Twilight Park

 place with historical importance, district, community

 Upload a photo

Twilight Park Historic District, a cottage community in the hamlet of Haines Falls, New York, was constructed in 1887, one of several to spring up in the post-Civil War period to take advantage of the recreational opportunities available in the Catskill Mountains. The recreational development of the Catskills is one of the most important themes in regional economics and social history in upstate New York. While the upscale resort hotels taking hold in the Catskills in the 1880s often excluded children, these cottage communities offered vacationing families with similar interests the means to purchase property collectively and to control development and access to the community. The Twilight Club of New York was founded in 1883 by an eclectic group including businessmen, governors, authors, clergymen, artists, clerks, newsmen, and labor unionists. Representing the club, Charles Wingate, a civil/sanitary engineer and journalist, purchased the sheep pasture that would become Twilight Park. By 1891, lot leases that originally sold for $10 to $50, were selling for $1,500. Twilight Park offered members music, reading, golf, tennis, and mountain walks. The stick, Italianate, and other late Victorian styles were reflected in the architecture of the cabins. The Twilight Park Historic District contains 109 contributing buildings and structures and retains an exceptional level of integrity in setting and design.

The Twilight Park Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on June 27 2007.