Wender·Vista
North-South Lake Catskills
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileNew York
on the Catskill escarpment, above Palenville

North-South Lake Catskills

— — the ledge the Hudson River School learned to see from.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Two linked glacial lakes on the eastern rim of the Catskills, a short walk from the cliff where the old Catskill Mountain House once stood. The view east drops two thousand feet to the Hudson Valley and reads, on clear mornings, exactly the way Thomas Cole painted it. The campground fills early on autumn weekends. From the ledge the river bends silver and the far bank is Massachusetts.

from the studio
North-South Lake Catskills
— bring it home

North-South Lake Catskills, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about North-South Lake Catskills

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

North-South Lake sits in the town of Hunter, Greene County, on the high eastern shoulder of the Catskill Park. The two lakes were joined into one waterbody by a dam in the twentieth century and now anchor New York's largest Catskill state campground, with 219 sites spread through hemlock and hardwood. A short trail leads to the cliff platform once occupied by the Catskill Mountain House, the 1824 grand hotel that drew the painters of the Hudson River School up the escarpment by stagecoach.

— informed by Wikipedia, NY State Parks
— the light

The east-facing ledge above the lakes catches the first sun an hour before the valley below does. Thomas Cole walked up from Catskill village in the 1820s to paint this view and trained Frederic Church to do the same. On clear October mornings the Hudson reads as a silver thread two thousand feet down, with the Taconics in Massachusetts on the far horizon. The same light bounces back off the lakes through the afternoon and goes copper near sunset, the colour Cole called the American glow.

— the visit

The campground operates from mid-May through Columbus Day weekend, with day-use parking available year-round at a small fee. The walk from the South Lake beach to the Mountain House site is under a mile of easy trail; Kaaterskill Falls, the 260-foot two-tier waterfall painted by Cole, sits two miles south on the same plateau. Weekends in foliage season fill the campground months ahead. Midweek in late September is the locals' answer.

— informed by NY State Parks
— where
United States · Greene County, New York
— within
Catskill Park
— elevation
660 m · 2,165 ft
— position
42.1970° N · 74.0400° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
3 km S
Kaaterskill Falls
waterfall
1 km E
Catskill Mountain House site
historic overlook
12 km W
Hunter Mountain
peak
N
North-South Lake Catskills
Kaaterskill Falls
Catskill Mountain House site
Hunter Mountain
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about North-South Lake Catskills — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

On the eastern escarpment of the Catskill Park in Greene County, New York, near the village of Haines Falls. The lakes sit at about 2,100 feet elevation, two thousand feet above the Hudson Valley.

Originally two separate lakes — North Lake and South Lake — joined by a dam in the early twentieth century. The combined waterbody kept both names hyphenated rather than choosing one.

Thomas Cole painted the view east from the escarpment above the lakes in the 1820s, and the Catskill Mountain House drew Asher Durand, Frederic Church, and Sanford Gifford up to paint the same prospect.

Yes. The 260-foot two-tier waterfall sits about two miles south on the same plateau and is reached from a separate trailhead on Route 23A.

The state campground runs from mid-May through Columbus Day weekend with 219 sites, two beaches, and boat rentals. Sites for foliage weekends book months in advance.

Typically the second week of October at this elevation, sometimes a few days earlier in a cool year. The escarpment colours a week ahead of the valley floor.

— about the piece in your home

It has been for many of our customers with Hudson Valley ties. The escarpment view is the one painted by Cole and Church, and locals recognise it instantly. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

Hudson Valley farmhouse, Adirondack, and warm transitional rooms. The autumn copper and slate-blue in the artwork sit beside oak, wide-plank pine, and worn leather without competing.

Yes. The artwork reads as a landscape window rather than a poster, which is what biophilic design asks of wall art. The Large works as the anchor piece in a reading room or stair landing.

Above a standard sofa, a single Large or a 4-tile Mural reads at room scale. Above a console, a Medium centred or a row of three Smalls. A 9-tile Mural is for stair walls and double-height entries.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and unbothered by steam and splash; the colour lives in the ceramic surface beneath a thin protective layer.

A soft microfibre cloth and plain water. No solvents, no abrasives, no glass cleaner with ammonia. The surface is durable but the cloth keeps the finish even.

Yes. Every WenderVista piece is original to our studio in Knoxville, Tennessee. Nothing is licensed in or resold; Reid Wender curates the atlas and the studio hand-finishes each tile.

— if this one stayed with you

A few you might also love.

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