Cemetery Tour Reservations Open

Cemetery Tour Reservations Open

May 24, 2022 | 2022 News, news archive

MARGARETVILLE – Reservations for the Historical Society of Middletown’s 9th Living History Cemetery Tour are now open.

The popular tour will be held Saturday, June 18, 2022 at Margaretville Cemetery. Rain date is June 19.

In addition to the walking tour, offered from 4 to 6 p.m., there will be a special early bird performance at 2 p.m. on stage at the Open Eye Theater on Main Street to accommodate those with mobility issues.

Reservations for the staged or on-site performances are required and can be made by calling 845-586-4736.

Tickets are $20; those 15 or under get in free.

This year’s tour will feature portrayals of eight people from Middletown’s past. Tour goers led by costumed guides will meet these spirits and learn about their lives.

They include a pair of newspaper editors reflecting on memorable local events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the valedictorian of the first graduating class of Margaretville High School in 1896, and Italian immigrant storekeeper, baker and labor recruiter Pasco Dilello.

A barber, a game warden, and a suffragist will be portrayed, as will an early emigrant from New England whose family arrived in the Dunraven area in 1796.

Directors of this year’s production are Marge Helenchild and Michelle Macau.

For more information on HSM events and to become a member, visit mtownhistory.org.

Hard luck brings out the neighbors

Apr 13, 2022 | Tin Horn

If you live in the Catskills chances are you’ve attended a benefit supper, concert or ball game to help a sick neighbor or a family fallen on hard times. It’s what we do. Sometimes it’s all we can do. ‘Twas ever thus, it appears.

In 1909, Margaretville came together to assist Michael Laughman, 61, who the Catskill Mountain News reported had had “a run of hard luck like the stories you read in books.” First, in April, he fell 18 feet from a scaffolding while building a house for Olney Smith in Dunraven. He broke multiple bones, pierced a lung and his recovery was in doubt. But recover he did.

In July, his 94-year-old mother died (she had raised Michael and his siblings alone after her husband died in the Civil War).

Then in September Michael, back at work, cut off two fingers in a buzz saw at Frank Mead’s shop in Dunraven. Hobbled by injuries and unable to work, Michael must have felt pretty low.

In October, his friends, seeking to help him, put together a day of play and giving in Margaretville. Goldie and Eva Myers and Clara McCumber snagged everybody on Main Street to collect donations. Horse races and a clambake were held. Mead’s Orchestra played at the Opera House for a dance. And a baseball game between Pine Hill’s town team and a local squad made up of “Hasbeens, Wantos and Neverwas” played until stormy weather called a halt to the game.

The News hailed “the excellent showing of the locals in not allowing the visiting pitcher to hit their bats with the ball.” Pine Hill won by a score of “three to minus 3.” Proceeds on the day came to $150.75.

Michael Laughman, we must assume, was grateful. But a year and a half later, his luck indeed ran out, when he died of pneumonia.

HSM offers headstone cleaning

Apr 8, 2022 | 2022 News, news archive

Memorial Day is right around the corner and the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown wants to help you pay tribute to your loved ones by offering a unique headstone cleaning service.

A team of HSM volunteers is ready to clean monuments at cemeteries in and around Middletown this spring, using a safe and very effective cleansing agent and method. A donation of $30 cleans a single one-sided headstone; a $50 donation will clean two headstones or a two-sided monument.

 Before-and-after photos will be provided to those who take advantage of this offer, available only during the month of May.

Send a check and contact information to HSM, PO Box 734, Margaretville, NY 12455. Someone will be in touch to collect details. FMI: 845-586-4973 or history@catskill.net.

Information about HSM events and programs can be found at mtownhistory.org.

Historical Society names Cemetery Tour cast

Historical Society names Cemetery Tour cast

Mar 24, 2022 | 2022 News, news archive

March 21, 2022

MARGARETVILLE – The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) has announced cast members for its 9th Living History Cemetery Tour to be held Saturday, June 18 at Margaretville Cemetery.

In addition to the walking tour, offered from 4 to 6 p.m., there will be a special early bird performance at 2 p.m. on stage at the Open Eye Theater to accommodate those whose mobility issues may prevent their enjoyment of the on-site event.

This year’s tour will feature portrayals of eight people from Middletown’s past. Tour goers led by costumed guides will meet these spirits and learn about their lives while strolling through the scenic cemetery with its handsome grounds and beautiful views across the East Branch valley.

HSM welcomes four actors new to the tour:
David Dancyger and Steve McQuide will portray James Knox Polk (JKP) Jackson and Clarke Sanford, publisher/editors of the Margaretville Utilitarian and the Catskill Mountain News as they compare notes on memorable local events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. McQuide is a grandson of Publisher Sanford.

Holly O’Connor will portray her great-grandmother, Etta Mann Easman Welch, valedictorian of the first graduating class of Margaretville High School in 1896, who first married a hotel keeper, then the superintendent of the Delaware & Northern Railroad. And Rod Sequillo will bring to life Italian immigrant Pasco Dilello, storekeeper, baker and labor recruiter for area industries and building projects.

 

John Bernhardt, who has appeared in each cemetery tour since the first one in 2012, will become barber Reed Delameter this year. Another veteran tour actor, Agnes Laub, will portray Thankful Grant, an early emigrant from New England whose family arrived in the Dunraven area in 1796.

Ward Stevenson will return as game warden Joe DeSilva, and Darlene DeMaille will tell the tragic family story of suffragist Anna Evans Swayze.

Yet to be named are at-large players who will appear in silent vignettes throughout the cemetery.

Directors of this year’s production are Marge Hellenchild and Michelle Macau. Scriptwriters include Diane Galusha, Terry Bradshaw, Holly O’Connor, Erwin Karl, John Jacobson, Sue DeBruin, Mary Barile and Ann Hersh.

Historical Society preserving Catskill Mtn News

Historical Society preserving Catskill Mtn News

Jan 17, 2022 | 2022 News, news archive

January 17, 2022

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) is seeking the support of history lovers in its efforts to preserve and make accessible 12 more years of the Catskill Mountain News, and 25 issues of other local newspapers, most from the 19th century.

The rare extant early newspapers, preserved in the HSM archives, include the Utilitarian, the Margaretville Messenger, the Griffin and Fleischmanns Herald, the Arena Enterprise and others.

Covering eastern Delaware and western Ulster Counties, the Catskill Mountain News ceased publication in January 2020. HSM had previously microfilmed and digitized the News from 1902 through 1973 and it quickly became one of the most frequently searched titles on NYSHistoricNewspapers.com. This phase of the preservation project will add 1974-1985 to the online collection.

The ‘70s and ‘80s saw noticeable change in the Catskills, when family farms shut down and the economy shifted to accommodate weekend residents. You could go downhill skiing at now-closed centers in Andes and Phoenicia and join thousands of revelers at fairs and festivals that were once big draws in Arkville and New Kingston. The obstetrics unit closed at Margaretville Memorial Hospital, and the Delaware & Ulster Rail Ride brought new life to an abandoned rail line.

Weather calamities and fires, like the one that gutted the center of Margaretville’s Main Street in 1977, were followed by revitalization. Long time businesses closed and new ones emerged. From election results to obituaries, accidents to school sports, the News, owned by the Sanford family, covered it all. Its readers most appreciated the reports of neighborly comings and goings provided by community columnists.

Clarke Sanford typing out the News.

Explained HSM President Diane Galusha, “This treasured resource is invaluable to genealogists with family connections here, and to researchers with an interest in the evolution of the Central Catskills region. It is also vulnerable, as there is only one set of bound volumes containing these original newspapers. HSM is collaborating with Fairview Public Library where they are stored to have them microfilmed and digitized so that anyone, anywhere can search or browse through them well into the future.”

Donations to help with this effort may be sent to HSM, PO Box 734, Margaretville, NY 12455. Please include the notation “CMNews Project.”