So what is Stone Church? It's a natural rock formation near Dover Plains in eastern Dutchess County where a stream has cut out and eroded a neat opening in a cliff which evokes the arched window of a Gothic cathedral.
The trailhead is easy to miss. There's a historical marker off Route 22 in the middle of Dover Plains showing the location (there's no direct parking, check out this brochure for parking locations).
Interested in Sassacus and the Pequot War? Read more about it here.
Walk up what looks like a driveway...
And you'll be at the start of the trail...
Beautiful granite steps lead down to a mowed path, lined with young maple trees, through a meadow...
Lots of milkweed, a beautiful wild plant I have an affinity for...
The path then winds through some woods (with mature maples lining the trail)...
A nice interpretive sign...
And I learned something I didn't know. Hudson River School artist Asher Durand once sketched Stone Church (c. 1847)...
The trail continues along the creek...
Around a corner is the opening - the Stone Church...
This is why it's not a good idea to go for a hike on a Sunday afternoon. There were many people here (too many for me to properly enjoy it - I'll have to return on a week day sometime soon). My wife at the entrance (other people are strangers)...
The view inside...
Really cool place. I will definitely have to go back and explore more when there are less people around and when I'm prepared to wade into the water to check out the back of the cave (there's supposedly a 30-foot waterfall that we heard, but didn't see).
The rock, by the way, is a garnet mica schist (look closely at the rocks on the trail and you'll see little red lumps - those are garnets). This relatively soft metamorphic rock was eroded when the stream, once likely flowing over the cliff as a waterfall, found it's way into a crevice and enlarged it over time to the feature seen today.
Well worth a visit (just not when I'm there!).