Dragonwood Chronicles: Location - Southern Tug Hill Region

Wecome to Dragonwood Chronicles

Tucked away deep in the woods at the southern edge of the Tug Hill region of New York. Dragonwood is our off-grid sanctuary. Six acres of pond and gardens bordered by forest on three sides.

The project began in 1995, when after a long search, Debe and I purchased the property from a local logger. To date we have built a cabin, a bridge, out house, two sheds in addition to expansive gardens and stone work. We have a generator, propane lights, refrigerator and grill, a wood stove and modest solar system. A dug well and small stream suitable for watering gardens and other needs and a nearby spring for drinking water.

The Dragonwood Chronicles will serve to document the project with photographs and notes. Future projects will include additions to the cabin, a root cellar and a studio building.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Location - Southern Tug Hill Region

As I build this blog I'm getting a lot of readers asking where we are located. We are located in the Tug Hill region of New York State, USA. The Tug Hill region is famous for it's Lake effect snow as we lie directly east of Lake Ontario.

Dragonwood is at the southern edge of the Tug Hill region. Most locals wouldn't even consider it Tug Hill, but technically it falls into that region. The Tug Hill is a large very rural area between Lake Ontario and the Adirondack Mountains.

I have posted a couple of maps to help illustrate.

It's funny how many people around the country hear New York and immediately conjure up pictures of New York City. Well I gotta tell ya. This ain't New York City. This is about as rural as it gets.

I was born and raised in the mountains of Vermont and have lived in North Carolina and California with stops in Alaska and other places thanks to the U.S. Army. The Tug Hill is certainly not as vast an area as some, but trust me it's rural and with an annual snow fall that averages between 200" - 300" it's going to stay that way.

The upside to all the snow fall is there is no shortage of good water.

Cross country skiing, snowmobiling and ice fishing reign supreme as winter activities. When summer comes we have excellent fishing in our rivers and lakes and of course boating and pretty much anything else one might enjoy out doors.