Visitors to the Catskills often find themselves stumbling over some of the unique names found in the mountains — there is a good reason why Mount Utsayantha is commonly called “Mount U” — but while they may be troublesome, they also provide insight into the rich history of the area.
One of the main reasons why places in the Catskills and other parts of New York get such strange names is because they combine indigenous and European languages. When Europeans like the English and Dutch came to explore and map the northeast, they would attempt to transcribe the names given to landmarks by the Haudenosaunee and the Algonquin-speaking Lenni Lenape.
As the indigenous pronunciation gets put into European orthography, it leads to names that are difficult to intuitively pronounce. To further complicate matters, the European explorers were not always the most educated people, meaning their handwriting was sometimes illegible. This led to conflicting records of names and their spellings.
Some names of towns, villages and natural landmarks are not well-documented enough to know for sure where they came from, but some interesting etymologies can still be found in the area.
Catskill: “Kill” is a common suffix in this region, and while it may look sinister, it is actually derived from Middle Dutch meaning “creek”. “Catskill” is most likely a variant of “Kaaterskill” — the Dutch name for a creek and waterfall in Greene County meaning “wildcat creek”. This would likely be in reference to bobcats seen near the water.
Schoharie: Derived from a Mohawk word meaning “driftwood” or possibly “a bridge formed by driftwood”, the Schoharie Creek is known for collecting driftwood and other floating debris which often piles up across the river like a bridge.
Ashokan: A Dutch translation from the Lenni Lenape’s name for the area meaning “place of fish”. The hamlet of Shokan gets its name from another recorded spelling of this word.
Pepacton: Another name of Lenni Lenape origin, Pepacton is derived from a word meaning “marriage of waters” which was the Lenni Lenape name for the east branch of the Delaware River.
Rondout: Derived from a Dutch word, “reduyt” meaning “fort” or “redoubt”. The name stems from a fort that was located at the mouth of what is now known as “Rondout Creek”.
Shawangunk: This ridge of bedrock derives its name from a Lenni Lenape word meaning “in the smoky air”, possibly in reference to the burning of a Munsee Lenape fort by the Dutch.
Peekamoose: The name of this mountain deceptively has nothing to do with moose, but is instead a translation of an Algonquin word meaning “broken off smooth”.
Callicoon: Named by Dutch hunters, Callicoon is a variation of the Middle Dutch word “Kollikoonkill” meaning “wild turkey creek”. During this time, the area was notable for its population of wild turkeys.
Onteora: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, an American geographer, used a Haudenosaunee word similar to Onteora meaning “hills of the sky” to refer to the Catskill Mountains. While the Catskills clearly did not retain the name, it was later given to Onteora Mountain.
