2021 Cemetery Tour Cast Named

Feb 10, 2021 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown has announced the cast for its 8th Living History Cemetery Tour to be held July 10, 2021 at Margaretville Cemetery.

A total of 15 people will appear in this year’s event, which will be produced with Covid precautions, including audience distancing and mask wearing by everyone except performers.

Groups of tour goers will be led by costumed guides through the cemetery to hear the stories of ten men and women who rest there.  Tours will depart every 20 minutes between 4 and 6 p.m. Tour time reservations are required; details to be announced.

This year’s cast features many players who are new to the event, as well as a couple of veterans.

John Bernhardt, who has performed in every one of the tours, will play George Gilbert alongside Alice Zigelis as his wife Sarah. The pair will recount their very public divorce, and much quieter reconciliation.

Burr Hubbell as veterinarian Reuben Smith will tell the story of his son’s heroism while Air Force pilot Thomas Kingsley Smith (Kevin Hubbell) stands silently at ease. The efforts of Hungarian immigrant Esther Dobsa to keep her family together on the farm after her husband’s early death will be shared by Darlene DeMaille.

Nineteenth-century lamplighter Leslie Dumond will be portrayed by Ward Stevenson. Marge Helenchild will appear as Delaware County’s first female attorney, Mabel Fenton.

The tour audience will hear about the scandalous fall from grace of Anti-Rent War hero Edward O’Connor, as recounted by his nephew, R. David Scott, played by Brett Barry. And Mike Riley as Irishman Sam Hunter will describe his fruitless search for a missing Civil War comrade.

 

Among the at-large players will be a pair of devoted sisters, Lucy and Mary Waterman (Robin Williams and Julie Ford) who converse in sign language; antebellum lady Deborah Carpenter Landon (Emily Vieyra-Haley), blacksmith Ebenezer Laidlaw (Howie Futterman) and a pair of Victorian picnickers played by John Exter and Lisbeth Furman.

Iris Mead, Jo Maender and Aurora Riley will serve as costumed tour guides. If you would like to help as a site volunteer, call Diane Galusha, 845-586-4973, or contact HSM at history@catskill.net.

Scriptwriters are Erwin Karl, John Jacobson, Anne Saxon-Hersh, Terry Bradshaw, Mary Barile, Marilyn Kaltenborn and Diane Galusha.

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

Middletown Family Farms, c. 1950

Middletown Family Farms, c. 1950

Nov 11, 2020 | Features

This map was produced by Ira McIntosh who in 2006 worked with local elders in each section of town to identify the locations of dairy farms that were operating in the late 1940s-early 1950s. It shows 187 family farms. In 2015, there were just two dairy farms still operating – Elliotts and Grays – both in the New Kingston Valley.

Thanks to Larry Kelly at the Catskill Watershed Corp. for producing the large map of the Town of Middletown. We apologize for errors in locations, spellings or for those we inadvertently omitted. We regret, too, that we could not list the names of the spouses of the men shown as owners of these farms, as women (and children!) were equally important in their operation.

Link to the map’s key here:

Download PDF

HSM seeks historic materials

Oct 10, 2020 | news archive

Are you moving, downsizing or simply cleaning house? Not sure what to do with the interesting old stuff you’ve found in boxes, desks or in the attic? Don’t toss it! The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) welcomes donations of historic materials to add to its new archives in Margaretville.

The interim archives, located in the garage behind Fairview Public Library, will accept items Monday, Oct. 12 from 10 to 2, by appointment only. Email history@catskill,net or call 845-586-4973 to confirm a time.

Going forward, the archives will be open for donations on the first Monday of the month (Nov. 2, Dec. 7), between 10 and 2. Call to make an appointment. If Monday is inconvenient, arrangements can be made for a different date and time to deliver materials. Please do not leave items outside the garage at any time.

Donors will be given a Deed of Gift form listing contributed items and will have the satisfaction of helping to preserve local history.

HSM collects books and manuscripts, including diaries, store ledgers, memoirs and published genealogies; maps; photographs; paintings created in or depicting the area; memorabilia related to personal, commercial, institutional and community history, and other items that have been created or used in the Town of Middletown or contiguous areas of the Towns of Roxbury, Hardenburgh, Shandaken, Halcott and Andes.

Middletown includes the Villages of Margaretville and Fleischmanns, and the hamlets of New Kingston, Halcottsville and Arkville as well as Clovesville, Kelly Corners, Millbrook, Dry Brook, Red Kill, Hubbell Hill, Dunraven and outlying areas.

Marker to be unveiled at ag history site

Marker to be unveiled at ag history site

Sep 27, 2020 | news archive

The annual Cauliflower Festival in Margaretville will not be held September 26 due to the Covid pandemic, but the weekend will nonetheless feature the unveiling of a historic marker at the site where the region’s cauliflower industry first took root.

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM), in collaboration with Margaretville Mountain Inn, invites the public to a short ceremony Sunday, Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. The Inn is located about two miles up Margaretville Mountain Road which begins as Walnut Street in the Village of Margaretville. This important site in Catskills’ agricultural history was the former William and Thankful VanBenschoten farm overlooking the East Branch valley.

In the mid-1890s, twenty years after cauliflower began to be grown commercially on Long Island, William F. VanBenschoten, obtained 100 cauliflower plants from acquaintances there. His wife, Thankful Sanford VanBenschoten, reportedly nursed the first plants in flower pots in her kitchen. They did so well the couple set 200 plants the following year and peddled the fresh cauliflower to boarding houses in Fleischmanns.

The year after that, they put in 2,000 plants, and began shipping the crop in iced barrels on trains to the New York City market. Soon, other local farmers began planting cauliflower and by the 19-teens the Catskills became renowned for its fine quality ‘white gold.’ This was a major industry here through the mid-20th century.

The Van Benschotens also kept a boarding house. They built their lovely Victorian home in 1890 to accommodate summer visitors. Listed on the state and national registers of historic places, Margaretville Mountain Inn still welcomes tourists and hosts weddings. It has been operated by Carol Molnar and family for 30 years.

This will be the eighth brown and yellow marker erected by HSM to designate historically significant sites in Middletown. Visit mtownhistory.org to learn more about local history and to become a member of HSM.

Margaretville Mountain-VanBenschoten house

Cemetery Drive Tour Offers Escape

Cemetery Drive Tour Offers Escape

Jul 24, 2020 | Tin Horn

Looking for a reason to get out of the house without worrying about catching or spreading COVID 19? Our self driving tour of 9 cemeteries in and around Middletown is just the ticket. Scenery, history and freedom on four wheels! This poignant memorial to a child can be found at the Bedell Cemetery.