The property, which consists of more than 300 acres of forest and farmland, preserves the mountain for future generations and ensures public access to its summit for the first time.
Orange County officials and other partners, like Seth McKee of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, gathered at the property’s historic “Woodside” barn on Laroe Road Thursday to celebrate a years-long effort to “Save the Mountain."
"I'm looking forward to hiking up to the top on a warm day this spring," says McKee.
The site has long been surreptitiously used by hikers hoping to sneak a view from the summit — but now they will be able to do so legally, and potentially bring more tourism to the area. OCLT Executive Director Jim Delaune says a majority of the property will become a county park, with additional maintenance from the town of Chester.
"What’s really great about this is that it adjoins a state park, which is Goosepond Mountain State Park," explains Delaune. "So people will have the opportunity, as a result of this transaction, to go from a state park, into a county park, and ultimately down the mountain and into Sugar Loaf, where there’s great restaurants and bars."
Delaune says the land trust entered more serious discussions with the mountain’s previous owners, the Palmer family, in 2019. In 2022, both parties signed an agreement giving OCLT the exclusive option to buy the site — but Delaune says doing so required an intense fundraising campaign and the involvement of multiple stakeholders. The funds ultimately came together with loans, grants from New York state and Scenic Hudson, and more than $200,000 in community donations.
Delaune says it’s one of the land trust’s biggest projects to date, but County Executive Steve Neuhaus says the county’s push for open space is just getting started.
“We are looking at tens of thousands of acres in Orange County this year to go further than this. All over the place: from Deerpark to Port Jervis and all the way running toward Salisbury Mills, with our new spur that we’re gonna run from the Heritage Trail," he explains. "It’s gonna be great.”
New York state joined national efforts two years ago to conserve at least 30 percent of the nation’s land and water by 2030. Scenic Hudson’s Seth McKee says New York has a long way to go on that front, but the Sugar Loaf mountain purchase is a major development.
Neuhaus says it wouldn’t have been possible without the interest and cooperation of the Palmer family. He says the mountain just as easily could have become a site for development, as have other parcels in the region.
“If you drive on the Palisades [Parkway] in Rockland County, and you see that mountain when you’re coming into the border of Orange County, you see houses built on a hill," Neuhaus warns. "It could happen.”
Before you lace up your hiking shoes, you might want to hold off for now: the OCLT is asking visitors to wait until a more formal trail system and parking area can be established.
