The railway, however, has rather dispensed with Rip Van
Winkle's resting-place. The old stage drivers had so long pointed out
the identical spot where he slept that they had come to believe in it,
but his spirit still haunts the entire locality, and we can get along
without his "open air bed chamber." It will not be necessary to quote
from a recent guide-book that "no intelligent person probably believes
that such a character ever really existed or had such an experience."
The explanation is almost as humorous as the legend.
=The Hotel Kaaterskill=, whose name and fame went over a continent
even before it was fairly completed, is located on the summit of the
Kaaterskill Mountain, three miles by carriage or one by path from the
Catskill Mountain House. It is the largest mountain hotel at this
time in the world, accommodating 1,200 guests, and the Catskills have
reason to feel proud of this distinction. They have for many years had
the best-known legend--the wonderful and immortal Rip Van Winkle. They
have always enjoyed the finest valley views of any mountain outlook,
and they have a right to the best hotels.
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