Hardenburgh is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in the western part of

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. The count ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. The population was 221 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report Hardenburgh, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q=Hardenburgh%20town,%20Ulster%20County,%20New%20York The town is located inside the

Catskill Park The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in the U.S. state of New York. It consists of of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster. As of 2005, or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by ...

History

Hardenburgh was established in 1859 from the Towns of Denning and Shandaken. The town was named for Johannes Hardenbergh, a landowner and patentee. Between 1976 and 1983, 236 residents—more than half the town's residences—became ministers of the

Universal Life Church The Universal Life Church (ULC) is an American non-denominational religious organization founded in 1962 by Kirby J. Hensley,James R. Lewis, The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions' (2001), p. 769-70.U.S. Department of the Army, ' ...

(an organization allowing mail-in "

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

s"), as part of a bid to obtain

tax exemption Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

s and as a protest against high property taxes. The ordination movement, which included some subsistence farmers and loggers, were angered at the tax burden that fell on them, which was high because of the thousands of acres of land within the town owned by tax-exempt religious and civil organizations (including the Zen Buddhists' Dai Bosatsu Zendo, the Nassau County Boy Scouts, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, and a group of Tibetan monks). Ultimately, in 1982, the

New York State Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. It consists of seven judges: the chief judge and six associate judges, who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate t ...

held that Hardenburgh's "mail-order ministers" were not entitled to exemptions from property tax unless the land was exclusively for church use. The Balsam Lake Mountain Fire Observation Station, Coykendall Lodge, and Grant Mills Covered Bridge are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The town is almost exclusively residential; in the 1990s, it had a single

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

.Mary McAleer Vizard
Catskills Towns Waking Up to Zoning
''New York Times'' (September 13, 1992). The town adopted its first zoning ordinance in 1992.

Geography and topography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the Town has a total area of , of which is land and (0.28%) is water. The town is the westernmost town in Ulster County, deep in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

. It sits north of the town of Denning. A 1907 work described Hardenburgh as having "some of the most rugged and austere natural features" in the county, with a rocky, stony topography ill-suited for agriculture.Howard Hendricks
Chapter XIX: Town of Hardenburgh
in ''The History of Ulster County, New York'', Vol. 1 (ed. Alphonso T. Clearwater: W.J. Van Deusen: 1907: reprinted 2007 (Heritage Books), p. 258. The landscape is characterized by mountain crags with occasional valley and forestland, and various lakes, streams, and glens. Among the Catskill High Peaks within the town's limits are Graham Mountain, Balsam Mountain, and Eagle Mountain. Because of the mountains, the only direct route from Hardenburgh to the rest of the county are

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or a small paved road (though it can also be a route along a navigable waterways) generally not intended for usage by motorized vehicles, usually passing through a natural area. Ho ...

s over them. Any vehicular traffic must go through either Sullivan or Delaware counties. One of those lesser mountains, Dry Brook Ridge, effectively divides the town as well. The portion north of it, in the Dry Brook valley, uses the ZIP code and

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...

of the nearby Delaware County hamlet of Arkville. The portion to the south, containing the headwaters of the famous Beaver Kill

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

stream, is likewise oriented to the Sullivan County hamlet of Lew Beach to its south, although it contains a few of its own unique toponyms such as Turnwood, its only real road junction.

Alder Lake Alder Lake is Intel's codename for the 12th generation of Intel Core processors based on a hybrid architecture utilizing Golden Cove performance cores and Gracemont efficient cores. It is fabricated using Intel's Intel 7 process, previously ...

, a 45-acre impoundment made in the 1900s, is also located in the town.Balsam Lake Mountain Wild Forest

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protecti ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 208 people, 95 households, and 57 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 275 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.15%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.48%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 2.40% Asian, 0.96% from other races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.96% of the population. There were 95 households, out of which 20.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 35.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.70. In the town, the population was spread out, with 15.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 33.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 109.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $35,278, and the median income for a family was $41,250. Males had a median income of $27,083 versus $21,389 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $19,184. About 12.3% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 3.3% of those under the age of eighteen and 14.9% of those 65 or over.

Communities and locations in Hardenburgh

*Beaver Kill – A stream in the southern part of the town. *Belle Ayre (or "Belleayre") – A

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

located in the northwestern section of the town. *Hardenburgh – A hamlet located in the southern part of the town, next to Beaver Kill. *Mapledale – A hamlet in the northwestern part of the town. * Seager – A hamlet located in the southeastern section of the town. *Turnwood – A hamlet located in the western end of the town, located on Beaver Kill and Route 54.

References

External links

Town of Hardenburgh, NY
{{authority control Catskills Towns in Ulster County, New York Towns in New York (state) 1859 establishments in New York (state)