Interpretation & Signage

Mongaup Interpretive Center
Lumberland, New York

The 20.75-acre Mongaup property lies near the confluence of the Mongaup and Delaware Rivers in Sullivan County, New York as part of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.  The historical context of the Mongaup area relates to the gradual expansion and transformation of human settlement in the region. Over the past 400 years, subsistence economies transitioned into regional resource extraction and industrial economies. During the 19th and 20th centuries, transportation and hospitality services influenced the landscape of the Mongaup area. Today, the Mongaup site itself reflects the marginal and support role it played to the activities occurring in the surrounding context of the site.

Heritage Landscapes’ role was to assess the site as part of the planning and design phase for a proposed visitor center. The assessment identified the character-defining features of the Mongaup cultural landscape, documented the condition of the features, and assessed the historical significance of landscape characteristics that might be negatively impacted by the proposed project. Additionally, the limited scope of work included research and a literature review of secondary sources to compile a general property description and history.  On site, Heritage Landscapes inventoried and documented the landscape and found remaining historic features, including prehistoric encampments, boundary walls, and small portions of the D&H Canal, towpath, and Mongaup Basin. However, the the proposed site of the Mongaup Interpretive Center is in remnant form with few interesting features.  Overall, the site was not particularly distinguished for its cultural landscape and is, therefore, a fully appropriate site for the placement of an interpretive center. The surrounding landscape of the Upper Delaware Scenic River area would provide a needed educational location for visitors. The site’s remnant features would also add benefit as interpretive elements. For example, visitors could see the traces of the canal grading and walls that exist at this and at many other locations in the area and become attuned to the remnant canal landscape, thus enhancing the quality of their experience in the scenic Delaware River region. This CLA follows federal landscape preservation guidance for the development of reports addressing cultural landscapes.

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