Unfortunately, there isn’t THAT much to say about Lost Towns of the Hudson Valley by Wesley & Barbara H. Gottlock.

It was a tiny book – 100ish pages – that I got for an incredibly cheap price on my Kindle. I thought it was longer when I first bought it, actually. The book goes through various towns that, for whatever reason, have been abandoned/lost in the Hudson Valley. For example, Camp Shanks, built as the last stop for soldiers on their way to combat during WWII and frequented by various famous visitors – Frank Sinatra and Shirley Temple among them – quickly depopulated after the war. Another town on the river that had been built up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries due to industrialization soon faded away when the brick making businesses of the northeastern United States shifted elsewhere.

I appreciated the pictures in this book, as well as looking at the past in the area where I grew up, however, I wouldn’t recommend this little book to anyone but a local history buff. There just isn’t enough information in it to be a substantial read and is really only a brief look at five towns that have disappeared in the region. Are there more towns that were here and are now gone? Hard to say, the book doesn’t mention them.

Personally, local history interests me, and I enjoyed the book. It’s interesting enough and well written, but contains little depth – it’s an overview, nothing more. Enjoyable, but there are other books with more information.

Tagged: authors: barbara h. gottlock, authors: wesley gottlock, books: lost towns of the hudson valley