Some Upstater readers have written to ask about hydrofracking. They worry about how it might affect the upstate New York real estate market, and that if they invest in a new home, they might someday lose the ground beneath it or have their water supply adversely affected.

So this entry on the Watershed Post should help those folks figure out where the safe (or perhaps safer) bets are within the Marcellus Shale foundation in New York State. It reveals which towns in upstate New York have taken it upon themselves to ban hydrofracking, including the latest, Bethel. About 100 towns have either banned fracking or enacted ordinances to delay it.

Here’s an interactive map, so you can see if there’s any legislation in your own town.

Here’s some Hudson Valley and Catskills tourism news: Big V Tours, a Liberty, N.Y.-based business, will offer some themed trips through upstate New York on their fleet of motor coaches (otherwise known as buses).

“Big V Tours will offer motor coach tour services with a focus on multi-faceted journeys that include tourism, dining and activities. A specialized tour guide will accompany each trip as travelers visit sites such as Bethel Woods Center for the Arts — the original site of Woodstock — Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame,” per their press release. “The tour operator will kick off its inaugural season with Peace, Love, and FUN!…a trip to The Museum at Bethel Woods, a captivating multi-media experience that combines film, interactive displays, and artifacts to tell the story of the sixties and the unique experience of the 1969 Woodstock festival. This will include a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a buffet lunch with a special guest speaker with insider Woodstock details, and a photo stop at the historic Woodstock monument located at the site of the stage area.”

The tour starts with a stop at a local (as yet unidentified) bakery and ends with a stop at the Dancing Cat Saloon in Bethel, a distillery that makes Peace Vodka. Perfect for boozing up before the trip home. For more information, or to purchase advance tickets, contact Big V Tours at (888)707-BIGV, or email  info@bigvtours.com.

More about Bethel-area real estate on Upstater here.

Update: We posted this property a couple of weeks ago, with a key misunderstanding.  Our Bethel correspondent corrected the original post, which made claim that this cottage had lake views and was waterfront. Not so, she says. “Its on the end of my block and no where near a lake (although its about 3 blocks from a pond!” Well, perhaps you could get it for even less?

This tidy waterfront cottage  is big for Smallwood. While the lot, like most in the private lake community, is only half an acre, the cottage packs in 4 bedrooms, plus an office, and 2 baths.

The house has been in the same family for over thirty years. It’s not “vintage Smallwood”—this one was built in 1972, which helps to explain its slightly bigger dimensions—but there are updates throughout: bamboo floors, new roof, Anderson windows, and a working fireplace. It’s zoned for residential (rather than just seasonal) usage and owners would have access to the Smallwood lake and pool . I think the bedroom count and the handicapped access make this one really feel multi-generational.

Catskill Castles  GMAP

Asking Price: $199,000
Square feet: 1234
Beds: 4
Baths: 2
Land: .500 acres
Distance to NYC: 124 miles; 2 hours, 3 minutes

This tidy waterfront cottage  is big for Smallwood. While the lot, like most in the private lake community, is only half an acre, the cottage packs in 4 bedrooms, plus an office, and 2 baths.

The house has been in the same family for over thirty years. It’s not “vintage Smallwood”—this one was built in 1972, which helps to explain its slightly bigger dimensions—but there are updates throughout: bamboo floors, new roof, Anderson windows, and a working fireplace. It’s zoned for residential (rather than just seasonal) usage and owners would have access to the Smallwood lake and pool . I think the bedroom count and the handicapped access make this one really feel multi-generational.

Catskill Castles  GMAP

Asking Price: $199,000
Square feet: 1234
Beds: 4
Baths: 2
Land: .500 acres
Distance to NYC: 124 miles; 2 hours, 3 minutes

The fanciest home in Bethel, within the grand Chapin Estates, have five beds, five baths and 4,460 square feet. That should cover it. It’s so secluded, says the copy, that a pair of bald eagles are nesting beside it. Plus, a hot tub. See you there.

185 Sunset Point, Bethel, NY (Sotheby’s) GMAP
Asking Price: $2.49 million
Beds: 5
Baths: 5
Land: 5 acres
Features: Lakefront, jacuzzi, gated community
Transportation: They don’t let you in here without a limo or something!

In response to our piece about Bethel earlier this week, Sullivan County buyers’ agent and blogger David Knudsen posted a detailed comment about the ins and outs of Smallwood, a Bethel hamlet and private lake community. David’s comment anticipates a lot of the questions a city buyer might have about Smallwood’s range of prices and seasonal vs. year-round housing, so we thought it worth highlighting:

We really appreciated David’s inside take, so we gave him a call to get more Smallwood info. (more…)

Taken out of context, I wouldn’t have guessed that this two bedroom log cabin in Bethel’s Smallwood community was built in 1936.  Given the size I might have thought “house trailer,” but like many of the homes in this Sullivan County lakeside hamlet, this little guy has some cute period details.  The stone fireplace is original and there’s a stone basement as well. The fenced-in lot is small and only semi-private, like most of the tiny lots in Smallwood, though it does claim a free-standing gazebo. There are two screened-in summer porches, including one off the back that looks spacious enough for snoring guests. Love the striped shutters!

The cottage is currently used for three seasons, so it would need to be winterized for year-round use. Some homes in Smallwood only have running water from October through April, but this house has its own well, which means all year water access.

The $90,000 asking price puts at the high-end of the middle range for Smallwood. You can pay less for a bungalow that would need more work or find something above $100,000 that’s fully updated and winterized. This cabin is in move-in condition, but I can also imagine doing an update and some decorating that would play up the 1930s bungalow vibe. Goodbye poker-playing puppies, hello waterfall furniture and lucite bowls?

Smallwood Cabin (Baer & McIntosh Real Estate) GMAP

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Wow, that’s a big porch you’ve got there. I can’t decide if this porch plus house in Bethel looks fun or ostentatious. I’m sure most second homers could make good use of a 400 square foot wrap-around porch, but the proportions seem just a little bit off to me. Is there such a thing as too much porch?

Located in a new-ish gated community, The Birches at Bethel Farms, this 3 bedroom, 3 bath home also comes with 5+ acres, pond views, and the possibility of finishing off the lower level into more living space. The interior is tasteful, if a bit generic, with granite counters, high ceilings, hardwood floors throughout and lots of light. How would you make this one your own?

Stats and pics after the jump.

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Bethel got on our radar when a reader alerted us to its offerings — not just on the nature front but the cultural front as well. Most famous for being the real home of the Woodstock festival, that concert site is now a cultural center within walking distance of many of Bethel’s offerings. The town encompasses the hamlet of Smallwood (a former Christian community that several folks have written in to ask us to cover), as well as Black Lake, White Lake and a few other teeny hamlets. Lots of good water in the area, but we find it a little light on the architectural charm, unless you’ve got a couple of million for a gated estate — there are plenty of those for sale, built at a more hopeful time in the American real estate market.

Our Bethel correspondent purchased an adorable cabin here which she now rents out, and has written in to sing the hamlet’s praises.
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Weekending at the Real ‘Woodstock’

West of the Hudson and far from the more popular upstate destinations of New Paltz and Rhinebeck lies the best kept secret of the Catskills: Bethel. Blessed with varied real estate, swimming and boating lakes, historic sites, and beautiful scenery, Bethel is full of family activity all year ‘round.

When we purchased our cabin in the fall of 2010 we thought of it as nothing more than a quick and inexpensive getaway from Brooklyn.  Our place is in a hamlet within Bethel called Smallwood.  Most of the cabins are nearly identical due to the popularity of cabin ‘kits’ from Sears in the 1930’s when most of the places in Smallwood were built as part of a private vacation community. Of course, most of them now have additions of porches, screen rooms, and lots of cobbled-on additions. Most of the cabins here are seasonal, meaning they run on town water which is only turned on from April till October, after that its pretty impossible to stay unless you have your own well. Our street is half and half; partial summer residents and part year round residents. We’re the rarity, weekend people who come up all year around. My husband is a fan of the fall foliage season, while the kids can’t get enough of the peaceful calm of winter (oh, and the sledding, snowman building and skiing!).

There is so much to do in Sullivan county for families of all ages. At the Woodstock concert site they’ve built a gorgeous outdoor concert facility where family pak lawn tickets can be had for as little as $60 per family. On the immaculate lawn where the sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin once played you can now enjoy the sounds of Elton John, Selena Gomez, and the New York Philharmonic. The annual July 4^th family Philharmonic concert complete with fireworks is always a hit for all ages. Kids play and roam while adults enjoy the music and a picnic dinner.  The museum is also really a class act and thoroughly air conditioned for a humid or rainy afternoon.

Most communities up here have some sort of lake. (more…)