About Lynnskill and the Catskills

The Catskill Mountains are located a hundred miles northwest from New York city, west of the Hudson river.

The eastern border of the Catskills, close to the Hudson river, is formed by a steep escarpment. The Algonquin Indians called it the Wall of Manitou, and considered it to have been created to keep away hostile spirits.

Crossing the Wall of Manitou, ie entering the Catskills, you do get the sense of arriving in a very beautiful and protected area.

The Catskill Forest Preserve was established by the state of New York as early as 1885. A large part of the Catskills also form the New York City watershead, that is, the area from where NYC tap water is collected. NYC is in fact one of the cities in the world with the purest tap water (it is even bottled and sold). And the New York DEP fights fiercely to limit development within its 'red line', which delineates the watershed.

It is in this watershed that Lynnskill is located.

The name Lynnskill

The Dutch occupied New York before the British. In fact, originally New York wasn't called New York, it was called New Amsterdam. Hence the Dutch names of places and rivers found all over the state of New York.

The suffix 'kill' is derived from a Dutch word that means a stream of water. It's the same kill that is found in Catskill.

In and all around the Catskill mountains there are brooks and streams called something-kill: Fishkill, Plattekill, etc.

Lynnskill, the retreat center, derives its name from a little stream that runs through the heart of the property.