Pratt Rock Trail

Pratt Rock Park, by the side of Route 23 outside of Prattsville is cloaked in legend. Pratt Rock Park is open to the public every day. The climb to the rocks is steep, and may be unfit for young children, but the path is clear and ascents a series of gently graded inclines to the carved cliff wall 500 feet above the road. The sculptures and the view of the valley make the short climb more than worth the effort." "America's First Mt. Rushmore" was carved into a cliff side south of Prattsville, NY, to please Zadock Pratt, wealthy entrepreneur, congressman and husband of five wives. Pratt ran the biggest shoe leather tannery in the world and loved to promote himself. The story goes that one day in 1843 a jobless man asked Zadock for a handout. Pratt, who believed in workfare not welfare, asked the man what he did for a living. When the man replied that he was a stonecutter, Zadock pointed to the cliff overlooking his 350-acre farm and told him to start carving Zadock's life story. The luckless laborer didn't stop until Zadock finally died, 28 years later. There is a serpentine path up the hill that allows for close-up inspection and a dizzying view of the Schoharie River below. The path is narrow, steep and crumbly. Zadock planned to be buried in a tomb carved into the cliff beneath his own giant head, but it leaked water whenever it rained so the plan was abandoned. The tomb now makes a handy shelter for changing film or camcorder batteries. However, Pratt Rock is graced with the common grave of six of Zadock's favorite horses and dogs, all lying beneath a big mound marked with a tombstone near the picnic tables.