History Hike: Denny Mine

Join the Putnam History Museum on this guided History Hike exploring Fahnestock State Park and the Denny Mine. Throughout the centuries, hundreds of workers throughout the Hudson Highlands mined for iron embedded in the well-known Reading Prong, stretching from Reading, Pennsylvania to Connecticut.

While exploring the area surrounding Denny Mine, we will touch on the discovery of iron within the park and Putnam County as a whole, the role the mines played during the Civil War, and the last-ditch effort to revive iron mining at Fahnestock in the 1890s by Thomas Edison.

Hike Difficulty: Moderate.

Starting Location: Parking lot at the intersection of Dennytown and Sunken Mine Roads

Directions to meeting point parking lot: Coming from Cold Spring, head east on Route 301. Continue on Route 301 until you reach Dennytown Road. Turn right onto Dennytown Road heading south. Travel along Dennytown Road, passing Indian Brook Road on your right, and then Sunken Mine Road on your left. The parking lot is just steps beyond Sunken Mine Road. 41°25’37.5″N 73°52’05.4″W