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Cherry Plain State Park
Berlin, NY
- Dates: August 15–24, 2014.
- Site Number: "Trouble" site (we booked Site 16)
- Vibe: Great, pretty and overlooked state campground.
- Weather: Pretty poor. Rained several times; most days were cloudy and cool. One sunny, warmish day.
- Friday: Overcast, cool and damp, but no rain.
- Saturday: Some early sun
- Sunday: Sunny.
- Monday: Afternoon sun
- Tuesday: Afternoon sun
- Wednesday: Best weather day. Swimming with Cousin Kylie.
- Thursday: Rainy
- Friday: Rainy
- Saturday:
- Sunday:
- Pros: Very quiet, except for the incredible owls! Private sites, many with lake views. $6 bags of wood and $2 bags of ice at the ranger station. Great staff!
- Cons: Our original site (#16) had been recently relocated and its new location was not level. The helpful staff were able to move us to a flat site across form the ranger station.
- Verdict: Fantastic! We would definitely stay here again!
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Steve's Review:
On Friday, we got a bit of a late start, which meant a late lunch at the Millbrook Diner in Millbrook, NY. We love this cute Dutchess County village halfway up the Taconic State parkway. We eventually reached the end of the TSP and travelled up to Stephentown. We took what we thought was the most direct route and ended up getting lost on a dirt road. Had we simply stayed on Route 22-North, we would have had no problems finding the park! When we finally did get to the campsite, we found that our reserved site had recently been relocated because it was set in a buggy, marshy area. Unfortunately, the new location, while dry, was set on a sloping hill overlooking the lake and had not yet been graded. We tried to set up the tent, but it soon became obvious that our sleeping bags would be sliding down the hill as we slept. We knew that the campground was fully booked and were concerned that we might have to find another park. Fortunately, Ranger Sarah was able to relocate us to the "trouble site." This is a campsite that normally goes unbooked, but that the rangers use when there is a problem with a campsite, or if there is a late night traveler and a full campground.
The site was great! Is was entirely level and grassy, with plenty of room for our tent and screenhut.
Saturday: After a grocery run, we mostly hung around the campground. We visit with cousins in the afternoon. Dogs and Burgers on the grill for dinner.
Sunday was a pleasant day. We drove to the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. It's one of my favorite museums. There's a whole room of Renoir and significant works from Early Rennaissance masters. Stuart, Homer, Sargent and Remington are represented, too. At sunset, we stopped for ice cream at Gardiner's in Stephentown, NY.
Monday began with a drive through the backroads of Rennselaer & Columbia counties. Our drive took us to Lindenwald, the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in his hometown of Kinderhook, NY. It was fascinating! We had an amazing docent, a former Bronx teacher, who really entertained and illuminated the manse. While you are not like to find van Buren on anybody's list of the greatest U. S. presidents, he still was the most prominent American of his time. He had an interesting career in New york State politics as well. As the afternoon wound down, we stopped at Schodack Island State Park which occupies a lovely spot along the Hudson River. We met our cousins for dinner at the Albany Pump Station, home of C.H. Evans Brewing Co. Good food and good beer!
Tuesday: We started the day with Blueberry Pancakes! We had a picnic dinner with cousins while watching a local band, Get Up Jack, at the Community Center in Brunswick, NY.
Wednesday: Now that the kids are older, we've done a few lengthy camping trips. Two weeks is a bit long, but nine or ten days seems ideal. any time we camp for more than a long weekend, we have to plan a laundry day in there somewhere. Wedensday was the day. We found a decent laundromat in Sand Lake, across the raod from the local Hannaford's. Our cousins came to visit us at Cherry Plains SP for a swim and dinner at our place: pasta dinner on the grill.
On Thursday, we took a trip to nearby Boston Corner, in Ancram, NY. The place has an interesting history. Originally, the southern border of Massachusetts (bordering Connecticut) met the western border of Massachusetts (bordering New York) in a pointed angle in the town of Mount Washington, MA. Most of the town is in the Taconic Range at an elevation of 1600 feet above sea level, but the corner where the three states met was 1000 feet lower. Boston Corner was technically part of Massachusetts, but it could only be accessed via New York or Connecticut. This made it a perfect location for gambling and other illegal activities, because it was outside of New York jurisdiction. A famous prize fight was held there in 1853 between John Morrisey and "Yankee" Sullivan. The crowd of 3000 rioted after a melee in the ring stopped the fight in the 37th round. The area below the Taconic plateau was ceded to New york State in 1855, giving the southwest corner of Massachusetts a little "dogear." There's not much there now, a few houses and some farmland.
From there, we drove through Mount Washington to Great Barrington, MA for pizza. Then we had an ice cream and browsed at a Barnes & Noble in Pittsfield. We ended the day with one last visit with the cousins.
Friday: In the morning we walked through the park to check out other campsites. We really liked 3 & 4 the best. The weather was overcast and too coll for swimming, so we took a tour of the area west of Albany to visit two potential future campsites:
- Thompson's Lake Campground at John Boyd Thacher State Park
- We thought this campground was just large and flat—in fairness, it might be a good place to take younger kids with bicycles.
- Max V. Shaul State Park.
- We liked this park a lot better. The campground is small, with 25–30 wooded sites, and set into a hillside. There's swimming at Mine Kill State Park down the road, but we think this would be a great camp for the fall.
The Schoharie Valley, on the North side of the Catskills is beautiful! Middleburgh is a cute town, although the surrounding area is a bit depressed.. We ate dinner at Middleburgers BBQ, a roadside trailer with a bunch of picnic tables and a smokin' Bluegrass band. The food was GOOD!
Saturday: We did absolutely nothing! Breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes (yum!). Dinner was hot dogs and grilled chicken!
Sunday: We booked the site through Sunday night, which allowed a very liesurely pack out. We drove south on Route 22 all the way back to White Plains! This is a very pleasant drive, most of which can be travelled at 55 mph. Dinner was at the Red Rooster, a famous roadside stop in Brewster, NY.
The park was incredible! We heard Great Horned Owls every night; some nights they were so close we were sure they were right over our tent! The park's Black River Pond is nice swimming spot and many of the campsites are adjacent to the water. There's lots of hiking in the park and the location is central to Williamstown, Albany and Kinderhook. We would definitely return here!
—SBW
