28 HOLIDAY 2013 boatingonthehudson.com
As I was going through my
wife’s papers recently, I found
this brown pamphlet with a note
inside.
I rewrote the note and would
like to explain that Francis B.
Stein passed away in July 2006.
He was a much-loved principal
of the Hendrick Hudson School
system and had lived in the
Buchanan, New York Area all his
life.
Fran as he liked to be called was
also a historian. The pamphlet
is a real mystery, as neither I nor
anyone else knows where it came
from.
87-year-old packet found recently in my
wife’s records with Lake Meaghagh in
background. John H. Vargo, Publisher
Lake Meahagh is a beautiful
lake bordering Buchanan and
Verplanck and it is very much
the same as it was 80 years ago.
Back in the mid 20’s, I believe the
town thought that Lake Meahagh
was to become an amusement
park with swimming, sun bath-
ing beach, speedboat rides and
some tennis. The Hudson River
Day Line had all of that and
more as they had just opened
Indian Point Park in June of 1923
on 320 acres just a mile north-
west of Lake Meahagh. It is not
clear just who promoted Lake
Meahagh Amusement Park-
maybe trying to cash in on the
thousands who came up form
New York City on the Day Line’s
large steamboats. The small
packet that is shown unfolds and
reveals maps and direction to
this beautiful lake. It was give to
me two years ago by John and
Diane Tangen who found it in
their family’s items collection.
I’ve spoken to many old tim-
ers and no such event ever took
place around the lake. It never
happened-but other events did.
Going back to the time of the
Revolution, the Kings Ferry
Road ended at the Post Hancock
House. The lake was probably
a swamp at the Buchanan end
where a stream trickled down in
to the Hudson River.
About 200 feet south of the
present Lake Drive entrance to
Meahagh Woods was a road
that went west down towards
the lake and the road continued
across to Westchester Avenue.
This was the way the horse and
buggy traveled from Kings Ferry
(and Tate Ave) to Verplanck.
About 40 years ago, the town de-
cided to drain the lake and build
a new floodgate because some-
one had damaged the old one.
“SHARING A LITTLE BIT
OF HISTORY”
By Francis B. Stein, Village Historian Vol V, No.3 September 2004
LAKE MEAHAGH AMUSMENT PARK
HOLIDAY 2013.indd 31
11/7/13 7:49 AM
