Minnewaska State Park Preserve

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Lake Minnewaska

Gertrude's nose from Hamilton Point

The Minnewaska State Park Preserve is a 14,500 acre (58 km²) preserve located on the Shawangunk Ridge in New York on US 44/NY 55, five miles (8 km) west of NY 299, near New Paltz, New York. The park is managed by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. It is primarily used for picnicking, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing and swimming. There are outstanding views of the nearby Catskill Mountains.

Originally part of Albert and Alfred Smiley's Mohonk Mountain House property, the Minnewaska Mountain House, or Cliff House, was built in 1879 overlooking Lake Minnewaska; it could accommodate 225 guests. After managing and developing Mohonk's early growth for ten years, twin Alfred H.Smiley purchased and developed Minnewaska separate from Mohonk, but brothers exchanged courtesies to each others'guests. A second hotel, Wildmere, accommodated 350 guests. In 1955, Kenneth B. Phillips, Sr., the Minnewaska general manager bought the property from the Smiley family. Cliff House was abandoned in 1972 due to maintenance costs; it burned to the ground in 1978. Wildmere closed in 1979 and burned to the ground in 1986. After years of wrangling over commercial development proposals and lawsuits to block development, New York State bought the property in 1987 and opened the Minnewaska State Park Preserve in 1993.

In March 2006, an additional 2,500 acres were added to the Preserve as a result of action by a citizen's conservation group.