Lake Mohonk

Lake Mohonk
Lake Mohonk
Location	Ulster County, New York
Coordinates	41°45′58″N 074°09′25″W / 41.76611°N 74.15694°W / 41.76611; -74.15694Coordinates: 41°45′58″N 074°09′25″W / 41.76611°N 74.15694°W / 41.76611; -74.15694
Basin countries	United States
Surface elevation	1,253 ft (382 m)
Settlements	New Paltz

Lake Mohonk is a lake at the northern end of New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, U.S.A., about 14 m. N.W. of Poughkeepsie. The lake is a small body of water, picturesquely situated 1,245 ft. above sea level in the towns of Rochester and Marbletown, on Sky Top Mountain (1,542 ft), one of the highest peaks of the Shawangunk Ridge. The highest point of Sky Top lies just east of the south end of the lake; close by, to the west, Eagle Cliff rises to a height of 1,412 ft. Competitors in the Survival of the Shawangunks swim the lake as their final aquatic leg of the competition.

An 1858 painting of Lake Mohonk

The development of this beautiful region into a summer resort and the holding of Indian and arbitration conferences here have been due to Albert Keith Smiley (b. 1828), a graduate of Haverford College (1849), who conducted an English and classical academy in Philadelphia in 1853-1857, was principal of the Oak Grove academy at Vassalboro, Maine, in 1858-1860, was principal and superintendent of the Friends' school at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1860-1879, and became a member of the United States Board of Indian Commissioners in 1879.

In 1869 he bought, at the northern end of Lake Mohonk, a tract of land on which he built a large hotel, Mohonk Mountain House. Here, in October 1883, the first Conference of the Friends of the American Indian met; these conferences have since been held annually, their scope being enlarged in 1904 to include consideration of the condition of "other dependent peoples", i.e. the natives of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. The first conference on international arbitration was held here in June 1895.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Mohonk
• http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/MIC_MOL/MOHONK_LAKE.html