Newburgh’s Water: Flowing Through Time
Free · Self-guided · English & Spanish
Follow Newburgh's water, from the Hudson to Crystal Lake.
An audio tour that plays on your phone as you drive or bike the route: the creek that gave the city its first name, the mills and shipyards, the lake that served the city for 160 years, and the people caring for the water today.
9
stops
11
miles
55–70
minutes
No app to install. Works in Safari and Chrome. Also available as a printed booklet.
Why this matters
Newburgh has drawn its drinking water from Quassaick Creek, Washington Lake and the Catskill Aqueduct over 200 years, and every source has a story: the mills that powered the city and polluted the creek, the lake that served the city for a century, and the PFAS contamination from Stewart Air National Guard Base that took Washington Lake offline in 2016. Since then the city has been on aqueduct water, and residents have carried the questions.
Newburgh’s Water: Flowing Through Time is Outdoor Promise’s answer: make the history visible, in English and Spanish, in the places where it happened, so that residents can take part in the decisions about what comes next. The groups that have led the fight — the Newburgh Clean Water Project, the Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance and Riverkeeper — are the experts; our job is to bring neighbors to the table.
How the tour works
1 · Open the link
Go to outdoorpromise.org/watertour on your phone and pick English or Spanish. Turn the volume up.
2 · Tap Start audio tour
Allow location when your phone asks. The green route and nine numbered stops appear on the map, and the introduction begins.
3 · Drive, and listen
Each stop plays as you arrive, with photos, historic images and directions to the next one. Prefer to browse? Tap Explore the map and open any stop from anywhere.
Take it home in print
The rider booklet
Twenty-four pages, 5.5 by 8.5 inches: the route map, every stop, historic photographs from the City of Newburgh archives, and the groups to join. Each stop carries a QR code that opens its narration in the app.
Tap a cover to open the PDF. Print it at home, or pick one up at our events.
Read more
Get involved
- Come to an event. Water plant tours, creek clean-ups and community days are announced on Eventbrite and in our newsletter.
- Join the people doing the work. The Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance meets monthly; the Newburgh Clean Water Project follows the Stewart cleanup; Riverkeeper patrols the Hudson.
- Share the tour. Every neighbor who knows the story of Washington Lake is one more person in the room next time.
Bring the tour to your group.
Schools, churches and community groups can ride the route together on the Adventure Bus, with a guide, in English or Spanish.
This project is funded in part by the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, as administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Office of Environmental Justice. The opinions, results, findings, and/or interpretations of data contained herein are the responsibility of Outdoor Promise and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations, or policy of the State of New York.
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