In the 1950s, Chinese American Army veteran Joseph Tso bought a 440-acre mountain property in Ellenville, New York, renamed it Mt Cathalia and developed a hotel and ski resort there. The property is now set to become part of Minnewaska State Park Preserve. According to Open Space Institute, the property was bought for $3.3 million and will connect two previously separated sections of the park.
Mt Cathalia, also known as Mt Meenagha is the largest remaining undeveloped, privately owned parcel adjoining Minnewaska. According to Chonogram Magazine, OSI bought it from Morgan Barrington Financial Services and plans to transfer the land to New York State for inclusion in the park’s Sam’s Point Area.
The property lies between Minnewaska’s North and South Gully areas, near the Ellenville Ice Caves and its addition will connect sections of protected land that were previously unlinked. The preserve would also grow to more than 24,000 acres once the transfer is completed.
The place's Chinese American history
The mountain’s history is one reason the acquisition has drawn attention beyond its conservation value. In the 1950s, Joseph Tso, a Chinese American attorney, businessman and US Army veteran, purchased the property and renamed it Mt.
Cathalia, meaning 'a little bit of China'.
Tso then established a hotel and ski area on the mountain. According to OSI, Mt. Cathalia became the country’s only Chinese American-owned and operated ski resort and hotel.
The resort welcomed Chinese Americans and other minority visitors who were excluded from many resorts during that period.
According to Tso’s children, Cecilia and Stan Tso, the property continues to have deep meaning for their family. “Mt. Cathalia means so much to our family. We are hoping that OSI’s efforts will fulfil our parents’ dream of sharing Mt. Cathalia with everyone,” they said.
The 440-acre property sits between the North and South Gully areas of Minnewaska. (Open state institute photo)
Connecting protected areas
The 440-acre property sits between the North and South Gully areas of Minnewaska. Its acquisition will create a link between the two sections near the Ellenville Ice Caves.
Erik Kulleseid, president and CEO of OSI, says, “Mt Cathalia is an extraordinary landscape on every level- environmentally, recreationally, and historically”. He describes the purchase as another step towards creating “a corridor of permanently conserved and connected land along the entire Shawangunk Ridge.”
OSI has been involved in conservation work in the Shawangunks since 1974. The organisation says it has protected more than 40,000 acres in the region and helped add 14,000 acres to Minnewaska, more than doubling the park’s size.
Its work has also included restoring nearly 18 miles of Minnewaska’s historic carriage roads and raising $3 million for the Lake Minnewaska Visitor Center, which opened in 2020.
Ski runs become meadows
The property's former ski runs have now become meadows surrounded by mature chestnut oak and pine forests. Mt Cathalia contains Shawangunk conglomerate outcrops and gullies lined with hemlock trees. OSI estimates that nearly the entire property has above-average habitat resilience. It says the mountain’s different elevations and microclimates could provide wildlife refuge as the climate changes.
The land is also part of the Sandburg Creek watershed. North Gully serves as an emergency drinking-water source for Ellenville, while water from both North and South Gully eventually flows towards the Hudson River.
According to OSI’s analysis, the property’s forests and soils store an estimated 132,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Ellenville Mayor Evan Trent says the acquisition protects an important part of the village’s viewshed as well as one of the largest tracts in its watershed. He also hopes the mountain will eventually become a public recreational space.
For now, Mt. Cathalia remains closed to visitors. The immediate plan is to complete the transfer and prepare the property for its future as part of Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
Facts Only
* Joseph Tso, a Chinese American attorney, businessman, and US Army veteran purchased a 440-acre mountain property in Ellenville, New York, in the 1950s and renamed it Mt. Cathalia.
* The property was developed into a hotel and ski resort by Tso.
* Open Space Institute (OSI) bought the property from Morgan Barrington Financial Services.
* The property is set to become part of Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
* The acquisition will connect two previously separated sections of the park.
* Mt. Cathalia is also known as Mt Meenagha.
* The land lies between Minnewaska’s North and South Gully areas near the Ellenville Ice Caves.
* OSI plans to transfer the land to New York State for inclusion in the park’s Sam’s Point Area.
* The preserve will grow to more than 24,000 acres upon transfer completion.
* The property's forests and soils store an estimated 132,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Executive Summary
Joseph Tso, a Chinese American veteran, purchased a 440-acre property in Ellenville, New York, in the 1950s and renamed it Mt. Cathalia. This property included the development of a hotel and ski resort. The property is now slated to become part of the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, connecting two previously separate sections of the park. The acquisition was for $3.3 million, and the land will be transferred to New York State for inclusion in the park’s Sam’s Point Area.
Mt. Cathalia is the largest remaining undeveloped, privately owned parcel bordering Minnewaska. It lies between the North and South Gully areas of Minnewaska and is near the Ellenville Ice Caves. This transfer connects protected land sections previously unlinked within the park. The resulting preserve is projected to grow to over 24,000 acres.
Historically, Joseph Tso established Mt. Cathalia as the only Chinese American-owned and operated ski resort and hotel, which included minority visitors excluded from other resorts during that era. The property is recognized by Tso's children as meaningful, with hope that conservation efforts will fulfill their parents' dream of sharing the land.
The area also serves ecological functions, including being part of the Sandburg Creek watershed, providing emergency drinking water for Ellenville via North Gully, and storing an estimated 132,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in its forests and soils. The former ski runs are now meadows, and the property's varied elevations offer habitat resilience for wildlife.
Full Take
The narrative juxtaposes private historical legacy and minority experience against large-scale public conservation objectives. The shift from a private, culturally specific venture—a Chinese American-owned resort—to a state park corridor highlights a tension between individual heritage claims and collective ecological management. Tso's family’s aspiration for sharing the land suggests that property ownership is not solely defined by economic utility but also by cultural memory; this memory is now being leveraged to support conservation goals, shifting the value proposition of the land from recreation/development to permanent conservation.
The movement toward creating a "corridor of permanently conserved and connected land along the entire Shawangunk Ridge" suggests an attempt to formalize and enlarge existing conservation efforts through private land acquisition. The ecological data—carbon storage and habitat resilience—provides a robust, objective foundation that can support the stated goal of linking protected areas, moving beyond purely sentimental value.
The pattern observed is the recontextualization of specific landscapes: from a localized commercial venture to an ecological corridor. This process often involves integrating marginalized histories (like the Chinese American ownership) into broader state narratives (like Minnewaska). The implication is that conservation success is maximized when it acknowledges and integrates layered histories, ensuring that protection serves both environmental science and community memory, rather than prioritizing one over the other.
Bridge Questions: What are the specific mechanisms for ensuring that minority history becomes an integrated, recognized component of the state park's management plan? How can future land transfers be structured to guarantee that family or cultural aspirations remain protected alongside ecological mandates? What is the long-term relationship between private land ownership and public corridor development in the region?
Sentinel — Human
The text reads as well-researched journalistic reporting that effectively blends historical context with environmental policy goals, exhibiting a natural flow characteristic of human authorship.