Cohotate Preserve - Greene County
Environmental Education Center

All images can be selected to view a larger image.

At the bottom of the hill you find a beautiful classroom built for the students of Columbia-Greene Community College.  Inside this building is an actual science lab that you can find in any school.  This one is special though because it is located right on the river.  Students taking environment classes can come down to the river and experience first hand the environment around them.

Just up the trail past the classroom is an observation deck looking out over the river.   There are a bunch of these decks located along the trails that give beautiful views of the Hudson River.  Also there is a sign describing the local waterfowl and there migration during the changing of the seasons across North America.

To the right is the beautiful view from the observation deck I just mentioned.

Down by the river there are picnic tables and benches for people to sit at and enjoy whatever meals they brought with them on the hike.   You can sit and enjoy the passing traffic on the river.

Here is another view more to the left of the previous picture.  You see more benches and also more signs describing the wildlife.  There is also a rock with a plaque in this area .  The plaque has dedications to:   The Nature Conservancy, Hudson River Improvement Fund, Iroquois Land Preservation and Enhancement Program, Senator Charles Cook, and the Greenway Heritage Conservancy.

In the field there are benches so that on nice days the students can be given a lecture outside.  The picture below has a view of the benches with the classroom up the hill off in the distance.

Near the benches are two boards that describe the history of the very ground they are displayed on.  The whole field that the picnic tables and the class benches are on used to be an ice house.  The boards describe the history of the ice house industry in the area as well as show a picture of the ice house that used to be in that spot.  This board was done as an Eagle Project by one of the scouts of Troop 45.  To see pictures of the making of the project go here.

To the left is a picture of the foundation of the old ice house.  You can see the whole perimeter of the building as you walk around the field.  Also there are metal remnants of the ice house found around the shore as well.

The two pictures below are views to the south and north on the
Hudson River.  The shot to the south is a nice view of the Rip
Van Winkle Bridge that connects Greene and Columbia Counties. 
The picture to the north is of the city of Hudson across the river.

The final picture is of the Halfmoon, a replica of
the ship Henry Hudson used to explore the Hudson
River.  I happened to be lucky to be in the park taking
pictures for this page when it came down the river.