KAHAKSINK-RONDOUTings: Watershed Conversations with Rondout Creek
(TBD)
2025-present

KAHAKSINK-RONDOUTings is the first project we’re creating out of 4th Floor Studios @ 2 Elting Court. It is a next iteration of inquiries we began with 325 MAIN / WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE?: How we are connected — to each other, to land and water where we live, the values we share, and the value we make together.

Flowing from the Catskill mountains to the Hudson River, the Kahaksink-Rondout Creek runs in proximity to our studio in Ellenville, our residences in Kerhonkson, and our first studio at 325 Main. This watershed has been home to the Munsee, of the Lenape people, who called the creek Kahaksink, “place of wild geese.” In the 19th century, the Delaware & Hudson Co. transformed it to carry coal from Pennsylvania to NYC. And today, it’s been transformed again by a reservoir which diverts 1/3 of the creek to NYC for drinking water.

We see the ROUNDOUTings as a collective discovery opportunity (the more observations the better!) to learn about Kahaksink-Rondout creek–the 63 miles, from the Catskills to the Hudson, of water and ecosystems connecting our communities. The first RONDOUTing was at Pt Ben Bridge in Wawarsing. The second at the headwaters in the Catskills. And the third will be at the outlet to the Hudson River in Kingston. 

Our aspirations for these outings include:  

  • Find access points for engaging with the creek

  • Explore a range of ways to observe the creek and its ecosystem. In what ways can we stretch our human perceptions to be in Relationship with Water, to be Kin to Water, to Be Water 

  • Catalog what we learn to add to existing knowledge, histories, and personal and ancestral stories

Each location has its own character.  The time of day and season also layers our experience. 

  • We walk/sit alongside and, for those who want to, wade into the creek.  
  • We offer prompts for different ways to engage with and listen to the Rondout. Some prompts we do together and some we do on our own, and then at the end come together to share observations.

To learn more:

  • Listen to KAHAKSINK-RONDOUT: We’ve recently acquired an underwater microphone as another way to engage with the Rondout. This recording was made 9/19 @ 11am at the Port Ben bridge. It’s @ 11 minutes. For those who listen to the end, there’s a surprise (!).

  • Revisit the list of questions/prompts we generated for the launch conversation at our studio on August 3rd. (pasted below)

  • Check out these materials generously provided to us by Anna and Costa from the Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance:  

KAHAKSINK-RONDOUTings Prompts for Conversation
August 3, 2025

Have you fished the Rondout?

Have you boated in the Rondout?

Have you waded in the Rondout?

Have you swum the Rondout?

Have you been baptized in the Rondout?

Have you walked the Rondout’s edges? 

Strolled the Rail Trail where it follows the Rondout? 

Crossed over the Rondout on the Herbert Poppel Bridge? Have you listened to the Rondout?

Do you know a song about the Rondout?

Shall we write one together? 

Have you seen a painting of the Rondout?

A photograph, a dance, or interdisciplinary art based on the Rondout?  

Have you seen a sign on a barbed wire fence that says KEEP OUT (Posted Water Land Supply. No Trespassing. Violators Will Be Prosecuted. – NYC Dept of Environmental Protection)

Do you know someone has drowned in the Rondout?

Have you been drinking Rondout water from a New York City tap?

Do you live in a boat on the Rondout? 

Do you have acreage by the Rondout?

Did your family live on land submerged by the Rondout Reservoir?

Did your engineering grandfather draw up plans for homes to be moved, flooded from sight?

Did your ancestors live along the Rondout long before waters were diverted and land was had? When Rondout was called Kahaksink?

Could we honor that original name? 

Have you met a ghost of Kahaksink-Rondout?

How do we stop the septic leakage into Kahaksink-Rondout?

How do we stop the farm run-off?

How can humans be good neighbors to Kahaksink-Rondout? And more—How do we come to know our bodies’ waters are connected?

Did you see the eagle flying over Kahaksink-Rondout? perched on a tree by Kahaksink-Rondout? sitting on the banks of Kahaksink-Rondout?

What about those ever-circling turkey vultures? And the flocks of geese – honk, honk!

Do you know about the eels that live in Kahaksink-Rondout? And that they swim 1,000 miles from the Sargasso Sea to live here?

How many miles did you come to live by/be by Kahaksink-Rondout? Did you walk? Did you bike? Did you drive?

What if Kahaksink-Rondout broke out (of the reservoir, of the tunnels) and stopped giving?

When will the next flood be?

What does Kahaksink-Rondout want?

What does Kahaksink-Rondout need?

The first phase of the project is supported by a grant from Neuland and select programming will be created in partnership with the Rondout Creek Watershed Alliance.