Schor

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The forest and pond at Schor make this site a great place to spot a variety of animals!

In the woods, there several kinds of birds, including Scarlet Tanagers. Though they like to remain high in the trees, you may hear their cardinal-like calls. Closer to the ground, look for Dark-eyed Juncos, slate-colored birds with white bellies that like to hop from the bases of trees and bushes looking for fallen seeds. You may also find you’re sharing the trail with birds like the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Wood Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, or several species of Warblers, including the Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Yellow Warbler.

Around Jon’s Pond, you may encounter Belted Kingfisher, a bird that prefers to perch on trees around watery areas in order to spot and dive in for prey. Bald eagles have also been seen flying over the pond. In the pond and temporary woodland pools around the property, you may find amphibians like Jefferson Salamanders, Eastern Newts, and Wood Frogs. Be careful while hiking in the spring as they may venture out onto the trails! Although the number of these pools has been greatly reduced over time, we can imagine the cacophony of song by wood frogs and other species in early springtime. In fact, the Mohican people call the second-earliest spring month the Frog Month.

The landscapes you see at Schor are largely due to land management by people! At this site, CLC is working to improve forest health and protect native plants.

The Oak-Hickory Forest that makes up much of Schor today was also here when the Mohicans settled the area and used low-intensity burning to clear fields for farming. During this time, American Chestnut Trees were abundant on the hills of Canaan, earning the place the name “Wáapeem Wahchoo” or “Chestnut Mountain.” Chestnut Trees were not only a source of food for Mohicans, but their easily-peeled bark was also the preferred source of shingles for covering “wiikwahman” or houses. Early settlers also made use of the Chestnut trees – their rot-resistant wood was excellent building material, and nuts fattened livestock. Today, most Chestnut Trees have been wiped out by the Chestnut blight, a pathogen that arrived in the late 1800s.

Schor’s rocky habitat is perfect for a variety of ferns, including the Hay Scented Fern, which smells like fresh hay when crushed. Princess Pine, also known as Rare Club Moss, can be found close to the ground at this site and is easily identifiable by its tree-like green stems. Unfortunately, Princess Pine has been over-harvested in states like New York and because of its slow growth and delicate life cycle, it takes a while for patches of it to re-grow, so please leave them be!

The high point at the top of Schor’s Summit Trail likely has cultural and spiritual importance for Eastern Woodlands peoples like the Mohicans, offering a place where they can get closer to beings of the Sky World. High places are also important for reasons like understanding the landscape and routing trails. Views may have been more extensive in pre-colonial times than they are today, as periodic controlled fires made the region “barren,” according to historical records.

By the first half of the 18th century, the Van Rensselaer family claimed much of the upper Kinderhook Creek watershed and the upper Green River watershed as within their Lower Manor. The tract of land they claimed was large, spanning several counties all the way to the border with Massachusetts. They, and other Dutch patroons, relied on the labor of indentured people and enslaved Africans to manage these large tracts of land. Ships from the West India Company used the Hudson River as a way to transport enslaved peoples. Once manumitted, those original Black families continued to live, work, and create a vibrant community that survives to this day.

The Van Rensselaer land claim was hotly contested by the nearby Mohican descendants of the original sellers. They rightfully believed that the boundaries had been grossly exaggerated by the Van Rensselaers. The Mohican people were subject to genocide, coerced into assimilation, and forcibly removed from their homelands to what is now known as Wisconsin. They continue to retain their unbroken status as a Sovereign Native Nation. Despite removal, they continue to hold relationships with their homelands and settler communities.

“Sheep fever,” a market-driven wool-growing mania in the early to mid- 1800’s, contributed to the rapid conversion of the region from self-reliant farms to market farms focused on wool production. This would eventually lead to farmers clearing half of the area’s forests in the first half of the 19th century. The boom was short-lived, and many of the forests have begun to re-grow.

Eventually, Jonathan Schor would purchase the property and use areas of it as part of his farm Quailwood Too. He raised Scottish Highland Beef Cattle, one of the oldest registered breeds of cattle. With horns and a double coat of hair, they look almost like yaks.

The pond at this site is named in Jon’s honor – he was instrumental in helping the Columbia Land Conservancy offer more public land and nature-based education in Columbia County. When he died in 2004, he bequeathed a portion of the site to CLC and another portion to his farm manager. CLC purchased the latter property in 2006, and formally opened Schor to the public in 2008.