Speakeasies, bootleggers and One-Arm Joe

Mar 3, 2016 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will offer its first program of the season this Saturday, March 19 when HSM President Diane Galusha will take a look at how Prohibition affected the region in the 1920s and ‘30s.

“Speakeasies, Bootleggers and One-Arm Joe,” is an informal presentation to be held at the new Union Grove Distillery, NYS Route 28 and County Road 38, beginning at 4 p.m. Admission is $2 for HSM members, $4 for non-members. A free tour of the distillery will follow the presentation.

Though craft distilleries like Union Grove have proliferated in recent years with the growing popularity of locally sourced spirits, there was a time when making and selling alcoholic beverages was illegal in the US. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the production, transport and sale (though not the private possession or consumption) of alcohol from January of 1920 until the amendment was repealed in December of 1933.

This attempt to legislate commerce and morality was a spectacular failure. The March 19 program will feature stories of how area entrepreneurs, hotel keepers and farmers defied the law, figuring out how to make a buck from a banned substance.

Newspaper articles and personal accounts will tell of speakeasies like the Margaretville establishment run by “One Arm Joe” DePuysselier; the brewery disguised as a produce market in Gilboa; the liquor emporium George Robinson kept at the Arcadian House hotel in Arena; the wild-west apprehension of a bootlegger in Downsville by the local Methodist minister, and many more.

Tea-time with Emma, and “Suffrage” film April 30

Tea-time with Emma, and “Suffrage” film April 30

Mar 3, 2016 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown and Fairview Public Library will collaborate on a program focused on women’s suffrage Saturday, April 30.

“Tea Time with Emma,” a classic afternoon tea with sweets, sandwiches and yes, Earl Grey tea, will start at 3 p.m. at Stick in the Mud in the Bussy Building on Margaretville’s Main Street. Those attending will meet Emma Keeney (above left), a local boarding house proprietor, who was a Margaretville activist in the movement to achieve the right to vote for women.

Emma will be portrayed by Connie Jeffers (above right), who will exhort participants to encourage their political representatives to allow women the right to vote in local, state and national elections.

Prior to the tea, the acclaimed film “Suffragette,” starring Meryl Streep, will be screened at 1 p.m. at Fairview Library next door to the Bussy Building.

Both film and tea are by reservation only: $25 for both, $20 for tea alone. Call 845-586-2860 by April 25 to claim your seats.

Scones, sandwiches and biscuits will be served by hostess Lizzie Douglas at this “suffrage tea” at Stick in the Mud, patterned after a fundraising event from 1914.

Connie Jeffers of Margaretville will portray Emma Keeney, the proprietor of Meadowbrook Farm and boarding house, who was a noted activist in the women’s suffrage movement from 1914 to 1917, when New York State granted women the right to vote three years before the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution made this the law of the land in 1920.

Meadowbrook Farm was a well-known and popular tourist haunt on South Side Road, Margaretville where Emma hosted monthly meetings of the Margaretville Equal Suffrage Club.

For more information on this program, call 845-586-4973

Emma Keeney, 1903

Connie Jeffers, aka Emma Keeney

HSM welcomes newest trustee

HSM welcomes newest trustee

Nov 5, 2015 | news archive

Amy Taylor of Margaretville is the newest trustee of the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown. She was elected by HSM members at the organization’s tenth annual meeting and luncheon October 26.

Amy, husband Ken and their four children have been active members of the Society for several years, and in particular have served as performers, docents, script writers and site volunteers for the annual Living History Cemetery Tour since it was initiated in 2012.

The tour was one of many 2014 events and activities to be reviewed at the annual meeting, when 45 people enjoyed an autumn luncheon prepared by Anna Blish, and a program by George Quinn, author of Skiing in the Catskill Region.

Winning tickets were drawn for three raffle prizes. Eleanor Mager won a framed work of cut paper art by Marcia Guthrie. Nate Hendricks won a half-gallon of maple syrup made by John Riedel and donated by Anne Sanford. Randy Sanford won a ceramic platter made and donated by Ros Welchman.

 

The Sunday afternoon event brought to a close a busy year that included five programs at the HSM hall on Cemetery Road. Some 250 people attended the programs ranging from Ice Age geology to Old School Baptist Church music. HSM participated in the collaborative headwaters History Days; hosted exhibits at the Margaretville Cauliflower Festival; and joined with the Margaretville Fire Department to sponsor scholarships for two MCS seniors.

The Third Annual Cemetery Tour took place in June at Sanford Cemetery in Dunraven and drew 130 people. Successful fundraising events were also held at Spillian, the former Fleischmann family mansion in Fleischmanns; and at The Raven’s Nest, the Margaretville home of Tom and Connie Jeffers.

A new roof was put on the HSM hall this year, a project that was supported by grants from the O’Connor Foundation, the Community Foundation of South Central New York, NBT Bank and many members and friends of the Society. New lights, along with antique fixtures donated by Dick and Jennie Liddle, were also installed in the hall, which was rented out for two private parties.

 HSM President Diane Galusha extended appreciation to the Town of Middletown and the Village of Margaretville for their support. Treasurer Marilyn Pitetti gave the annual financial report, and noted that the Society now has 148 members.

In addition to the president and treasurer, Executive Committee members re-elected October 26 include Vice President Tina Greene, Secretary Jackie Purdy and Trustee Anne Sanford. Other Trustees are Fred Travis and Henry Friedman, with Amy Taylor the newest member of the team.

Thanks went to outgoing Trustee Roger Davis for his service on the committee.

More information on the Historical Society and on Middletown’s history can be found at www.mtownhistory.org.

Life after Dark

Life after Dark

Oct 29, 2015 | news archive

An illuminating talk, “From Candle to Bulb: A History of Lighting” will be presented by Paul Misko on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. at the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM), 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville.

The program will cover ancient oil lamps, whale oil, lard and kerosene lamps, and end with early flashlights.

Misko will discuss how changes in lighting changed our lifestyles through the ages. He will bring a number of lamps and lanterns and will light up several of them to show how they worked. He will discuss the shortcomings and dangers of the various fuels, and the constant struggle of inventors to improve both the amount of light, and safety of the many types of lamps used.

Paul Misko, a historian from the Woodland Valley area in Ulster County, gives talks, does radio and writes articles on Catskill hiking and history. He is the founder of the Catskill 4000 Club, whose focus is exploring not only great views, but the history of the Catskills as well.

The program is the last of ten events held by HSM during the 2015 season. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is $2 for members, $4 for non-members.

More information on the Historical Society and on Middletown’s history can be found at www.mtownhistory.org.

Annual Meeting, D&NRR talk planned

Annual Meeting, D&NRR talk planned

Oct 25, 2015 | news archive

The D&N started as the Delaware & Eastern

An illustrated talk on the Delaware & Northern Railroad (“The Damn Nuisance”) will be presented Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown’s annual meeting and luncheon.

The event begins at noon at the HSM hall, 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville. It will include a report on HSM’s activities over the past year. Current and prospective HSM members are most welcome.

The winning ticket for a beautiful painting by Alix Travis, “Mailboxes,” will be drawn following the program. A door prize or two will also be offered.

Admission is $15 and reservations are required for the luncheon of country comfort food prepared by chef Chris McGee (formerly of Hogan’s Back Room in Andes, now of Spillian in Fleischmanns) – tomato glazed meatloaf, mashed potatoes and fresh green beans, with carrot cake for dessert. A vegetarian loaf will be offered for those who do not eat meat. Call 845-586-2860 by Oct. 19 to reserve your seat.

The presentation on the short but eventful life of the Delaware & Northern Rail Road will be offered by John Duda, rail enthusiast, postcard collector and member of the board of the Greater Fleischmanns Museum of Memories.

The D&NRR ran from Arkville to East Branch between 1905 and 1942. Built to link the Ulster & Delaware and the Ontario & Western Railroads, it served communities along the East Branch of the Delaware River that are now under the Pepacton Reservoir, as well as hamlets below the dam in Downsville.

The tale includes a name change, many financial bumps, and a look at the lost towns and a way of life now gone. The slide show includes wonderful historic images, many from the railroad’s earlier years when it was run as the Delaware & Eastern.

An exhibit on the D&N and the communities it served, made possible by a grant from the Catskill Watershed Corp. in partnership with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, will be on display during the luncheon and program.

No tool like an old tool!

Sep 18, 2015 | news archive

There’s no tool like an old tool, and ample evidence of that will be supplied at the History Tent at the Cauliflower Festival Saturday, Sept. 26 from 10 to 4 in Margaretville Village Park.
Sponsored by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown, the tent will be the gathering point for antique farm implements and equipment loaned and in some cases demonstrated by area residents and farmers.

Lynn Johnson, an avid collector of all things that go and the creator of the Rust in Peace mechanical graveyard on the Arkville Cut-off Road, will bring a 1930s-era buzz saw to show how rough lumber and scrapwood was noisily and efficiently cut back in the day. The power for the saw will be provided by Johnson’s 1937 case tractor, which he will also ride in the Tractor Parade that begins at 11:30 a.m. The buzz saw will be demonstrated at 12:45, 1:45 and 2:45.

John Fairbairn of Red Kill will smash some apples periodically during the afternoon using a hand-cranked cider press that belonged to great uncle Claude Haynes.

Bob Vredenburgh will travel from his home in Greene to bring a fanning mill made in the 1860s or ‘70s by R. D. Sloat of Roxbury and used on the farm of Sebastian Shultis of Kelly Corners. He will also exhibit a large threshing machine he restored. Made about 1880, it too was used on the Shultis farm on the Denver Road.

Any idea what this item is? Come to the Cauliflower Festival and find out!

Andrew Campbell and Burr Hubbell will explain and demonstrate a variety of tools and ingenious devices found in barns and other buildings at the Hubbell Homestead farm in Kelly Corners.

A Frank Mead-made wooden cradle (the kind that mowed buckwheat, not the kind that rocked babies) will be on loan for the day from John McMurray. HSM’s own two-seater cauliflower planter, donated by the late Ron Ballard, will be in its usual place of honor in front of the History Tent, where an exhibit on the heyday of the Catskill Mountain cauliflower industry will be displayed.

The eagerly anticipated DVD of the Fourth Annual Living History Cemetery Tour, held in June at New Kingston Valley Cemetery, will be available for purchase. The video of the one-hour tour, featuring area players portraying people from Middletown’s past, was professionally produced by videographer Kevin Spelman.

A sales table of glassware, home decor and other items will help raise funds for HSM. Several regional history books will be available for purchase, including “When Cauliflower Was King in the Catskills.”