2014 Season Preview!

2014 Season Preview!

Oct 16, 2013 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will hold its Annual Meeting and chicken barbecue lunch Sunday, Oct. 27 at noon at the Society’s Hall, 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville.

Radio personality and newspaper columnist “Big Chuck” D’Imperio will be the featured speaker, offering some fascinating facts about New York State history.

Admission is $15 and reservations are required. Call 607-326-4734 to secure your seat.

After lunch of Brooks barbecue chicken, home-made salads and pies, a short business meeting will include election of HSM Board members and a recounting of the Society’s programs and activities over the past year.

The meeting will be followed by the presentation by “Big Chuck” D’Imperio, one of Upstate New York’s longest tenured radio broadcasters. He has been helming his #1 rated morning show on Townsquare Media Radio in Oneonta since 1989. In 2000 Chuck was inducted into the NYS Country Music Hall of Fame as “New York’s Broadcaster of the Year,” and in 2012 he was honored by Daughters of the American Revolution for his contributions to an understanding of history.

Chuck is also a prolific author with six “Upstate Books” on the shelves, including “Great Graves of New York, Final Resting Places of 70 True American Legends;” “Monumental New York, 30 Iconic Monuments of Upstate New York,” and his latest, “Unknown Museums of Upstate New York,” published by Syracuse University Press.

“Big Chuck ” D’Imperio

A selection of his books will be available for sale and signing after his presentation.

A longtime newspaper columnist, Chuck and his wife Trish, an English teacher, have four children and live in Oneonta.

For details on programs and activities of the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, and to contribute toward the preservation of local history, please visit www.mtownhistory.org.

2014 Season Preview!

HSM plans annual meeting and luncheon

Oct 16, 2013 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will hold its Annual Meeting and chicken barbecue lunch Sunday, Oct. 27 at noon at the Society’s Hall, 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville.

Radio personality and newspaper columnist “Big Chuck” D’Imperio will be the featured speaker, offering some fascinating facts about New York State history.

Admission is $15 and reservations are required. Call 607-326-4734 to secure your seat.

After lunch of Brooks barbecue chicken, home-made salads and pies, a short business meeting will include election of HSM Board members and a recounting of the Society’s programs and activities over the past year.

“Big Chuck ” D’Imperio

The meeting will be followed by the presentation by “Big Chuck” D’Imperio, one of Upstate New York’s longest tenured radio broadcasters. He has been helming his #1 rated morning show on Townsquare Media Radio in Oneonta since 1989. In 2000 Chuck was inducted into the NYS Country Music Hall of Fame as “New York’s Broadcaster of the Year,” and in 2012 he was honored by Daughters of the American Revolution for his contributions to an understanding of history.

Chuck is also a prolific author with six “Upstate Books” on the shelves, including “Great Graves of New York, Final Resting Places of 70 True American Legends;” “Monumental New York, 30 Iconic Monuments of Upstate New York,” and his latest, “Unknown Museums of Upstate New York,” published by Syracuse University Press.

A selection of his books will be available for sale and signing after his presentation.

A longtime newspaper columnist, Chuck and his wife Trish, an English teacher, have four children and live in Oneonta.

For details on programs and activities of the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, and to contribute toward the preservation of local history, please visit www.mtownhistory.org.

Bob’s gone, but the cider-making continues

Bob’s gone, but the cider-making continues

Sep 27, 2013 | Tin Horn

Burr Hubbell reports that the ancient apple press at Hubbell Homestead farm will be operating Sept. 28 at 1 p.m., Oct. 5 at 1, 1:30 and 2:30, and Oct. 6 at noon, 1 and 2. Anyone interested in seeing history at work is welcome to stop by and watch the process unfold on three levels of the venerable barn.

Burr’s dad Bob Hubbell passed away August 29, but before he did, he made sure the knowledge of how to make a fair batch of cider was shared with his children and grandchildren. He would be very happy to see the old cider mill in operation once again.

Bob Hubbell

For information on the mill, located at the Hubbell Homestead on Route 30 between Margaretville and Halcottsville, or on how to get your apples pressed there: burr.hubbell@hubbells.com
586.2707.

A wrong righted

A wrong righted

Sep 25, 2013 | Tin Horn

Eleven Margaretville Cemetery monuments that were toppled by vandals August 6, 2012 have been righted by the Margaretville Public Works crew. With guidance from experienced cemetery restorer Brian Wheaton, the workers pieced and cemented together the stones of the following people:

Henry Hewitt 1825-82 and wife Mary Walker 1831-1912; Madison Dean 1812-92 and Julia Dimmick Dean 1815-1889; John Carpenter, d. 1882; John Dumond 1812-1877 and Priscilla Hilton Dumond d. 1874; Asa Bellows (illegible), “Our Mima” More, d. 1875, age 6; Flora (illegible) and David Shearer 1825-1903 (Shearer was a Civil War veteran who served in the 127th NY Regiment).

Several generous history lovers and descendants donated approximately $800 to a reward fund to help apprehend the people who did this senseless damage. However, the perpetrators were never arrested, and the donors agreed that the funds should be used to make repairs instead.

Madison and Julia Dimmick Dean’s monuments, before repairs

Madison and Julia Dimmick Dean’s monuments, after repairs

Thank you to Henry Friedman, DPW chief for the Village of Margaretville, and the Village Board, for seeing that this desecration was repaired.

Cauliflower Festival is this weekend!

Sep 24, 2013 | news archive

The Tenth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival will bring food, fun, history and a hip new dance craze – square dancing! — to the Village Park in Margaretville this Saturday, Sept. 28 from 10 to 4.

The Catskill Mountain Boys and guest caller John Jacobson will lead experienced and newbie do-si-doers through their paces in as many dance squares as can fit under the pavilion at 3 p.m. This traditional form of down-home entertainment is making a comeback, as evidenced by the hundreds of people who turn out in New York’s Central Park every week to clap, sing and dance to the rhythm of fiddle, guitar and bass.

The Catskill Mountain Boys – John VanBenschoten, Mike Herman and Todd Pascarella – will also perform at 1 p.m. with a set of country blues and folk.

At Noon and 2, Jason Starr will share songs and ballads, from Woody Guthrie to Pete Seeger.

Saturday’s celebration of all things country includes a Tractor Parade that gives current and former farmers a chance to step into the limelight. The parade takes a couple of spins around the festival grounds at 11:30 a.m.

Tractor-drawn hay rides on the Davis farm along the East Branch of the Delaware River will be offered during the day, and, weather permitting, a hay baling demonstration will take place at 2:30 p.m.

Cauliflower, a product for which Catskill Mountain farms were noted through much of the 20th century, will be offered to modern-day fans of this versatile vegetable. Buy a recipe book to help you prepare it, and add “When Cauliflower Was King in the Catskills” to your home or video library. Sales benefit the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, sponsors of the Festival.

In the History Tent, the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will mount its exhibit on cauliflower industry history, as well as a display of farm photos from its collection. Anthony and Lynette Liberatore will be in the tent to sign and sell their new photographic history book, “Around Roxbury,” along with a display of images from the legendary Ron Ballard’s collection.

 

Other exhibitors will share information on the Catskills environment, and on community activities and opportunities to become involved. Vendors will sell everything from woolen items to honey. Artisans will display stained glass, ceramics, original works and other hand-made items.

Food offerings range from the Rotary Club’s chicken barbecue, to pulled pork, empanadas, cauliflower soup and other special surprises.

Family fun includes Strich’s popular pony rides and petting zoo, and face painting and crafts with the MCS Student Art Club.

For more information, visit www.cauliflowerfestival.com

This celebration of authentic rural life is supported by Coldwell/Banker Timberland Properties; MTC; Directive, Inc., HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, the Watershed Agricultural Council, Pure Catskills and Catskills Family Creameries.