The Dutchess
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
Cave Site is located along
NY 17A in the
Town of Goshen in
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
,
New York. It is midway between the
village of Goshen and
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, at the junction of Quarry Road (Orange County Route 68), built into the side of a 580-foot (177 m) hill known as Mount Lookout.
In the 1960s,
archaeologists digging at the site found caves with
artifacts left by
hunter-gatherers 12,000 years ago, during
the last Ice Age. A
Paleo-Indian fluted point, a very rare
stone tool, was among them.
At the time of its discovery it was the oldest such site
east of the Mississippi.
The site has been at the center of a battle between local archaeologists and the
Pleasant Valley-based Dutchess Quarry and Supply Company, which actively produces
dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
gravel on the site. The company's operations have expanded in recent years to meet growing demand in the region, moving its activities closer to the cave site than they were when first discovered. It monitors the caves closely when it needs to do
blasting, and the county has established a preserve on the most important 20 acres (4 ha) of the 177-acre (71 ha) site.
It was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1974, with the site's boundaries expanded in 1997.
But the researchers fear that a hitherto undisturbed area known as the Alpine Meadow, which may contain even more artifacts but also has road-grade dolomite, may be mined. They would like to see the county acquire at least a
conservation easement
In the United States, a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant, conservation restriction or conservation servitude) is a power invested in a qualified private land conservation organization (often called a "land trust") or gover ...
on the cave site, and include it in its Open Space Plan. The company, which has been mining gravel on the property since 1938, says it is open to any solutions that do not adversely impact its extraction operations.
The only person authorized to conduct tours of the site left the area in 2004, and it is not otherwise open to the public due to the quarrying operations.
References
{{Navbox prehistoric caves
Quarries in the United States
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, New York
Goshen, New York