Hello friend,

Early August, 2025

Did you know? I didn’t then, but I know now.
Ashokan Farewell was selected to be shared at the Long Haul Love concert because Rachel and Friends had two musicians who could pull it off. Brittany Maroney on cello and Amy Trinidad on violin did an ardent presentation. And secondly, when I was sorting through optional songs for the set list, I thought it fit the mood so to speak, as we were raising funds for the survivors of those affected by the Hurricane Helene that tore through the Appalachian Mountains last Fall, literally “drowning towns” in it’s windy and watery wake. I didn’t know the back story; it’s history. I only had a “sense” of this song and it seemed a good fit for our program.

I learned that: The original town of Ashokan, whose name may have derived from an indigenous word meaning “to cross the creek” or “outlet of a stream,” was largely submerged beneath the Ashokan Reservoir, a fact that adds a layer of poignant history to the song’s title.
Ashokan Reservoir: Iroquois for “place of fish”. It is located 14 miles west of the City of Kingston in Ulster County, New York, and was created in 1915 by the construction of 5 ½ miles of dams and dikes within the Esopus Creek drainage. This 8,315-acre reservoir is a major component of the Catskill System of the New York City Water Supply.

…Remnants of the drowned towns, such as stone foundations and walls, can still be seen, particularly when the water levels are low.

I found this wonderful article, written by Rebecca Cadenhead, @ storymaps.arcgis.com/ I hope you can take a minute or two to read the bittersweet story of lost communities & lost cultures, infamously immemorial, until very recently rediscovered.

Rachel