In preparation for my meeting, I am compiling a sample park development plan. Nearby Peach Hill Park's development plan is available to download from the Town of Poughkeepsie Recreation website. Following its format I have adopted some of the topic headers from this plan, i.e., "Introduction," "Vision Statement," "Existing Conditions" and will give credit where due.
When thinking about the existing conditions of Morgan Lake, I thought of an excellent resource to consult: the anthology A Hudson Valley Reader: Writings from the 17th Century to the Present, edited and introduced by Bonnie Marranca. This was the main "textbook" for a course I took as a sophomore in college titled Literature of the Hudson River Valley with Dr. Beth Kolp at SUNY Dutchess Community College. Beginning on page 373 is the essay "American Scenery," by Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole. In his essay Cole describes the aesthetic qualities of the picturesque landscape, which the Mid-Hudson Valley in particular is nationally and internationally known for. Cole writes:
"In what has been said, I have in general alluded to the wild and uncultivated scenery; but the cultivated must not be forgotten, for it is still more important to man in his social capacity; it encompasses our homes, and though devoid of the stern sublimity of the wild, its quieter spirit steals tenderly into our bosoms, mingled with a thousand domestic affections and heart-touching associations human hands have wrought and human deeds hallowed all around. And it is here that taste, which is the perception if the beautiful and the knowledge of the principles on which nature works, can be applied and our dwelling places made fitting for refined and intellectual beings."Morgan Lake is man-made; therefore it is certainly classified as cultivated scenery that offers picturesque landscape views. This unique feature should be honored and preserved.
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