The Cragsmoor

Cragsmoor, New York

Cragsmoor is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 449 at the 2000 census.Cragsmoor is located atop the Shawangunk Ridge, in the south part of the Town of Wawarsing...

 Historic District

Historic district

A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....

includes most of that hamlet atop the Shawangunk Ridge

Shawangunk Ridge

The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...

 in the Town of Wawarsing

Wawarsing, New York

Wawarsing is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 13,157 at the 2010 census. The name means "a place where the stream bends" in the Warwarsink language and refers to the geography of the land; particularly the joining of the Ver Nooy Kill and the Rondout Creek. The...

, part of Ulster County

Ulster County, New York

Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, USA. It is roughly bounded by Henry, Cragsmoor and Sam's Point roads, a Y-shaped area of 3,620 acres (14.5 km²). Within it are 168 buildings (mostly homes), 15 structures and 11 objects, all located amidst a quiet, heavily wooded ridgetop community. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1996.

Many of the buildings in the district date to Cragsmoor's founding as an art colony

Art colony

right|300px|thumb|Artist houses in [[Montsalvat]] near [[Melbourne, Australia]].An art colony or artists' colony is a place where creative practitioners live and interact with one another. Artists are often invited or selected through a formal process, for a residency from a few weeks to over a year...

 in the late 19th century, when Edward Lamson Henry

Edward Lamson Henry

Edward Lamson Henry , commonly known as E.L. Henry, was an American genre painter, born in Charleston, South Carolina.-Early life :...

 and some of his fellow painters visited what was then a small mountain hamlet for local loggers and grew enamored of the scenery. Many homes were designed by Frederick Dellenbaugh and Bert Goldsmith. George Inness, Jr.

George Inness, Jr.

George Inness, Jr. January 5, 1854 - July 27, 1926 was one of America’s foremost figure and landscape artists and the son of George Inness, an important American landscape painter....

 and Charles Courtney Curran

Charles Courtney Curran

Charles Courtney Curran was an American painter. He is best known for his canvases depicting beautiful women in pleasant settings.-Career:Curran was born in Hartford, Kentucky in 1861 and moved to Sandusky, Ohio in 1881...

were among the artists who lived and worked here.