The High View or Shawangunk or the Bloomingburg Tunnel, was completed in 1871 through the Shawangunk Mountains by the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad, predecessor of the New York, Ontario & Western Railway. At 3,855-foot in length, High View was the longest among the four tunnels on this railroad.
Although the tunnel is located on property owned by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, the High View Tunnel is adjacent to Wurtsboro Ridge State Forest where there is trailhead parking for the Long Path/SRT on VFW Road. Since the the hike begins and ends in Wurtsboro Ridge State Forest, I named it as part of the state forest in order to make it easier to identify its location.
The New York, Ontario & Western Railway was a regional railroad that connected Oswego, New York to Weehawken Terminal in New Jersey. At the end of the 19th century, the O&W Railway was the best way for New York City passengers to make their way to the Catskill Mountains. It was the second most notable railroad in America to have its mainline entirely abandoned, the first being the Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern. The N.Y. O. & W. was abandoned in 1957.
