Garden Club Tour

Shawangunk Garden Club at Railway Station

Many green thumbs were united today as members of the Shawangunk Garden Club visited Mountaindale today for a tour of the numerous beautiful plantings around our community. The tour was hosted by members of the Mountaindale Action Committee and the Mountaindale Community Development Project (MCDP) and coordinated by neighbor, Susan Cioffi. Susan has been an area resident for several decades and was looking forward to proudly sharing her town with her friends.



Hummingbird Feeders, Hanging Baskets &
Planter Boxes on Main Street



We began bright and early at the Mountaindale Railway Station for a closer look at the beautiful landscaping outside and the unique historical photographs inside, We then walked over to the Hummingbird Garden to see the hummingbirds, butterflies and swallows flying acrobatically overhead. The tour continued as a leisurely stroll down Post Hill Road and Main Street to admire our train themed new banners and colorful planters, planted by local girl scouts & karate school families, as well as the rock garden maintained by Hospitality Green. We continued on to the Firehouse to admire the lovely flower garden that the Mountaindale Action Committee planted along the inner courtyard of the building, which leads to stairs to the gateway to the O&W Rails to Trails.

We admired a few more of their berm gardens and then headed to their other flower gardens at Quiat Road and Hatt Road. Everyone was given one of the new Town of Fallsburg O&W Rail Trail brochures to get a better understanding of how these locations fit into the original railway track line. At Quiat Road, our guests enjoyed seeing the historical Signal House and  one of the newly installed interpretive signs. A total of 4 interpretive signs were designed by the O&W Rails to Trails Committee and paid for in part, by a grant from Parks & Trails NY. A lot of the labor for the sign installation was an in kind donation from Bugsy Bennett, but more on that in the future.

The club members enjoyed a delicious lunch at Uccelli Restaurant. We all had a wonderful time together. The best part was learning from each other as many gardening tips were shared. If I can speak for the Action Committee members, I think it's also very gratifying to have new visitors express their appreciation for all that is done to make Mountaindale one of the more attractive communities around. The Shawangunk Garden Club invited everyone to a public reception for their Photo Flower Show on Saturday, August 18th from noon to 3PM in the Gallery of the Ellenville Public Library at 40 Center Street in Ellenville. All are welcome.

New Banners Coming To Mountaindale...Design Discussion Underway

As many of our readers know, our community's "Train Garden" set just inside the entrance to the "Rails to Trails" corridor here in Mountaindale won second place, and with that we received a $7,000 grant to help with other projects here in the community. This past week we met with Sullivan Renaissance and have our winnings in hand, and plans are afoot to use some of the monies for new banners.

New banners has opened up a lot of discussion about what the banners should look like, as well as what our hamlet's slogan should be. Raymon Elozua has suggested the words "opportunity" and "community" should play a key part in whatever replaces, "A growing business and arts community" on our banner. That suggestion has ignited a lively discussion about branding, that in some ways resembles a visioning workshop/seminar, and it is inspiring to see how many people have jumped into the conversation, showing their own passions and love for Mountaindale.

There will be a meeting to discuss new banners next week. If you have suggestions or ideas for a new banner, have some input on the creation of a new town slogan or motto, we would love to have you share them. Feel free to email your ideas and suggestions to news@mountaindaleproject.org