Bannerman's Island

About 1-2 hours due east of where I grew up in upstate New York there exists a couple of regions whose best years have passed them by. The Catskill Mountains were the home of a great many resorts and weekend getaway spots for upscale northeasterners through the 1960's. And the Hudson Valley (due north of New York City) was home to what passed for much of the prominent landed aristocracy in the United States since the 1600's.

In my lifetime I've only known it as that creepy area between the most famous city in the world and the Adirondack Mountains. While the Catskills are filled with tired towns and empty hotels the Hudson Valley has a bit of old history still haunting the area today.

The B-Burgs may remember this area as the place that we saw the ghost of Mickey Mantle.