Winter won’t officially arrive this year until nearly midnight on December 21 but you can’t convince most Newburghers of that since the weekend snow and ice storm that clicked against our windows for the last two days. I had just finished transplanting a couple of flowers, tucking my clothes pole away and turning the calendar page as I watched the neighborhood change to a frosty white.

There is complaining all around – except for the children I see out my window. Bright knitted hats are gliding by as kids test the sliding factor on our sidewalks or try to stomp footprints in the increasing snow cover. This is the Northeast and, as our forbearers have always known, seasons change rapidly but bring new delights.

Newburgh was once an active center for winter sports just as we were for summer ones. We are not in a ski area (although Mount Beacon once had ski trails in the 1960’s that can still be discerned on the western slope) but we are surrounded by hills for sledding and water for skating once it freezes solid. It has been a long time since the Hudson River froze solid for skating but not so long that our lakes and ponds froze thick enough to hold us. One of the most active lakes for sporting activities was Orange Lake located six miles west of the City of Newburgh out South Plank Road (Route 52). Spring through early fall, when trolley service provided lots of opportunity for tourists, the lake was popular for boating and swimming as well as for taking long strolls along the shore or sitting on the scores of benches in Orange Lake Park at the lake’s southeastern end and enjoying the beauty of nature. As the days grew shorter and colder, the public park and all its tourist pavilions closed but the lake attracted sportsmen just the same.

The lake is six miles long by a mile wide but not extremely deep. The little valley that surrounds it is subject to strong winds so its waters freeze solid earlier in the season than many. Having such a large sheet of ice to play on appealed to families living out there year-round as well as scores of winter visitors. Ice skating was a natural pursuit but translating the many games of summer into winter sports didn’t take long to catch on. Youngsters who loved to jump into the refreshing lake waters and take a swim soon aimed their sleds and toboggans out onto the ice. In the 1920’s, a big toboggan run was built beside the boathouse where summer visitors launched rental boats. It had three chutes and cleated walkways up each side of the wooden structure to pull your toboggan back up to relaunch and shoot back out across the frozen lake. The crowds were not as large as the ones for the summer waterslide, but many hardy Newburghers spent a day enjoying ice sports, including lots of ice fishing, on Orange Lake and other local lakes and ponds.

The most celebrated of Orange Lake winter sports was the coldest by far: ice boating. Nineteenth century sailors developed “boats” that could race along powered by big sails just like warm weather racing yachts could on open water. Ice boats are far less boat (since they need not float) and far more aerodynamic seat positioned over short skis with a steering runner (like a rudder) at the rear. The length of Orange Lake and its strong winter winds made it an ideal location for the sport. So many Newburgh sportsmen excelled at ice boating in the 19th and 20th centuries, that the Orange Lake Ice Yacht Club brought home the national challenge cup for their sport more than once.

This Sunday is an opportunity to imagine the days of sporting out on the lake with the opening of an exhibit about Orange Lake at the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands at 189 Montgomery Street.

Based on Pat Favata’s 2007 book, Around Orange Lake, pictures and text will tell the story of Newburgh’s love of this natural paradise. Look at old ads and posters for century-old events and see a collection of antique ice-fishing gear.

The exhibit is timed to accompany the society’s annual Candlelight Tour that has highlighted Newburgh’s beauty and neighborliness for thirty consecutive years. This year, among the fourteen local houses open to the public for the afternoon, will be four great homes out at Orange Lake, just a 15-minute ride from downtown. Go out and enjoy the scenic shoreline. One homeowner there is an inveterate ice boat fan and will share his collection of photos and trophies from the decades of the old ice yacht club.

Information about the local Candlelight Tour and how to get tickets can be found at: newburghhistoricalsociety.com/events/candlelight-tour-of-homes.