This special and often remote mountain landscape was only occasionally used by Native Americans. Later it was settled and heavily exploited by the Dutch, English, Irish, Polish and Germans. Its rich history includes logging, limestone quarrying, leather tanning, wintergreen and blueberry harvesting, trapping, fishing, mountain house tourism, railroads, and even World War II pilot training.

In the nearby Catskill mountains, over 60 percent of the lands is privately owned, with about 50,000 people living there year-round; the rest is publicly owned "forest preserve."

Transformation and Evolution of Warwick Valley
As the accompanying Geologic Survey Map of Warwick will show, the region is rich in timber. The transformation of land – first from forest to farm, then from farm to suburban neighborhood – continues, with tools now in the works to preserve something of the rural character of the Valley as it has been since the Europeans landed. Residents are striving to maintain the integrity of its forestry and farm heritage. Both "newcomers" and "natives" of the Valley are learning to practice the arts of cooperation and compromise, of land conservation, and respect for diverse cultural identities, better than the Europeans did when they arrived three centuries ago. -- Adapted from S. Gardner, July 1999