Photo: Fred Hsu on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 1869 Albert Smiley, a Quaker schoolteacher, bought a small tavern and land around Lake Mohonk on the Shawangunk Ridge near New Paltz. With his twin brother Alfred, he turned it into a resort. They kept adding wings over the decades, until the hotel stretched along the lake shore with hundreds of rooms.
The Smileys kept the place alcohol-free for many years and hosted conferences on Native American policy and international arbitration in the late 1800s.
Still in the family
Mohonk is still owned and run by the Smiley family, which is rare for a resort of its size. The hotel is a National Historic Landmark.
The land
The family set aside much of their land as a nature preserve. The Mohonk Preserve, now an independent nonprofit, covers thousands of acres and draws rock climbers, hikers and runners. Its cliffs at the Gunks are among the most popular climbing areas in the East.
The hotel runs a spa, golf course and seasonal activities, and is one of the larger private employers in Ulster County. Day visitors can buy a pass to walk the grounds and trails around the lake.
