the resort's director of recreation.
Having choices is a key because the resort's philosophy is that a vacation is a time to get away from the normal routine of the
everyday world.
"Our guests can sit in rocking chairs and read books all day or take meditation
classes. They can get massages, play a round of golf, take fitness classes, listen to music or go to poetry readings. It's all
about choice," she adds.
In many ways, this Grande Dame of resorts has not really changed much in the more than 140 years since it opened. Sunday checkouts
are fine these days, and bugles no longer summon guests for meals. But the resort still has an otherworldly, old-fashioned appeal.
Where else these days are men required to don jackets for dinner?
The resort is a throwback, a return to another time.
It hasn't changed that much since 1923, either, when John Willy in "Impressions of Mohonk" wrote about the "hum of pleasant
conversation among agreeable people. "As for activities, he also noted:
"There are amusements and recreations galore, principally of the outdoors kind, as boating, bathing, trampling, tennis, baseball, golf,
riding, driving."
Quaker twins Albert and Alfred Smiley started the resort in 1869 as a rural retreat where modern people could commute with
nature. "Provide opportunities for recreation and the renewal of the body, mind and
spirit in a beautiful natural setting," was their mission statement. The Smiley family continues to run the resort.
Motorists going up the winding 2.2 mile mountain roadimmediately get that sense when they see signs tucked within the trees
admonishing visitors "slowly and quietly, please."
Once attendants park their autos, visitors often don't get behind the wheel for the length of their visit.
From the parking lot, they look up at a 251-room late Victorian Revival structure surrounded by stone cliffs and forests.
"A cross between Charles Adams and early Walt Disney World
"is how Former New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable described the building, which is a huge and striking stone structure with
turrets and a reddish roof.
Visitors checking into their rooms usually find they have fireplaces
(there are 138 of them) and balconies (over 200). Most rooms have rocking chairs and Victorian-style furniture.
From the balcony, visitors can see across some of the 25,000 acres or 38 square miles of contiguous public use land near the Hudson River
in the hard-to-pronounce Shawangunk Mountains.
Rock formations rise above the water of the glacier-carved Lake Mohonk, which is a half-mile-long and sixty-feet deep.
For visitors who take an easy, medium hard or difficult trek up to the Sky Top Tower, there's a view of six states -- at least on clear
days.
It's not inexpensive to stay at the resort. Double occupancy rates range from $340 to $475 for a traditional room. Tower rooms go from
$601 to $628. But three meals a day are included as well as most activities. And there are several times a year when children can stay for free, usually
in December, February and April.
During the winter months, organized activities also abound. There's 40 miles of marked, carefully maintained cross-country ski
trails. And recently a massive, 18,000-square-foot skating pavilion was added.
For those who want to explore the area, its closest small town is New Paltz, founded by freedom-seeking French Huguenots in 1678.
Huguenot Street here is said to the oldest in America. Visitors can take in a half dozen old stone houses and a French church operated by the Huguenot
Historical Society.
The village of New Paltz buzzes with eclectic shops and
restaurants. Many of the later are gourmet treats which is no surprise because the Culinary Institute of America has one of its campuses just
across the Hudson River at Hyde Park (you can dine here as well, but make reservations well in advance).
Alternatively, visitors might try the scones or butter cookies made at The Bakery on North Front Street or a hamburger or New
England clam chowder at P&G's, which still bears a resemblance to its founding as a dance hall in 1900. Chefs on Fire in a craggy stone setting
offers famous wood-fired pizzas.
There are also many farmers markets with u-pick orchards and an array of wineries that aficionados agree are turning out products that
increasingly are pleasing even the most critical palates.
For those who remember hippies, Woodstock is less than a half hour away. Visitors at the Woodstock Museum, where the motto is
"We Stand for Love and Peace," can pick up mementoes such as incense wands and
t-dyed t-shirts.
For families who want to visit the area and find the Mohonk too
pricey, access to the resort is available at daily fees.
Less expensive digs are also available, such as the activity-packed Yogi Bear Jellystone Park Camp-Resort at Lazy River less
than a half hour from New Paltz. The heavily-wooded park has tent sites, cabins and RV rentals with clean restrooms and showers. Rates off season
start as low as $25 a night for a tent rental or $90 for an RV.
A PS for parents who do opt for the Mohonk Mountain Resort and fear television deprivation might be traumatic: There are several
27-inch TV's tucked away in various parlors. During my visit, they seemed to be turned on all day long but had few viewers, so the upside is that
TV-watchers can pick their own programs.which, of course, fits in well with Mohonk's philosophy of
choice.
If You Go
Mohonk Mountain House
1000 Mountain Rest Road, New Paltz
845-255-1000; www.mohonk.com
New Paltz Chamber of Commerce
124 Main Street, New Paltz, NY 12561
845-255-0243 www.newpaltzchamber.org
