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Picture
Picture

A Brief History of Windham

By Patricia Morrow, Windham Town Historian

The Town of Windham, Ulster County, NY was established in 1798. Two years
later it became the western half of the newly created Greene County. Between 1813
and 1851 Windham was carved up to create the seven mountaintop towns of Ashland,
Halcott, Hunter, Jewett, Lexington, Prattsville and Windham. The town’s earliest settlers
were mostly farmers who had relocated from New England after the Revolutionary War.

Tanneries thrived for a brief time, and water-powered sawmills and grist mills
built along the banks of the Batavia Kill provided lumber and flour. Small businesses
along each hamlet’s main thoroughfare supplied various needs.

Tourists came to the mountaintop as early as the 1820s, traveling by stage
up steep mountain roads. While Windham had a few drovers’ taverns and hotels for
traveling salesmen, it didn’t become popular with visitors until the 1860s when farmers
began to take in summer boarders to supplement their meager incomes. Improvements in
roads and modes of transportation made it possible for more people to make the trip to
the Catskills. Small boarding houses were enlarged to accommodate them and eventually
amenities, such as tennis courts and swimming pools, were added.

Windham Country Golf club opened a 9-hole club in the 1920s, followed by its
expansion to 18 holes in the 1960s, increased Windham’s appeal, while the addition of
a ski resort originally called Cave Mountain and eventually evolved into the first class
alpine experience; Windham Mountain Resort has turned the community into a year-
round recreation destination. Not surprisingly many who once vacationed in Windham
fell in love with the area and became residents of this town as well as second home
owners looking to escape from the metro areas. Windham is proudly called the
“Gem of the Catskills”

Photo's by local Artist Robert Cepale


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Windham Chamber of Commerce • PO Box 613 • Windham • New York • 12496 • windhamchamberofcommerce@gmail.com
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published by: The Print Shop | Tannersville, NY