Hudson Valley Archives - Between The Sheets Blog

Hudson Valley Home – Visiting the Shawangunks

09.17.2023 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

I first visited the Shawangunks or “Gunks” during a work trip nearly 15 years ago, a decade before we moved to the Hudson Valley. I had moved to NYC for school and for many years had not even known of the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley that lies directly north of the City.

Grey stone "sky top" tower sits atop the Shawangunk ridge on the grounds of the Mohonk Mountain House. Blue sky with wispy clouds in background.

View of lake atop the Shawangunk ridge. Craggy stone cliffs surround. A path and tree in the foreground.

The “Gunks” are an extension of the Catskill mountains, and in turn are part of the Appalachian mountains. They are home to stunning natural beauty, and are a favorite for hikers, rock climbers, photographers, cross country skiers, and many others. We are lucky to call this area home and have so much on our doorstep.

View looks down on green forest, a series of pathways, a lake, and Mohonk Mountain House hotel building set above steep grey rock cliffs and a lake.

View atop the Shawangunk Ridge to a bean shaped fire lake surrounded by white stone, grass, and forest. Blue sky and rolling hills in background.

Activities

Camping, hiking, and other outdoor activities are just some of the things that draw visitors (and locals) to the area. There are also a number of resorts, hotels, and spas that incorporate the natural beauty of the area.

Minnewaska State Park and The Mohonk Preserve sit high up in the Gunks, with panoramic views, crystal lakes, and waterfalls. During peak summer season and fall “leaf” season the Park and Preserve can get quite crowded, so we like to visit offseason (since we live right down the road) or earlier in the morning before the parking lot fills up. Parking lots that lead to popular rock climbing areas may need a reservation.

Minnewaska State Park Preserve and Mohonk Preserve: seasonal hiking, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, bicycling
Mohonk Mountain House is a relic from another time. A hotel and resort that that dates back to the 1860’s. Hiking and outdoors activities for guests or public with a use fee. Resort is directly next to the Preserve.
Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge: In the valley with views of the Shawangunk ridge a nearly 600 acre refuge on the site of a former airstrip is popular with bird watchers, hikers, and photographers (no pets allowed).

Layla, wearing a tan coat stands on a grey rocky outcropping with dogs Merlin and Hazel next to lake shore. Lake surrounded by woods.

View of deep blue alpine lake stretching towards the horizon. Surrounded by green forest and grey rocky shoreline.

Follow our exploration of the area around our Home in the Hudson Valley including favorite day trips and excursions an easy drive from New York City with more posts from Hudson Valley Home

DIY- Making a Cutting Board from Hardwood

07.30.2022 by btslingerie // Leave a Comment

In our Kitchen at home we have a large variety of cutting boards we have collected over the years, from simple bamboo boards to heavy butcher block style boards with layers of multi-colored wood. I have always wanted to make my own cutting board, so when the opportunity came up to take a weekend-long class at the Hudson River Maritime Museum to learn how to make a cutting board, I was quick to sign up. This class also taught how to create a charcuterie board/wire cheese slicer (read about it here).

Taking Classes at the Wooden Boat School

The Wooden Boat School at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston, NY teaches a wide-variety of hands-on woodworking, boat building, and other handcraft classes in their fully outfitted woodworking shop.

Taught by a wide range of experts, artists, builders, and makers, classes at the Boat School have become one of my favorite activities since moving to the Hudson Valley. I love supporting and being inspired by local craftspeople, while learning new skills, and having the satisfaction of bringing something I made, home with me at the end of the class.

Boards of oak, maple, ash, and walnut clamped together with wood glue on a woodworking bench. Woodshop with benches and tools in background.

Cutting Board Layout

The first step for making the cutting board was to pick my materials. For the class the instructor provided a wide variety pre-cut boards that came from a local sawmill. Oak, Maple, Ash, Walnut, or any other hardwood are a good choice for a cheese or cutting board, because they stand up well to use. Thin strips of Oak and Maple were used as spacers and to give this cheese board the desired look.

I selected a grouping of hardwood boards based on the color and texture of the grain as well as a varied length that would allow for creation of the extended handle and curvature that is in the finished project.

After picking boards and dry fitting together, I added a liberal amount of wood glue in-between each piece and secured the pieces with clamps on our bench to dry overnight. Glue can get messy, so I put down plastic sheeting. Any glue that bubbles out from between the boards will be removed later when the board is planed and sanded to a consistent finish.

Cutting board pieces of oak, maple, ash, and walnut are glued together with an extended board that will form the handle of the cutting board. Laying on a woodworking bench.

Cutting board pieces of oak, maple, ash, and walnut are glued together with an extended board that will form the handle of the cutting board that has been rounded off. Laying on a woodworking bench.

The next day, after the glue had dried, I used a pencil to trace the curve on the wood that would create the flow from handle to board and then cut using a band saw. A hand saw could also be used. This cut was initially rough and was smoothed with a sander and sand paper.

Finished cutting board has been oiled, is held resting on woodworking table. Woodshop in background.

In the final steps, I drilled a hole in the handle using a drill press, sanded the board starting from 80 grit sandpaper down to 220 grit. I finished the board with a food safe butcher block oil.

Get inspired to do it yourself with more projects in our DIY series.

DIY-Stacked Stone Wall Class

11.20.2021 by btslingerie // 1 Comment

Learning how to build a dry stacked stone wall

How do you create a stone wall without any mortar or cement? On a sunny fall day I took a trip to Opus 40, a quarry turned museum, in Saugerties, NY to find out. The instructor was artist and stoneworker Chris Layman of Fox Stonework, who would spend the day teaching me and a group of students how to build a stacked stone wall.

For the class, we worked to build a retaining wall set into a hillside in a wooded area of the Opus 40 grounds. As a former quarry, the site was overflowing with flat bluestone rocks, just waiting to be assembled like a puzzle into a strong and durable wall. For more on visiting Opus 40 see here.

Chris Layman uses a hammer and chisel to show students in the stacked stone wall class how to split stones on a wooden table. Trees roots, pieces of bluestone, are in the background.

A rocky clearing in the woods, with trees in the background and stacks of flat bluestone in the foreground.

Tools

Building the wall required few tools, primarily hammer and chisel (or masonry hammer) for splitting and shaping the bluestone pieces, a level, and safety glasses for stone splitting. Many of the class participants also had knee pads and steel toed safety boots, something I would definitely recommend.

Students in the stacked stone wall class stand and kneel along the side of a rocky hill, placing the foundation slabs of bluestone for retaining wall. Blue sky, piles of stone, a clearing, and wooded area are in the background.

Setting the Stone

Stacking stone for the wall was like a puzzle. We learned to start with a layer of stone, anchored into the hillside by wedging into the dirt, stones, and crevices that already existed. Then a new row of stones would be placed on top making sure that the new layer overlapped the gaps between the layer directly below. We used smaller rocks as wedges and to fill larger gaps. A level was used to check the wall, and in some cases a hammer was used to help wedge stones together. Stone-by-stone the wall started coming together.

Students in the stacked stone wall class stand and kneel along the side of a rocky hill, placing the slabs of bluestone for retaining wall.

Stacked stone retaining wall construction in progress. Wall frames a rocky hill with green ferns and small trees. A white bucket sits next to the wall and loose stone is in the foreground.

A close up of stacked stone retaining wall construction in progress. Wall frames a rocky hill with green ferns and small trees. Loose stone is in the foreground.

The class was only an afternoon, so we did not complete the wall within the time we had, but build enough to get the basics down. We used many of the techniques I learned in the class at Opus 40 to build the stacked stone wall for our Studio Build Project and shed several years later.