Helderberg Hilltowns Association - 2010 Year End Summary
Boosting the economy
The Helderberg Hilltowns Association, which is making strides to strengthen the economy on the Hill, held its first-ever meeting in April in Rensselaerville. Farmers and politicians alike shared their thoughts at this preliminary gathering, and learned about www.HelderbergMarket.com, a website that sells and delivers local produce, which launched in June.
Harold Miller, a Berne native who now lives in Mexico, began building a network late last year of individuals interested in assembling an association of Hilltown farmers and business owners who would act as a virtual chamber of commerce for the Helderbergs, the goal being to increase agricultural tourism to the area as an economic stimulus.
At that time, Miller listed three steps in that direction: organizing a Hilltowns farmers market that would rotate weekly among Berne, Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville; creating a brochure that would list farms and activities in the Helderbergs; and suggesting tour routes to places of interest in the Hilltowns.
"My goal," Miller told onlookers at the April 17 meeting, "is to have an organization that encourages low-impact tourism, to encourage people to come to the Hilltowns, and to visit the farms; to buy produce here; to drive through the countryside; to hike; to picnic; to eat lunch and dinner at a local restaurant; to stay the night. I would like to think that someday, when people from below the Hill want to take a short vacation, that they're not going to go to the Berkshires and spend their money. They're going to say, `Let's head for the hills — the Helderberg Hilltowns.'"
The role of tourism in the local economy is underlined in the Helderberg Escarpment Planning Guide, co-edited by Daniel Driscoll, a Knox Planning Board member for more than three decades, and Lindsay Childs, a longtime planning leader in Guilderland. The guide, published in 2002, was created to encourage appropriate land use and development in the Helderbergs.
"In the later 19th Century, with the onset of the Victorian era and its increased emphasis on recreational pursuits, the escarpment region became attract logging, and scientific study," the planning guide reads. "It became a major destination for all manner of hikers, daytrippers, picnickers, and general outdoor enthusiasts."
Many of these people, the guide says, came from urban areas, like Albany, arriving by train at Meadowdale Station below the Helderbergs. These tourists would then hike their way up Indian Ladder Road to the top of the escarpment.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Helderbergs became a popular summer-vacation spot. Wealthier travelers built summer homes there, taking in the view, and many hotels, inns, and camps at Thompsons and Warners lakes housed those less wealthy.
Today, that culture has mostly faded away, though John Boyd Thacher Park, established in 1914, is visited by thousands annually.
And, the historic hamlet of Rensselaerville was chosen by the Preservation League of New York State as one of this year's Seven to Save, meaning greater chances of bringing in grant money to preserve Rensselaerville's historic buildings, and possibly working to increase heritage tourism as an economic jumpstart.
- Altamont Enterprise - December 30, 2010
