Wallkill: Rail Trail, Parks and History

Wallkill brings together several distinct points of interest for a stay: the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, parks with different features, and local history. When planning your hotel stay, you can sort these themes by interest: getting active along the Rail Trail, river access and fishing, a playground, or the history of historic buildings and property ownership.

The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail

The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail connects the Village of Walden with the Hamlet of Wallkill via a 3-mile paved section. This identifies both two specific reference points and the length of the paved section. Another landmark is where the Rail Trail ends at Bona Ventura Avenue, across from the police station. This street address pinpoints the trail’s end in the hamlet and supplements the information about the connection to Walden. For planning purposes, you can therefore identify both the connection between the two places and a named point at the end of the trail.

North of the Hamlet of Wallkill, a 1.3-mile unpaved section of the former rail bed also leads out of the hamlet to River Road, south of the Shawangunk Correctional Facility. This section has different features from the paved part: it follows the former rail bed, has an unpaved surface, and is identified by River Road and its location south of the facility. So a comparison should not focus only on the figures of 3 and 1.3 miles. The surface, reference points, and designation as a former rail bed also differ. This can help you determine whether the connection between Walden and Wallkill or the northern section ending at River Road is more relevant to your plans.

Parks with Different Features

Popp Park provides access to the Wallkill River; fishing is possible there, and the park has a boat launch. The focus is therefore on river access and two specific features: fishing and the boat launch. If you are planning a stay with river access in mind, you can take these different details into account when planning your outings.

Garrison Park in the Hamlet of Wallkill has a playground, giving it a different focus. This lets you distinguish between river-oriented Popp Park and the playground at Garrison Park when planning. It’s a concrete way to decide which of these features matters more for your stay.

History of Buildings and Property Ownership

The Andries DuBois House has earliest beams dating to 1769. This date draws attention to the house’s structure and offers a specific point of reference for exploring Wallkill’s architectural history. The history of Borden Farm offers a different perspective: it concerns a property, its acquisition, and the founding of a farm.

Borden Farm was founded in 1881, after Borden acquired the Stone House and the surrounding land. Borden wanted to create a “model community” there. By 1890, Borden called the property in Wallkill “Home Farm.” The dates refer to different aspects: 1769 to the earliest beams in the Andries DuBois House, 1881 to the acquisition and founding of the farm, and the period up to 1890 to the name of the property. This helps distinguish architectural history from the development of the Borden estate as separate topics.

Discover more destinations: Accord, Kingston, Shandaken, Highland, Boiceville, Kerhonkson, New Paltz, High Falls.

For the broader travel overview: Ulster.