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

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will celebrate ten years of promoting, preserving and presenting local history with a square dance and ice cream social on Sunday, July 19 at its hall located at 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville.

John Jacobson, fiddler and caller, will lead the Tremperskill Boys in an afternoon of Catskills traditional music. Doors open at Noon, the dance starts at 1 p.m., and ice cream and cake will be served at intermission. Admission is $10; children 15 and under are free. www.mtownhistory.org

No dancing experience is necessary to participate in this family friendly event, which is in keeping with community dances, picnics and parties held over many decades by the Izaak Walton League and later by the New Kingston Valley Grange, former occupants of the HSM hall.

Ginny Scheer, director of Catskills Folk Connection, will offer the folk and historical context of square dancing in the Catskills and will guide dancers on the floor. Beginners are welcome; dances of interest to veteran dancers will also be called.

Square dancing is about community, so come enjoy dancing with your neighbors and make new friends, too. But if you don’t feel like dancing, just come listen to the music, with its origins in Irish and Scottish traditions. Bring a picnic to enjoy by the pond! An exhibit of items from HSM’s collection of artifacts and memorabilia is also on display at the hall for the summer.

Musicians in addition to John Jacobson will include Amy Liebermann on upright bass, Chris Carey on banjo and Sheila Addison on guitar. A special guest on July 19 will be Casey Mullaney who calls lively contra dances, a type of line dance common in New England that is being revived in this area.

The band’s repertoire explores the roots of Celtic music, and pays tribute to the music and square dance calls of the late Hilt Kelly of Red Kill. The Tremperskill Boys along with Henry Hermann served as Hilt’s backup band, thereby extending his playing and calling in his later years. John Jacobson became Hilt’s protégé and studied his tunes and calls as well as dances by other Catskills’ callers recorded at Camp Woodland.

Gertrude Berg, aka Molly Goldberg

“Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” a documentary about radio and television pioneer Gertrude Berg, will be screened Sunday, July 12 at 1 p.m. at the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM), 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville.

Admission is $5.

The famed comedienne got her start in show business in Fleischmanns and is buried in Bnai Israel cemetery there. Gertrude Berg memorabilia from the collection of the Greater Fleischmanns Museum of Memories will be on display at the HSM screening.

Born Tillie Edelstein in Harlem in 1898, the woman who became known to millions of radio listeners as Molly Goldberg first entertained guests at her parents’ hotel, a mansion once owned by the Fleischmanns family. Whenever it rained and the guests got restless, Tillie became a ‘gypsy’ and read palms, or organized playlets with parts for everyone. It was also at the hotel that she met her future husband, Lewis Berg.

Stories gleaned from family, guests and hotel staff found their way into the scripts she ultimately wrote for “The Goldbergs,” an original radio show she created and starred in for 17 years. Debuting just a week after the stock market crash in 1929, the program was a favorite of listeners who found the tales of this quirky and funny family a comforting escape during the difficult Depression years. The show was second only to “Amos and Andy” as the longest running radio show ever.

Gertrude Berg carried the characters into the brave new world of television with The Goldbergs. TV’s very first sitcom in 1949. Berg wrote the scripts for The Goldbergs, in which she also played the leading character. CBS’s number one show combined comedy and social commentary and featured Jewish characters, including the endearing matriarch Molly Goldberg who regularly kibitzed with neighbors across airshafts in the Bronx (“Yoo hoo, Mrs. Goldberg”).

The Margaretville Fire Department and the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) have presented Cedric Taylor with the 2015 George Hendricks Jr. Memorial Scholarship.

Cedric, homeschooled by his parents, Ken and Amy Taylor of Bull Run Road, Margaretville, graduated this year and is headed to Bob Jones University in South Carolina to study biochemistry.

The scholarship is given annually to a graduating Margaretville senior who exemplifies community service and shows an interest in local history, both of which defined the late George Hendricks, Jr., former fire chief, HSM trustee and passionate historian. 

A talented violinist, Cedric has performed with a youth orchestra and a string ensemble, has appeared in several Open Eye Theater productions, and served as a tour guide in the last two HSM Living History Cemetery Tours. He coached Catskill Mountain Youth Soccer, volunteered at Fairview Public Library and participated in other community activities.

“The Fire Department is pleased that community service is obviously important to Cedric, and we’re happy to recognize his efforts in this way,” said MFD President Don Bramley.

For his winning scholarship application, Cedric researched the history of his family’s house, constructed by his great-grandfather, George Fairbairn in 1950. George, wife Ruth, and children Georgia, Fred and Martha were forced to leave their Dunraven home when it was taken for the Pepacton Reservoir. They purchased 137 acres from Willard Sanford on Upper Bull Run Road, and George built a lake, a cabin, and finally a house where Cedric and his family now live.

Jane VanBenschoten Dowie

The Fourth Annual Living History Cemetery Tour, sponsored by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM), will take place Saturday, June 20 at the New Kingston Valley Cemetery, Thomson Hollow Rd., New Kingston.

Rain date is June 21. Reservations ($15) are required. Call 586-4736 by June 17 to reserve a specific tour time. Those 15 and under get in free.

The popular event combines history, theater and an authentic taste of Catskill Mountain culture by bringing to life eight men and women who share their stories and hard-won wisdom with tour goers.

Ezra Henderson

Costumed guides will conduct seven tours – one leaves every 20 minutes starting at 4 p.m. — throughout the cemetery to meet these interesting folks from the past. Directors are Joyce St. George and Frank Canavan.

Performers this year include two newcomers to the living history “stage” – Bill Birns of Fleischmanns and John Lehmann of Redkill. Returning players include Roy Moses, Anne Hersh, Fred Margulies, Amy Taylor, Harriet Grossman and John Bernhardt.

Docents are Barbara Atkin, Tina Greene, Cedric Taylor and Fred Travis.

Eight men and women, their voices silenced long ago, will return to tell their stories at the Fourth Annual Living History Cemetery Tour Saturday, June 20 at the New Kingston Valley Cemetery, Thomson Hollow Rd., New Kingston.

Rain date is June 21. Reservations are required by June 18. Group tours begin every 20 minutes starting at 4 p.m.

Tickets will be available beginning this weekend for the popular event, sponsored by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM). Those attending HSM’s first program of the season, “Objects and Memory” on May 30 at 3:30 p.m. at 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville will have the first opportunity to sign up for a tour time at a discounted rate — $12.

After May 30, reservations can be made by phone only and will cost $15: 845-586-4736. (Well behaved children under 15 are free.)

The tour combines history, theater and an authentic taste of Catskill Mountain culture. Groups will be guided through the cemetery to meet interesting folks from the past, portrayed by local residents. Previous tours have been held at Margaretville, Clovesville and Sanford Cemeteries.