90 miles from NYC, a Victorian castle with turrets sits above a lake most New Yorkers have never seen

It’s been a Smiley family secret since 1869

Ninety miles north of New York City, a castle rises from a rocky ridge above a glacial lake. It has turrets, stone walls, and views that stretch into six states.

Mohonk Mountain House has been standing since 1869, and almost everything about it, from the trails to the tea service, traces back to the same Quaker family that built it.

The story of how it got here is as good as the place itself.

The Quaker brothers who bought a tavern and changed everything

In 1869, twin brothers Albert and Alfred Smiley went for a picnic on the Shawangunk Ridge and found something worth keeping. Albert bought Stokes Tavern, a 10-room inn, along with 300 surrounding acres.

Over the following decades, that modest inn grew into the sprawling castle you see today. The Smiley family never sold.

They’re now into their fifth and sixth generations of running the place, which explains why it feels less like a hotel and more like someone’s very large home.

A castle built in three styles no one thought to mix

Stand at the edge of the ridge and look back at the building. The turrets belong to Gothic architecture.

The gables are Victorian. The native stone walls read as Queen Anne.

No single style defines it, yet the whole thing holds together against the cliff face above Lake Mohonk.

The structure blends into the Shawangunk Ridge the way buildings do when they’re built from the same rock they stand on.

Mohonk is a National Historic Landmark, and once you see it, you understand why that designation exists.

The half-mile lake that feeds itself only with rain

Lake Mohonk stretches half a mile below the castle and runs 61 feet deep at its deepest point. No stream feeds it.

It is entirely with rainwater. The lake holds trout, bass, perch, pickerel, and sunnies, and you can fish it, swim at the beach, or take out a canoe, kayak, or paddle boat.

About 125 cedar summerhouses dot the shoreline and the cliff edges above it, some sitting right at the water, others perched high with the ridge dropping away below. Generations of guests have claimed their favorite one.

Sky Top Tower and the six-state view from the top

The stone tower on the ridge has been standing since 1923, built from conglomerate rock pulled out of the Shawangunk Ridge itself. The Smiley family put it there to honor Albert K. Smiley, who died in 1912.

You climb 100 steps to reach the observation deck.

On a clear day, you can see into New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont from the top. Six states from one tower, all because two brothers went on a picnic.

85 miles of trails carved by horses and dynamite

The original trails and carriage roads go back to 1871, when workers built them using horsepower and dynamite to cut through the ridge.

Today those routes cover 85 miles, ranging from easy walks along the lake to strenuous rock scrambles high above the valley.

The trails connect to the 8,000-acre Mohonk Preserve next door, so you can keep going if you want more ground.

The resort’s Recreation Team leads guided walks every day at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. if you’d rather not navigate alone.

Squeeze through the Lemon Squeeze if you dare

Directly across the lake from the Mountain House, a natural boulder maze called the Labyrinth waits for anyone willing to find it.

Inside, you’ll work through narrow crevices, climb ladders, cross wooden bridges, and pass along boardwalks until you reach a tight rock passage with stairs cut into the stone. That’s the Lemon Squeeze.

It exits onto the path that leads up to Sky Top Tower. Guests have been doing this route since the resort’s earliest days, and it still delivers.

30,000 tulips bloom each spring in the Victorian garden

Albert Smiley started the garden in the late 1880s. The Stone Summerhouse standing in it dates to the same decade.

Each spring, 30,000 tulips come up across the grounds, and the on-site Greenhouse stays open to visitors year-round.

Master gardeners lead tours through the beds and borders, and the place feels like it was designed by someone who had strong opinions about what a garden should be. It was.

Smiley himself did, and the garden has held to his vision ever since.

A spa that took 100 years to add to the mountain

The spa addition opened in 2005, the first significant expansion in over a century.

It covers 30,000 square feet and holds 16 treatment rooms, a eucalyptus steam room, a solarium, and an outdoor heated mineral pool filled with Dead Sea salts.

Condé Nast Traveler ranked it the number one Resort Spa in the U.S. The stonework matches the original castle well enough that you have to look twice to find where the old building ends and the new one begins.

Mule-drawn carriages and Western trail rides through the woods

Horses have been part of Mohonk since the beginning.

Today, the resort runs old-fashioned mule-drawn carriage rides along the historic trails, and the drivers talk about the grounds and the history of the place as you go.

If you’d rather ride than be driven, Western-style trail rides go out for beginners and experienced riders alike.

The carriage rides typically run from late April through late November, so timing matters if that’s on your list.

The outdoor skating rink with a 39-foot stone fireplace

Winter doesn’t slow Mohonk down. The outdoor skating rink runs from November through April, and when you’re done on the ice, a 39-foot stone fireplace at the edge of the rink takes care of the cold.

The grounds also carry groomed trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and there’s a snow tubing hill for families.

The castle itself takes on a different character under snow, the stone walls and turrets going quiet under a gray sky.

Afternoon tea, barn carriages, and a 1929 Model A

Every afternoon, the Lake Lounge serves tea and cookies, a tradition that goes back to the Mountain House’s earliest years.

After tea, walk to the Mohonk Barn Museum, where Victorian-era carriages and farm tools fill the space alongside a 1929 Model A Ford Station Wagon.

The museum opens on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, and on those days you can watch carpentry demonstrations alongside the exhibits.

It’s a quieter corner of the property, and one that most guests walk past without stopping.

Plan your visit to Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz

Mohonk Mountain House sits at 1000 Mountain Rest Road in New Paltz, New York, about 90 miles north of Manhattan in Ulster County.

The resort has been a National Historic Landmark since Dec. 9, 1986, with the designation covering 83 other historic buildings and 7,800 acres of surrounding land.

Day visitors and overnight guests both have access to the trails, lake, and grounds.

Check the official website for current rates, seasonal packages, and day pass availability before you go, as options vary by season.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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