news archive | Historical Society of Middletown

Skis, Trees and the Triple Cs

Jun 1, 2018 | news archive

Hardy Margaretville enrollees set off on a CCC work mission.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, a Depression-era program that put millions of young men to work repairing environmental damage and building parks and trails, will be discussed Saturday, June 9 at 10 a.m. at the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM), 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville.
“Trees, Skis and the Triple Cs” is a program by Diane Galusha, author of Another Day, Another Dollar: The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Catskills. A Headwaters History Days offering, the illustrated presentation is free. It will be followed by a short walk in a nearby CCC-planted forest.

The CCC was created in 1933 by an Executive Order signed by newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A federally-sponsored program for unemployed men from 17 to 25 years of age, its aim was to assist Depression-stricken families and at the same time conduct conservation projects to reverse decades of environmental degradation, improve public lands and develop parks and campgrounds for public enjoyment.

CCC camps in the Catskill region were established in Boiceville, Tannersville, and Margaretville, as well as in Sullivan, Otsego and Schoharie Counties. The Margaretville camp, located just west of the village, housed some 200 men and operated from 1935 to 1938.

Projects ranged from ski trail building and tree planting to erosion control and insect eradication. North Lake, Devil’s Tombstone, Woodland Valley and Beaverkill State Campgrounds were developed with Corps labor. Margaretville enrollees established a regional headquarters for NYS Conservation Department Rangers at a former fish hatchery which will be visited after the talk on June 9.

Galusha, president of HSM, is the author of several books of local history, including Liquid Assets, A History of New York City’s Water System; As the River Runs, A History of Halcottville, NY; and When Cauliflower Was King, a chronicle of the hey-day of cauliflower production in the Catskills.

For information on Headwaters History Days events and programs, visit headwatershistorydays.org.
HSM’s 2018 schedule may be found at mtownhistory.org.

HSM announces 2018 schedule of programs

Apr 2, 2018 | news archive

The Historical Society of Middletown has a busy schedule of talks, tours and special activities planned for 2018.

The season will start with a friendly battle of wits when HSM sponsors its first Trivia Challenge Saturday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at its hall, 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville. Teams of two and four will compete for awards. Door prizes and libations will be offered. Register your team ($25 per person) at 845-586-4689.

The Second Annual Underground History weekend for metal detectors will be held June 2-3. This ‘relic hunt’ will happen at select sites throughout Middletown. To participate (there is a fee) contact mrmetaldetector@aol.com.

On Saturday, June 9, a free, illustrated talk, “Trees, Skis and the Triple Cs,” will discuss the lasting contributions made by the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the Catskills. The talk, by Diane Galusha, begins at 10 a.m. at the HSM hall, and will be followed by a walk through a local CCC plantation.

The 6th Living History Cemetery Tour will be held at Halcottsville Cemetery Saturday, July 7. One of HSM’s most anticipated events, the tour introduces visitors to former community residents who share their stories of life, love and loss. Reserve a tour time at 845-586-4736.

Celebrated photographer Art Kane will be the subject of a free, illustrated talk, “Marking Time,” by his son, Jonathan Kane, on Saturday, July 21, at 7 p.m. Kane, who lived in Margaretville in the 1960s and ‘70s, was noted for his fashion, celebrity and editorial photographs and was considered among the most influential visual artists of the 20th century.

Autumn events include a Family History Afternoon Sept. 8, the Margaretville Cauliflower Festival Sept. 22, the Annual Meeting and Luncheon Oct. 20 and, on Nov. 3, an observance of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. “Middletown in the Great War” will feature a slide show with photos of many local veterans, and readings of soldier letters, by members of Open Eye Theater. This program will take place at Middletown American Legion Hall 216.

Middletown in the Civil War now online

Nov 11, 2017 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) is pleased to make available a new online collection detailing the lives and service records of 242 Civil War veterans from Middletown.

Visit Projects/Middletown in the Civil War on this website. The five-year project to document all Middletown Civil War veterans was begun in 2012, the 150^th anniversary of the start of the war, and was completed and posted on Veterans Day 2017.

The collection features an alphabetical spreadsheet with names, birth and death dates, parents’ names, military units and other information on the veterans, as well as what happened to them during and after the war. Further details are provided in individual profiles. An introduction explains the project. A gallery of photographs and a list of sources rounds out the collection.

The individual profiles were compiled using information from census records, online and published family and community histories, pension files, newspaper accounts and other sources. The backgrounds of 306 men that were shown in various accounts to be Middletown veterans were researched and their profiles are included, although just 242 turned out to have significant enough connection to Middletown to be listed on the spreadsheet.

HSM requests that additions, corrections or omissions be sent to history@catskill.net.

Research conducted by HSM President Diane Galusha with assistance from volunteer Jim Goehlke showed that 38 Middletown men were killed in the war, or died of disease. Many are buried in national cemeteries near where they fell.

Forty-two men were wounded or disabled, and several endured months in Confederate prisoner of war camps. A few were shown to have deserted, or simply disappeared from the record.

The war was a family affair; 39 sets of Middletown brothers served. Two families (Close and Morse) sent four young men; five families sent three siblings, and nine fathers went off to war with their sons. Four fathers did not return.

A number of Middletown veterans were natives of other countries – Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Prussia and England. While the majority of veterans returned to raise families, resume farming or run shops or businesses, many ex-soldiers left Middletown after the war to settle in Kansas, California, Texas and other states. A number of local men ended their lives in veterans’ homes from Ohio to Maine.

Explained Galusha, “Each of these names has a story behind it that reflects both the price paid by this one small town, and its ability to nurse the wounds and carry on after the most divisive and destructive war in the nation’s history. We are proud to share what we’ve learned about these men, their families and Middletown’s role in the Civil War.”

Local legends and a remarkable camp

Oct 2, 2017 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will hold its Annual Meeting and Luncheon Saturday, Oct. 21 at its meeting hall, 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville.

The luncheon, catered by Anna Blish, will begin at noon. Seats are $20; reservations may be made by calling 845-586-2860.

A brief business meeting and annual report will start at 1 p.m.

Following the meeting, Bill Horne, author of The Improbable Community: Camp Woodland and the American Democratic Ideal, will provide an illustrated talk, “It ain’t nice fer purty: Tales from the age of homespun.”

The talk will focus on Orson Slack of Arena and Mike Todd of Dry Brook who became close friends of Camp Woodland, a remarkable summer camp near Phoenicia that operated from 1939 to 1962. Young urban campers came to know many of their mountain neighbors through a program of collecting songs, lore and local history.

Orson Slack demonstrates a tool for Camp Woodland youngsters

A grizzled Mike Todd was a favorite of Camp Woodlanders

In the mid-1940s, camp director Norman Studer drove a group of campers along the East Branch of the Delaware River to meet and learn from residents who remembered the homespun era. Orson Slack welcomed them into his carpentry shop and related tales about lumber rafting on the Delaware and winters in the woods. Mike Todd captivated campers with stories about bear hunting and his woodsman’s skills and entertained with harmonica tunes accompanied by the rattle of hardwood maple bones.

Once, when someone complimented Mike on a tool he had forged, he said, “It ain’t nice fur purty, but it’s hell fur stout.”

Annual Folk Festivals organized by Studer and music director Herb Haufrecht were held nearly every summer of the camp’s existence, and featured storytellers, fiddlers and artists from the Catskill region. In 1948, Orson Slack told stories and recited his poems alongside folksinger Pete Seeger and many others. Mike Todd appeared at the 1954 festival, held at Simpson Ski Slope.

The Margaretville program will include audio recordings of the period. An Improbable Community will be available for purchase.

Bill Horne is an attorney who practiced in Washington, DC and Boston. He grew up in Queens and was a camper at Camp Woodland from 1950 to 1960.

For information on HSM programs and to become a member, visit www.mtownhistory.org.

Cauliflower Festival is Sept. 23!

Sep 16, 2017 | news archive

The Fourteenth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival will be held rain or shine Saturday, Sept. 23 from 10 to 4 in the Village Park, Margaretville.

This free festival, sponsored by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, is focused on the agricultural heritage of the region, once known for its outstanding cauliflower. The festival is a Catskill Mountain Scenic Byway annual event.

Callie, the Cauliflower Spirit, will again appear in the tractor parade, which rolls out of the Margaretville Central School parking lot at 11:30 a.m., headed for the festival grounds. Do you have a tractor you’d like to show off, new or old? Call Lauren Davis, 845-586-4661 to register and meet at the school at 11.

New this year will be two events for foodies.

A Cauliflower Cookoff will be sponsored by Home Goods of Margaretville on the morning of the festival. Contact Jessica Olenych, 845-586-4177 for details.

The Catskills Folk Connection will have a booth under the pavilion focused on “Catskills Foodways from Farm, Field and Forest.” Traditional family dishes will be showcased in “pop-up” presentations that will include cauliflower and/or cabbage, jams and jellies, cheese and milk-based desserts such as custard and bread pudding. Forest products like pickled leeks and wild horseradish will also be highlighted.

With your appetite whetted, peruse the food vendors who will serve everything from pulled pork to lamb burgers and of course lots of dishes featuring cauliflower, including soup, pizza and empanadas.

Mike Herman and Jason Starr, perennial crowd favorites, will return with their distinctive musical styles – Mike’s a blues man, Jason’s a folk musician — and they will perform alternate sets on the hour from Noon until 3:30 p.m.

Children will enjoy games like a cauliflower bean bag toss, crafts assisted by MCS art students, Woodchuck Hollow’s petting zoo and pony rides, a dress-up station at the History Tent and other fun activities.

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will display photos of cars, trucks and tractors from back in the day to complement the Catskill Conquest Pilot Rally whose participants will be stopping at the festival. There will also be a cauliflower history exhibit, and a vintage wooden barn, believed built as a toy by Francis Ruff of New Kingston. A sales table of glassware, home decor and other items will beckon bargain hunters.

The artisan’s tent will feature pottery, jewelry, sewn goods, knit items, hand-made dolls, wood bowls, art prints and cards, outdoor driftwood furniture and more.

Pure Catskills members will sell fresh produce and local products like maple syrup, jams, cheese and soaps. Union Grove and Kymar Distilleries will sell their specialty beverages.

The festival is supported by Freshtown; WIOX Community Radio; HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley; Directive, Inc.; the Watershed Agricultural Council and Pure Catskills.

For regular updates on the festival, visit www.facebook.com/margaretville

History of Highmount recounted Sept. 9

Aug 31, 2017 | news archive

“Before Belleayre: A History of Highmount,” the presentation that packed the hall in June, will be offered again Saturday, Sept. 9 by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM).

The program will begin at 2 p.m. at the HSM hall, 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville. Admission is by freewill donation. Come early to be assured a seat; there was standing room only when this program was held during Headwaters History Days weekend.

The program reveals tales of the rich, famous and forgotten of Highmount, a community that straddled two towns, two counties, two watersheds, and in many ways, two cultures: old, established families whose lives centered around farm, forest, quarry and stream, and wealthy city dwellers who created a Highmount of extravagant summer homes and opulent hotels where art and music reigned.

Several area elders provided first-hand recollections of early to mid-20^th century Highmount. Newspaper accounts, memoirs, family histories and other sources were also mined to create an informative historical tour that includes some 100 rarely seen images.

The talk will also feature two short film clips – a 1906 train ride around the famous double horseshoe curve on the Ulster & Delaware Railroad between Pine Hill and Highmount, and a 1930s spring outing by intrepid skiers who first had to climb up the Peekamoose Trail on Belleayre Mountain before schussing back down through the trees.

Meet Civil War soldiers and shopkeepers, artists and musicians, speculators and industrialists in this lively presentation. The talk will introduce viewers to wealthy summer residents like shipping executive John Munro, his fellow Scotsman and neighbor, physician Alexander Skene, newspaper publisher Herbert Gunnison, brewer George Jetter, and Manhattan real estate tycoon Harris Mandelbaum.

Opera diva Amelita Galli-Curci and Shakespearean actress Julia Marlowe were among the celebrities who built homes in Highmount. Others spent time at local hotels, including the magnificent Grand Hotel, which dominated the side of Summit Mountain (Monka Hill) for more than 80 years.

The program will also discuss the little known history of a once-prominent summer camp for boys, the Weingart Institute, whose alumni included future composers and lyricists Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers and Larry Hart. The property is remembered by later generations as the Highmount Country Club.