Mombaccus Mountain is located in the
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. To the south, it looms over the hamlet of
Samsonville in the town of
Olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
. Together with
Little Rocky and
South Mountain, Mombaccus Mountain is part of a
massif dominated by
Ashokan High Point. Below its north slope is the Kanape Brook trail, an old wagon road that leads to a saddle between Mombaccus and Ashokan High Point.
Big Rosy Bone Knob, a lesser summit, lies southwest of Mombaccus Mountain. According to historian DeWitt Davis, Mombaccus was "noted for huckleberries and bears" and bear traps were dug on its slopes.
The placename Mombaccus ("mask of Bacchus" in Greek), was given by Dutch settlers to the area now known as the town of
Rochester. It was inspired by a carving of a face (likely the Algonkan bear god Maysingwey) found on a sycamore tree where Rochester Creek (formerly known as Mombaccus Creek) enters
Rondout Creek Today, Mombaccus is used as the name of a hamlet within Rochester on County Route 3 and for a tributary of Rochester Creek. The name Mombaccus was not given to the mountain until much later. When the town of Olive was formed, the area south of Mombaccus was known as "Subbeatty Land" and old deeds for properties on its slopes still refer to it as "Subbeatty Mountain."
[An example can be found in: ''Proceedings of the Commissioners of the Land Office for the Year 1919'' (Albany: J.B. Lyon), p. 159, available on Google Books.]
References
Mountains of Ulster County, New York
Mountains of New York (state)
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