In all the years before FTSP when I’d visit the furnace grounds and hoped somehow, it would be saved…Thank God that just as I was about to give up, you and the small corps of folks appeared from seemingly nowhere and FTSP happened.  Thank you. Thank you – all of you – for what you created, out of the dust and slag and charcoal: the old furnace lives on.

— Vic Rolando, the original Friend of the Furnace

December 2018

Dear Friends, 

With gratitude for your support which has made so many achievements possible, we write to report on our activities in 2018 and to seek your membership contribution for 2019. My fellow board members and I will gladly match every gift received up to our challenge amount of $6,800.  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.

The playful noise of swimmers at the ore pit and kiddie pool, the filled to overflowing parking lot for the Bash Bish Falls, and the seemingly endless stream of hikers up to Alander Mountain attest to the popularity of Taconic State Park.  Some 200,000 people visit the park each year – which is about three times the population of Columbia County.

We work hard to show these visitors how special Taconic State Park truly is, with some rare eco-systems, champion tree stands, and trails in an area larger than many cities, and even the country of Monaco!

The newly opened Visitor Center at the Copake Iron Works featuring Dr. Fred Sutherland’s video history of Copake Iron Works (the town and the company) helps us share that kind of fascinating information. 

Also fascinating was the speaker at our 10th annual meeting in July –  the nationally-renowned historian, Joshua Freeman, who related the Copake Iron Works to his recent book Behemoth, a sweeping history of world factories.

Did you know that the Copake Iron Works is the largest assemblage of iron-making structures in about a hundred-mile radius? In the year ahead, we plan to expand the site in creative ways with access to more facilities and with activities to engage, inform and entertain the growing number of visitors.

We have plans underway to make presentations about our illustrious Taconic State Park and Copake Iron Works heritage to numerous neighboring historical societies. In addition, we are engaging more and more local schools into our realm. And we’re delighted to announce that in the year ahead we will be working with Dr. Sutherland on the creation of a series of downloadable audio walking tours.

Please consider volunteering your help, especially 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 the end of October (or by appointment).  If you are interested in volunteering as a greeter – even for just one or two weekend days next season — please contact us.

With much appreciation, we thank the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for their dedication and stewardship, especially Commissioner Rose Harvey, who is retiring after many years of dedicated service; 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 to continue supporting the enlightened stewardship of Taconic State Park’s cultural and natural heritage. You can do so via our website by clicking on the “join/donate” page from where you’ll be re-directed to PayPal.

Sincerely yours,

Jim Mackin, President

P.S. If you’ve renewed your membership recently, please accept our sincere thanks and enjoy this annual report!