’Poets’ Walk’ is the name of a park, or rather a series of trails that skirt along the Hudson River. Legend has it that Washington Irving got his idea for ’Rip Van Winkle’ while walking through this property and gazing out at the Catskill Mountains. Other writers through the ages supposedly have found solace here. It is a place of profound beauty, and, when not crowded on weekends, of peace; here one can lose oneself, or gain a distance from the outside worlds swirling around. It is a place to think. From the author’s Introduction