Timothy Albright’s love of the Helderberg Escarpment began as a child.
Growing up just below the dramatic cliffs, Albright said he would spend days playing and going on adventures inside John Boyd Thacher State Park and along the Indian Ladder Trail. The same went for longtime friend Laura Ten Eyck, whose family owns Indian Ladder Farms in Altamont.
“When we were told to go outside and play by our parents, that’s where we would go,” said Albright. “We loved exploring and being in the forest.”
Now, the two friends are sharing that joy with a new book out about the Helderbergs called “Indian Ladder and Thatcher Park in Historic Photographs.” Published through Arcadia, the book describes the area’s glacial beginnings, its uses by the Native Americans and early Dutch settlers, to tourism from 1850 to 1960.
Albright said he has been collecting information, photographs and tourism memorabilia on the area for nearly three decades.
“The inspiration for the book actually came when it was in danger of closing,” said Albright, referring to the 2010 state budget crisis. “I wanted people to see what I’ve been seeing for so many years, about the tourism of the park and its early history.”
The original trail was used by Native Americans as a way to travel to deal with early Dutch traders at Fort Orange, and an actual ladder was built to scale the cliffs. Geologists say the world’s oldest exposed limestone can be found in the Helderberg Escarpment, which makes it one of the world’s best fossil-bearing formations.
Albright said his interest in collecting information and photos on the area began in 1984 when he found an old postcard of a replica of the Indian Ladder that was used for tourism purposes.
“I didn’t ever know there was an actual ladder,” he said.
According to Albright’s book, the original cliff face that once held the ladder was demolished to make room for a road. A replica was later built of wood for tourists to visit.
At one point, 24 miles worth of land in the Helderbergs was owned by the Van Rensselaer family. The region’s Anti-Rent Wars were sparked when farmers, believing they were being charged too much for use of the land, rebelled against the family. Eventually, much of the land was donated as a preserve in 1914 by Emma Treadwell Thacher, the widow of Albany Mayor John Boyd Thacher.
To research the book, Albright used his own collection and sources from the state library but he was still coming up short with material. He could not find a photo of Thatcher and even Albany City Hall didn’t have a copy.
“It turns out when (John Boyd Thacher) died in 1909, apparently (Emma) left everything to her nephew,” said Albright. “He moved to Los Angeles and married a young Hollywood starlet of the time. Who knows what she did with the stuff after he died? It was probably sold or dumped and the mansion was turned over to the Altamont Fire Department to burn as a fire exercise.”
Materials were eventually found with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which once oversaw the states parks.
“The information had never been transferred over,” Albright said.
The book was finally published in September of 2011, soon after it was learned the park would not close. However, on Saturday, April 28, the state will hold a public meeting to discuss the future “master plan” of the park at the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center.
“We just wanted people to see the images because they were so wonderful… they showed a time when things were simpler and I think people don’t realize the history and what they have in their own back yards,” said Albright.
Albright will give a talk about the book to the Bethlehem Historical Association on Thursday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the Cedar Hill School House in Selkirk. All are welcome to attend.