A note from a park visitor this past summer:

I want to thank you for showing me, my kids and my husband around the General Store and museum area in Taconic State Park last month. You had been painting and noticed us looking in and offered us a tour. It was fascinating and memorable! Thank you! Thank you for not only enriching our visit but for providing such a wonderful learning resource for New Yorkers!

Dear Friend,

With gratitude for your support which has made so many achievements possible, we write to report on our activities in 2019 and to seek your membership contribution for 2020. My fellow board members and I will gladly match every gift received up to our challenge amount of $7,000. Your generosity makes it possible for us to be generous to our beloved Taconic State Park and the Copake Iron Work National Heritage Area Site.

More than 200,000 people continue to visit the park each year. They hike, they swim, they learn about nature, and they discover the Copake Iron Works. It is the largest assemblage of iron-making structures within about 100 miles. Its museum, blast furnace, and free tours are getting much attention.

We expect to get much more attention with a working railroad and a native plant garden that we are planning. The special design and features of the garden will distinguish the park and connect to both the Harlem Valley Rail Trail and the Copake Iron Works. The railroad will evoke the history of the one that brought iron ore from the mine (today’s Ore Pit and everyone’s favorite swimming experience) to the blast furnace. We have acquired a locomotive and some rail stock, have surveyed our site, and are working with a civil engineer to create a rail loop through the Copake Iron Works.
Stay tuned as we process approval from New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and embark upon a capital campaign to make Taconic State Park the only New York State park with a full-sized operating railroad.

When you renew your membership and make a contribution, you help enable our plans. You can also help us immensely by becoming a volunteer in greeting visitors to the Copake Iron Works. The Visitor Center is open year-round during daylight hours and the Iron Works Museum is open every Saturday, Sunday, and holiday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day (or by appointment). If you are interested in volunteering as a greeter – even for just one or two weekend days next season — please contact me at jim.mackin@friendsoftsp.org.

With much appreciation, we thank the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for their dedication and stewardship, especially NYS Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid; Dr. Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, Chair, New York State Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Edgar Masters, Taconic Regional Commissioner; Linda Cooper, Taconic Regional Director; and Christopher Rickard, Manager, Taconic State Park, and his ever-helpful staff. Finally, I thank my fellow board members for their many gifts of time, treasure and talent!
I hope you will renew your membership and continue supporting the enlightened stewardship of Taconic State Park’s cultural and natural heritage. A handy reply form is enclosed or you can renew at www.friendsoftsp.org/join.

Sincerely yours,

Jim Mackin, President

P.S. If you’ve renewed your membership recently, please accept our sincere thanks.