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AREA ATTRACTIONS
The offered property is located in the town of Forestburgh at the southern end of Sullivan County and ideally positioned for all types of outdoor recreation. Furthermore, it is located 10 minutes south of Monticello, the county seat and home to various restaurants, shops, and services.
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Performing Arts Center and Woodstock Museum
On July 1, 2006, the new 75 million-dollar Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (located at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival) was opened, debuting with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra appearing on a 7,500-square-foot stage in a 4,800-seat covered pavilion. That performance was later followed by a Jazz Festival that featured Dianne Reeves, George Benson, and Wynton Marsalis, and concerts by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Boston Pops, and others. The Center is expected to put the local area on the cultural map and calendar in a manner akin to Tanglewood in the Berkshires. The 2007 season began with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and included concerts by the Boston Pops, Dave Brubeck, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan, Brad Paisley, and Chicago, among others. The 2008 season includes performances by the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, Tony Bennett, Chicago, the Doobie Brothers, Ringo Starr, Cyndi Lauper, Donna Summer, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the B52s. In June of 2008, the Center opened the state-of-the-art Museum at Bethel Woods, an "immersive and captivating multi-media experience that combines film and interactive displays, text panels and artifacts to tell the story of the Sixties and Woodstock." The widely praised Museum explores the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as a culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today. Information on both can be found at: http://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/
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| The main stage at Bethel Woods |
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| Museum at Bethel Woods |
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Harness Racing, Gambling, Resort and Convention Center
In 2005, Monticello Raceway, a longtime harness-racing track, also became a "racino," with the addition of Mighty M Gaming, a facility with 1,800 gaming machines and nightly entertainment. In a widely publicized move in early 2008, the Raceway announced plans to move to the site of the Concord Hotel and Convention Center. Prominent Westchester developer Louis Cappelli, who owns the Concord, is in the process of demolishing that old landmark, which will be replaced with a 1,500-room resort, convention center, and entertainment complex. Newspapers have widely quoted this as a one-billion-dollar-plus investment in creating a world class golf course, theme hotel, casino, and resort destination. Located in the Town of Thompson on the northern outskirts of Monticello, the complex is located just 10 miles away from this property.
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| Mario Andretti, MMC President William McMichael, and CNBC reporter Tyler Mathison at the grand opening |
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Country Club Auto Racing
Only 5 minutes from this property, construction was recently completed on a private high-speed race track for members of the Monticello Motor Club, also known as the Drive & Race Club. This country club race track is situated on 225 acres of the former Monticello Airport, which is located in the southern end of the Town of Thompson bordering Forestburgh, and includes a helicopter pad, vehicle storage, and a clubhouse with dining, exercise, and meeting areas. The race course, which is over 4 miles long with more than twenty turns, was christened on July 27, 2008, with racing legends Mario Andretti and Brian Redman leading the first lap of drivers around the course. Andretti called it a challenging course, and a Reuters newswire article referred to Monticello Motor Club as "the world’s most exclusive private motor sports country club." Entertainer Jerry Seinfeld is among the founding members of the club. The track is already operating, and plans are in the works to erect two pavilions and a permanent clubhouse. To learn more, visit http://www.driveandrace.com/ and http://www.monticellomotorclub.com/. You can also look up a New York Times article about Monticello Motor Club, "Behind the Wheel at a Club With a $125,000 Entry Fee but No Speeding Tickets," which appeared on July 27, 2008.
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| Scene at the July 27, 2008 grand opening |
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The Neversink River Unique Area
Adjoining the offered property, and primarily situated within the township of Forestburgh, is the New York State-owned Neversink River Unique Area. This Unique Area, which will remain "forever wild" and undeveloped under state ownership, presently encompasses 5,466 acres. The state established the Neversink River Unique Area in the late 1980s after acquiring properties under a provision of a state bond act that defined a unique area as: "A parcel of land owned by the state acquired due to its special natural beauty, wilderness character, or for its geological, ecological or historical significance for the state nature and historical preserve." The Nature Conservancy designated the Neversink River, which flows through this Unique Area, as one of the 75 "Last Great Places" throughout the United States, Latin America, and the Pacific. Recreational opportunities include hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, fishing, and hunting. Camping, open fires, and the use of cars, trucks, ATVs, horses, and mountain bikes are prohibited. A total of 4.9 miles of the Neversink River are contained within the Neversink River Unique Area, and all of this is classified as a protected trout stream. Brown trout, brook trout are the primary species. For more information, visit: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/22616.html.
The Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area
From the offered property it is a 10-minute drive to the Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area, an 11,967-acre state-owned/managed area, primarily located in Forestburgh, that contains boating and fishing opportunities on Rio, Mongaup Falls, and Swinging Bridge Reservoirs, the latter being a popular 9-mile-long motorboat lake with good fishing for bass and walleyes. Rio and Mongaup Falls Reservoirs provide bass and trout fishing opportunity and are the winter homes to a substantial number of bald eagles, and two of the foremost viewing areas for this species in all of New York. Eagle watching is a popular winter activity here, and draws bird watchers from afar. Forestburgh’s motto, as noted on its local signage, is "winter home of the bald eagle." State literature says that this site "consists of a series of reservoirs, the Mongaup River, and creeks flowing through the Mongaup River Valley to the Delaware River. The river corridor is surrounded by relatively undisturbed and forested rolling hills. The area hosts one of the largest Bald Eagle wintering sites in the state, and also supports several active eagle nests. Rare communities include: a perched bog, a flood-plain forest, and a pitch pine-oak-heath woodland. Rare species, other than birds, include Timber Rattlesnake and Spotted Salamander."
The Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River National Park
The property is also a 25-minute drive from the Delaware River at Barryville, and close to the 75-mile-long Upper Delaware Wild & Scenic River, a federally designated national park that is managed by the Department of the Interior through the National Park Service. As many articles in national publications have attested, the Upper Delaware offers some of the finest recreational opportunities in the northeastern United States. In particular, sightseeing, boating, camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, and bird watching are popular activities in the river area. Floating on the Delaware River in kayaks, canoes, and rafts is very popular in the summer, and the river contains good fishing for shad, smallmouth bass, and brown and rainbow trout. The upper coldwater stretches of this river are widely acclaimed as having the best trout fishing in the eastern United States. Bald eagles nest along the river, and are a common site throughout the year, and each spring an annual Eaglefest weekend is celebrated along the river valley. The Zane Grey house and museum in Lackawaxen, and the nearby historic Roebling Bridge, both within this park, are less than 40 minutes away. Owned and operated by the National Park Service, the Zane Grey Museum was the site where famous western author Zane Grey lived and wrote many of his early books. The Roebling Bridge, which was originally part of the Delaware Aqueduct, is the oldest existing wire cable suspension bridge in the nation. Begun in 1847 as one of four suspension aqueducts on the Delaware and Hudson Canal, it was designed by and built under the supervision of John A. Roebling, future engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge. For more information, visit: http://www.nps.gov/upde/index.htm.
Golf Courses
For golf enthusiasts there are numerous courses already in the area, as well as more planned. Two championship level golf courses are scheduled for building in Forestburgh, one just five minutes from this property, as part of community home development projects currently in the planning and review stages. The most renowned regional courses are The Monster, a top-100 rated golf course on the grounds of the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake, and the highly rated Grossingers Country Club course in Liberty.
For more information about attractions in Sullivan County, visit: http://www.scva.net/
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