Welcome to Napanoch!

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 The nineteenth century brought major changes to the Rondout Valley. The Delaware and Hudson Canal opened in 1828, carrying anthracite coal from northeastern Pennsylvania toward the Hudson River and New York City. Canal traffic created new demand for stores, lodging, supplies and transportation throughout the region.

Napanoch buildings from this period still help tell that story. The Hoornbeek Store Complex on Main Street, for example, reflects the hamlet's growth during the canal era and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While part of it was recently demolished, the main building still stands.

 Napanoch's economy was also shaped by businesses that used the region's water, land and raw materials. Farming, mills, quarrying, cement production and other forms of manufacturing all contributed to the life of the hamlet and the surrounding Town of Wawarsing.

One of the best-known local names among collectors is the Napanoch Knife Company.  Founded around 1900, the company earned a reputation for high-quality cutlery before being purchased by Winchester in 1919. The Napanoch name remains part of the region's larger knife-making legacy.

That history is preserved locally at the Wawarsing Historical Society and Knife Museum on Irish Cape Road, which showcases local artifacts and an extensive collection of knives made in the Hudson Valley.

Another defining Napanoch landmark is Eastern New York Correctional Facility, often shortened locally to Eastern. Construction began in the 1890s, and the institution received its first incarcerated people in 1900. 

Its name and mission changed several times over the following decades. Today, it is a maximum-security men's facility operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

The large stone complex has been part of Napanoch's physical and economic landscape for well over a century. It has also provided public-sector jobs to generations of residents in Napanoch and throughout Wawarsing, including local historian William "Bill" Winters Jr., who worked as a civilian employee of the state corrections department before retiring in 1993.

Eastern drew renewed public attention during the statewide correction officers' strike of February and March 2025. The unauthorized strike began on February 17, ultimately affected 42 of New York's 45 state prisons and was declared over on March 10. National Guard members were among those deployed to Eastern during the staffing emergency.

The facility is therefore not simply a structure at the edge of town. Its history is intertwined with local employment, family life and the wider history of New York's correctional system.

One of the goals of NapanochNY.com is to document and preserve the history of our community.

Over the years, countless photographs, newspaper articles, family stories, and historical records have been collected by local historians and residents. Some of those resources have unfortunately disappeared from the internet as older websites were taken offline. 

Rather than allowing that knowledge to be lost, this page aims to become a living historical resource that brings together reliable information from books, archives, newspapers, public records, and the people who know Napanoch best.

This is only the beginning.

In the coming months, I hope to grow this site from a side project to a living Napanoch community archive - spanning both past and present. 

• Indigenous history and the Minisink Trail
• The Delaware and Hudson Canal
• The Ontario and Western Railway
• Cement, paper and other local industries
• The Napanoch Knife Company
• Historic homes, businesses and landmarks
• The Shanley Hotel in greater detail
• Eastern New York Correctional Facility
• Yama Farms Inn and the area's resort history
• Borsht Belt Stories and History
• Historic photographs, postcards and newspaper archives
• Local families and community stories
• The life, art and historical work of Bill Winters (I hope to obtain permission from his family as well)

If you have old photographs, newspaper clippings, family documents, or stories about Napanoch that you’d be willing to share, we’d love to hear from you.