Sit back, relax and enjoy the nostalgia

On a clear day you can see six states — Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont — from Sky Top Tower at Mohonk Mountain House, on a ridge near the Hudson River. You can see woods and fields, the Catskill Mountains and Mohonk Lake with its fanciful gazebos and rambling old resort.

It is a vintage postage stamp commemorating the great American family vacation.

“I have treated this property … as a landscape artist does his canvas, only my canvas covers seven square miles,” Albert Smiley said in 1907. Smiley founded Mohonk Mountain House with his twin brother, Alfred, in 1869, then devoted his life to getting the picture just right, planting gardens, removing dead wood, cutting roads and trails around the lake.

The Smileys were Quaker school masters from Maine who discovered Mohonk Lake, 90 miles north of Manhattan, on a picnic outing, then bought it, thereby launching themselves into second careers as hoteliers. The bushy-bearded brothers agreed about almost everything, whether it was the importance of teaching Latin in schools or the perfection of the Mohonk site.

Later, they concurred about the virtues of Southern California and, around 1890, helped found the town of Redlands, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. There they built a public library, winter homes on a hill known as Smiley Heights and a botanic garden.

Canon Crest Park, their Redlands garden, is long gone. But back east, Mohonk Mountain House survives in fine style, a national historic site that looks partly like a Victorian castle, partly like an apparition, presiding over its half-mile-long lake and 26,000 acres of state parks and private preserves that surround it.

Still owned and operated by Smileys, the 251-room hotel (increasing to 261 in early August) has an old-fashioned golf course, a celebrated garden, tennis courts, stables, ice-skating rink, new spa scheduled to open Wednesday and 85 miles of hiking trails, designed to give guests scenic views at every turn.

Mohonk continues to adhere to the Full American Plan, the all-inclusive arrangement that has gone the way of lawn bowling at other U.S. resorts. As on a cruise ship, the price includes accommodations, most activities, three meals a day and afternoon tea.

I had my first cup of Mohonk’s special brew, dispensed from a silver urn and so strong it looked like coffee, as I sat in a rocker on the porch. My friend Sandy Boynton, who lives in the area, met me for a two-night stay at the resort in June. She and her family spend New Year’s Eve here and, before that, her father went to Mohonk. It’s that kind of place, cherished by families and friends made before pictures in the family album went yellow.

Mohonk, a conglomeration of wings built between 1879 and 1910, is decorated in a style I can only call Craftsman Eclectic. On the lake side, it has a massive stone entry where horse-drawn carriages used to pull up. From there, steps lead to the roomy parlor wing porch, a perfect glory, decked with hanging flower baskets, rockers in a long line, front-row seating for a show staged by nature and the Smileys.

Sandy pointed out other details, such as the pine railings of the central staircase, spaced close together so children can’t fall through, and noted that the evening video was “National Velvet,” starring a young Elizabeth Taylor. The day’s activities also included a brisk morning hike, adult tennis clinic, garden center open house and campfire sing-along with s’mores.

In winter, ice skating and skiing are on the menu, which made Sandy recall the time she won a blue ribbon in the cross-country event on the golf course. “Of course, I fell twice and was the only contestant,” she said, laughing.

No idle distractions

Sandy then showed me the Mohonk library, where an older woman was snoozing in an armchair, the open volume on her lap testifying that she had come with intellectual intentions.

When the resort opened, idle, empty-headed distractions weren’t allowed. “In place of cards, dancing and tippling,” Albert Smiley said at the 1899 opening of the parlor wing, “We have put before our guests something more desirable … a library of good standard books.”

Down the hall, I found a list of “songbirds heard on the morning walk” and a display about the geology of Mohonk’s Shawangunk Mountains, affectionately known as the Gunks, which are really more a ridge than a range. They crest at about 2,000 feet but are lined by sheer cliffs, attractive to rock climbers whose progress Mountain House guests monitor with binoculars.

Before visiting the resort, I spoke with Larry E. Burgess, author of “Mohonk: Its People and Spirit” and director of the A.K. Smiley Public Library in Redlands, which celebrates its patrons on March 17, the twins’ birthday. Redlanders still make pilgrimages to Mohonk, Burgess said, then suggested that while at the resort I look for a hand-tinted panoramic photo of the Redlands area, taken from Smiley Heights around 1900.

The photograph, which holds a place of honor in the Mountain House lobby, has arrows marking Mt. Baldy and the road west to Los Angeles.

Arrows would have helped Sandy and me find our rooms; the hotel is a strung-out maze of buildings, each with its own number of floors and architectural character. Our rooms were in the 1902 Stone Building, which has a tile roof and meandering halls lined with vintage prints of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.

There, we settled into chambers decorated Victorian-style, with no TVs, which the brothers Smiley would certainly have considered distracting. Instead, our rooms had working fireplaces, flowery wallpaper, ceiling fans and screen doors yielding to balconies, with rocking chairs overlooking the lake to the east or valley to the west. The resort boasts 238 balconies and an untold number of rockers.

Then Sandy and I dressed for dinner, which is mandatory. Gentlemen older than 12 must wear jackets, resulting in the rare apparition of well-groomed teenage boys. The evening meal at Mohonk is, befittingly, a white-tablecloth affair that comes in four courses — two appetizers, an entrée and dessert.

But first, Sandy and I had expertly mixed martinis, hers of gin and mine of vodka, while Albert and Alfred rolled in their graves.

Afterward, I ordered foie gras, bean soup, a thick pork chop and a brownie for dessert, all quite good, followed by a decaf espresso. I went immediately to sleep, sans “National Velvet.”

Nature in full bloom

It poured that night. I’d left the screen door open in my room, so I woke around midnight to the smell of rain, especially intense during summer storms at Mohonk.

In the morning I took a stretch class taught by a second-generation Mohonk staff member, who was working on a bachelor’s degree in physical education. The class was held in a tiny and airless basement workout room that will be abandoned with the completion of a state-of-the-art spa on the south side of the resort. The new facility has 16 treatment rooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and a fitness center.

Mohonk Marketing Director Nina Smiley says the spa reflects the resort’s mandate to “always stay the same, only better.” I don’t think the buffet breakfast at Mohonk could be improved on. Isn’t it surprising how you can eat pancakes and made-to-order sunnyside-up eggs, fruit, juice, a sliver of bacon and a scoop of cottage cheese in the morning after a big dinner the night before?

Sated, Sandy and I joined the brisk morning walk, which took us five miles roundabout the Mountain House. Our fellow hikers turned out to be a stag party of Englishmen. But they were content to see bright orange newts along the trail and to have their picture snapped, arm-in-arm, in a Mohonk gazebo.

After that, Sandy and I had massages and another hearty dinner.

The next morning, she drove away, leaving me by myself to see the Lily Pond above Mohonk Lake, where croaking frogs sounded like notes played on a loose-stringed guitar.

I also viewed dilapidated rocking chairs in the Mohonk Barn Museum and old roses in the garden, which stretches down the hill from the resort to the front gate, guarded by a huge, weeping beech. If you walk that way, you’ll pass beds of heirloom roses, a spicy-smelling herb garden and pergolas dripping with wisteria.

That last afternoon, I met Rachel and Gerow Smiley, a sister-and-brother team born in the 1920s. They sit at desks in Mohonk’s administrative wing, minding its affairs.

Meanwhile, the next generation has taken over the resort’s general management. Smiley scion Albert Keith crunches the numbers; his wife, Nina, does the resort’s marketing. Thanks to them, I could spend many long hours doing nothing in a Mohonk rocker but talking to an old friend and watching storm clouds muster over the lake.

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A guide to Mohonk resort

Mohonk Mountain House, 1000 Mountain Rest Road, New Paltz, NY 12561; (800) 772-6646 or (845) 255-1000, https://www.mohonk.com , is a 90-minute drive north of New York City, on the west bank of the Hudson River. The closest train station, served by Amtrak and Metro North, is Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

The resort is on a lake, surrounded by 26,000 acres of parkland and preserve. Full American Plan rates, including use of the facilities, breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner, begin at $389 for doubles. On holidays and weekends, a two-night minimum stay is usually required, and a 15% gratuity is automatically added to the bill.

Special packages and theme programs such as Garden Holiday (Aug. 28 to Sept. 2) are available. Guests can request rooms overlooking the lake or the valley when making their reservations.

Passes are available at the Mohonk gate allowing day visitors to use the resort grounds; $10 midweek, $16 weekends and holidays.

— Susan Spano