Pratt Rock

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Pratt Rock

Short walk to show Deborah (@pathswithpadilla ) Pratt Rock (aka New York’s Mount Rushmore aka America’s First Mount Rushmore). Maybe the only thing I have in common with my dad is the need to point out things in our settings and tell interesting facts or stories about them—even if people have heard the story a thousand times before.
So Deb probably already knew that Zadock Pratt had the largest tannery in the world at the time (roughly mid 1800s). He built the town to house his labor force. He was also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
He had five wives. Seems they’d die of something like tuberculosis or childbirth and then he’d marry that wife’s sister. He did that with two sets of women. (Seems caddish by today’s standards, but probably honorable back then? Not sure.)
Legend has it Zadock hired an out of work stone cutter to tell the story of his life, but historians believe it was actually done by a number of different stonecutters over a period of 28 years. They also believe it was an homage to his son George Pratt who died in the Civil War.
The little stone nook you see in the pics is where Zadock planned to be buried, but as the puddle demonstrates, it would get flooded when it rained, so they abandoned that plan. (Makes a pretty sweet spot to hang out with your girlfriend and read tarot cards, though.)
In honor of Zadock and George, we stopped by @hickoryhillmarket and grabbed some beer (no connection to the Pratts, just an excuse to drink beer.) I find hazy IPAs beautiful to pour so we had @industrialmechanicsbrewing Torque Wrench hazy IPA, which was smooth and delicious, and the Mango Bombogenesis Double IPA (not a hazy IPA) from @chathambrewing which is delicious.
P.S.: If you want to make a good impression on your girlfriend’s parents, bring a variety of your best local IPAs when you visit. I, of course, brought the best of the Catskills and it was a tie between @chathambrewing Mango Bombogenesis for mom and @thecatskillbrewery Devil’s Path IPA for step-dad.
(Additional history, trail conditions, and dating tips are forthcoming.)






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