Palenville, NY

Palenville sits at the mouth of Kaaterskill Clove, where Kaaterskill Creek comes down from the Catskills and Routes 23A and 32A meet. The water and cliffs made this a working place before it became an artists' stop: the Palen family ran an early tannery, then Thomas Cole and other Hudson River School painters came for the creek, waterfalls, and mountain views. The Catskill Mountain House stood just beyond the hamlet, and the old scenery still shapes the address. Today Palenville has a small commercial core, a pocket park, and a branch library that has served the hamlet since the 1920s. It is the Catskills' foothill town where a creek does most of the introductions.