Pitch in for Parks

Help maintain and build new trails at Poets' Walk Park in Red Hook, a Scenic Hudson park that was originally designed by the German-born landscape architect Hans Jacob Ehlers in 1849. Its streamside path has inspired centuries of poets, and it is rumored to be the site where Washington Irving came up with the idea for "Rip Van Winkle" while gazing at the view of the Catskill Mountains. A prominent feature of the 120 acres of rolling meadows across from Bard College is its rustic cedar pavilions, which Ehlers originally constructed with stands of foliage and stone walls. The two miles of trails through woods and open fields are dog friendly, and the park is buffered on all sides by 780 acres of private lands, ensuring the landscape's protection from future development.