No tool like an old tool!

Sep 18, 2015 | news archive

There’s no tool like an old tool, and ample evidence of that will be supplied at the History Tent at the Cauliflower Festival Saturday, Sept. 26 from 10 to 4 in Margaretville Village Park.
Sponsored by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, the tent will be the gathering point for antique farm implements and equipment loaned and in some cases demonstrated by area residents and farmers.

Lynn Johnson, an avid collector of all things that go and the creator of the Rust in Peace mechanical graveyard on the Arkville Cut-off Road, will bring a 1930s-era buzz saw to show how rough lumber and scrapwood was noisily and efficiently cut back in the day. The power for the saw will be provided by Johnson’s 1937 case tractor, which he will also ride in the Tractor Parade that begins at 11:30 a.m. The buzz saw will be demonstrated at 12:45, 1:45 and 2:45.

John Fairbairn of Red Kill will smash some apples periodically during the afternoon using a hand-cranked cider press that belonged to great uncle Claude Haynes.

Bob Vredenburgh will travel from his home in Greene to bring a fanning mill made in the 1860s or ‘70s by R. D. Sloat of Roxbury and used on the farm of Sebastian Shultis of Kelly Corners. He will also exhibit a large threshing machine he restored. Made about 1880, it too was used on the Shultis farm on the Denver Road.

Any idea what this item is? Come to the Cauliflower Festival and find out!

Andrew Campbell and Burr Hubbell will explain and demonstrate a variety of tools and ingenious devices found in barns and other buildings at the Hubbell Homestead farm in Kelly Corners.

A Frank Mead-made wooden cradle (the kind that mowed buckwheat, not the kind that rocked babies) will be on loan for the day from John McMurray. HSM’s own two-seater cauliflower planter, donated by the late Ron Ballard, will be in its usual place of honor in front of the History Tent, where an exhibit on the heyday of the Catskill Mountain cauliflower industry will be displayed.

The eagerly anticipated DVD of the Fourth Annual Living History Cemetery Tour, held in June at New Kingston Valley Cemetery, will be available for purchase. The video of the one-hour tour, featuring area players portraying people from Middletown’s past, was professionally produced by videographer Kevin Spelman.

A sales table of glassware, home decor and other items will help raise funds for HSM. Several regional history books will be available for purchase, including “When Cauliflower Was King in the Catskills.”

Antique appraisals and Collectors’ Expo Sept. 12

Antique appraisals and Collectors’ Expo Sept. 12

Sep 3, 2015 | news archive

Antiquarian Richard Axtell will provide antique appraisals, while collectors of glass, clocks, memorabilia, postcards and more will display and discuss their collections on Saturday, Sept. 12 at the Historical Society of Middletown, 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville.

The Collectors’ Expo runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with appraisals conducted from 11-2. Admission to the hall is free; appraisals cost $5 per item. There will be door prizes and raffles, and refreshments will be available.

Richard “Smitty” Axtell started the House of Axtell Antiques, also known as “The Rookery,” in 1968 in a lovingly restored inn in Deposit, NY. The Rookery houses fine, museum quality examples of early Americana including baskets, stoneware, treenware, redware, folk art, iron hearth accessories, country furniture, textiles, art work, glassware and early lighting devices.

Axtell has carefully researched his ever-evolving collection of antiques, which he exhibits at shows throughout the east. In 2012, The Rookery Bookery was established offering books, poetry, pamphlets, song books, journals and manuscripts, some dating to the early 18th century.

Collectors who will be on hand September 12 to showcase their specialties include Robert Abbate of Andes, Depression glass; Bill Karpoich of Roxbury, cottage clocks; Debra Tuthill of Treadwell, Shirley Temple collectibles; John Duda of Fleischmanns, local postcards and British Royal commemorative items; Marsha Kathmann of Delhi, Boyd bears; and Peg Kearney of Fleischmanns, specialty ceramic items.

Shirley Temple

Depression glass is inexpensive colored and clear dinnerware made during the Depression era. It was given away at movie theaters, gas stations, grocery stores, and in boxes of soap, and was sold in five-and-ten-cent stores for pennies apiece. Robert Abbate has been collecting these items with wife Debra since 1971. Pieces from their collection were featured in the Time-Life Encyclopedia of Collectibles.

Depression Glass butter dish

 Bill Karpoich from Round Back Antiques in Roxbury will display an array of antique kitchen (cottage) clocks. The earliest in the collection date from the 1870s. Bill has always had an interest in the mechanical workings of machines, teaching himself to repair these clocks as well as restoring them.

Debra Tuthill collects “everything Shirley Temple” reflecting her admiration for the 1930s child star who starred in 43 feature films in a Hollywood career that stretched into adulthood. Shirley Temple Black (1928-2014) also served in the US Congress, and as ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia.

John Duda will display his personal collection of Fleischmanns, Middletown and Pepacton Reservoir postcards and will also sell cards of other areas and topics. He will showcase his collection of British Royal memorabilia as well. It includes commemorative china, books and ephemera such as souvenir publications from Elizabeth’s coronation and post cards going back to Queen Victoria.

Marsha Kathmann has been collecting Boyd bears for 15 years. The collection has grown to more than 300 bears, dressed for every occasion, season and holiday, and claims its own room in her home in Delhi.

Peggy Kearney will be on hand to display vintage ceramic shoes collected by her grandmother.

For more information on HSM events and activities, and to read features on local history topics, visit www.mtownhistory.org, or call 845-586-4973.

Destination Middletown!

Aug 19, 2015 | news archive

“The Hotels of Middletown,” a slide show featuring images and stories from more than 40 hotels and inns that welcomed guests over the past 150 years, will be presented Sunday, Aug. 16 at 1 p.m. at the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville.

Admission is $2 for HSM members, $4 non-members. www.mtownhistory.org

Presenters Diane Galusha and Georgi Fairlie will provide a whirlwind tour of destination lodging facilities ranging from farm-based boarding houses to elegant estates. Examples include the Pakatakan Hotel in Arkville which catered to artists; Briarcliff Lodge that started as a health retreat; the Pocantico Inn with its memorable porticoed entry on Margaretville’s Main Street; and Kass Inn, known for its sumptuous buffets and later its golf.

Half of the program will be devoted to Fleischmanns hotels, including the Takanasee, with its lavish entertainment, DePitts Mountain Lodge with its own ski slopes, the Palace, catering to Hungarian clientele, the massive Pinewood, and the Park Terrace, whose pool is now the municipal swimming pool on Wagner Avenue.

From Smith Farm in New Kingston, the Arena Hotel, and the Grand Hotel, that epic hostelry in Highmount, the slide show will recall an era when villages were crowded with summertime visitors. Images of the railroads that fed the tourist trade, turn-of-the century Main Streets, and 1950s promotional brochures will depict the decades-long enchantment that tourists had – and still have – with this part of the Catskills.

“The thrill of my life”

“The thrill of my life”

Jul 29, 2015 | Tin Horn

That’s what Helen Keller said after landing two fair sized trout in Dry Brook in late July, 1935.

The Catskill Mountain News reported July 5 that she had rented “King’s Lodge,” the former Kelly farm, one of the Gould properties, for the summer. With a sizeable staff to attend her, and “thousands of feet of rope stretched around the promises to help her get about unaided,” the woman famous for overcoming blindness, deafness and lack of speech was “enjoying the delightful air of the Dry Brook Valley.”

On August 2, the paper said Niles Fairbairn, legendary local outdoorsman and angler, was invited for a visit and to show her the stream. With the help of a nurse who “conversed with Miss Keller by the deaf and dumb alphabet with fingers touched to the palm of Miss Keller’s hand,” she was taught to swing the fishing rod in a space free from trees and vegetation.

Her first cast hooked an undersized trout which Niles returned to the stream. She next hooked “a large sized native” and “landed the beauty after a ten minute fight.” After a third catch of a good sized trout, she declared she’d had excitement enough for one day, adding “I had the thrill of my life.”

Gravestone cleaning workshop Aug. 8

Gravestone cleaning workshop Aug. 8

Jul 21, 2015 | news archive

Learn to safely clean the surface of gravestones at a workshop Saturday, August 8 at the Clovesville Cemetery near Fleischmanns.

The workshop, led by Marianne Greenfield, proprietor of Gravestone Cleaning Service of Delhi, will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon. It is sponsored by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown in cooperation with the Clovesville Cemetery Association.

Participants will be guided in the use of gravestone cleaning techniques and the biodegradable and non-toxic cleaning product D/2, which is used and recommended by the National Park Service.

Space is limited; reservations are required and can be made by calling 845-254-5381. Workshop fee is $15 and includes all supplies.

Before cleaning

After cleaning