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-20^th century.

The Stone School House, a classic one-room school that once rang with the chatter of children, the stern commands of teachers, and the prayers and song of Sunday worship, is celebrating its 200^th birthday in 2020!

The Dunraven landmark, which is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, is located two miles south of Margaretville on NYS Route 28/30. An Open House will be held Saturday, July 11 when visitors may drop in anytime between 10 and 4.

Visitors will see student benches and desks, the teacher’s desk at the head of the room, a wood stove that was the sole source of heat, the pressed tin ceiling, plaques acknowledging school founders, and familiar portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln above the chalk board.

There will be a display of photos and an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win a framed watercolor of the Stone School House by Oneida Hammond. The drawing will be held September 19 at a Bicentennial ceremony and celebration in conjunction with the Stone School Association’s annual meeting at the school.

For everyone’s safety, visitors on July 11 must wear masks. In order to adhere to social distancing guidelines, only a few people will be allowed in the building at a time. Bring a picnic or enjoy a stroll around the grounds. Admire the meticulous stonework, check out the outdoor privy, and imagine the rumbling of the Delaware & Northern trains that once passed directly behind the school several times a day.

Perhaps a site volunteer will ring the original school bell still hanging in the belfry.

The school was built of local stone in 1820 on property deeded to the Town of Middletown by John and Anna Van Wagoner. It replaced a log school that had existed for several years, serving the children of Middletown’s earliest settlers.

Enrollment at the Stone School was as high as 80 students in the 1830s and ‘40s, likely not all attended at the same time.  School was sometimes in session for only a few months, depending on the availability of teachers and the money to pay them.

By the late 1850s the school, measuring only 20 x 24 feet, was in disrepair. In an 1860 report filed with the state Education Commissioner, the school was described as “a torn down building to be replaced with a new one.” The stones were saved and were used to build an enlarged structure, 36 x 26 feet. Local men rushed to complete it before heading off to serve in Company G of the 144th Regiment during the Civil War.

In the decades that followed, hundreds of students attended grades one through eight there. The building was also used for church services, and in later years as a polling place. It was closed in 1940 following school centralization when students began attending class at the new Margaretville Central School.

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will hold its annual meeting and luncheon Saturday, Oct. 26 at noon.

Marilyn Mayes Kaltenborn will be the featured speaker, with a talk on “Growing up in Fleischmanns in the 1950s and ‘60s.”

Space is limited. Reserve your spot by October 20 ($20 per person) by calling 845-586-2860 or emailing history@catskill.net.

The luncheon, catered by Anna Blish, will be followed by a business meeting that includes the annual HSM Executive Committee election. HSM members will be asked to approve officers Diane Galusha (President), Bill Blish (Vice President), Marilyn Pitetti (Treasurer) and Amy Taylor (Secretary). Pat Moore is up for re-election as a trustee, and Doris Warner is also a trustee candidate. Both are for three-year terms.

In her illustrated presentation, Marilyn Kaltenborn says, “I hope to give the audience a sense of what it was like to live within an hour’s drive of nearly all of my living relatives, to be distantly related to many of the year-around residents of Fleischmanns, to attend Fleischmanns High School, to work on Saturday mornings at my father’s veneer mill, and to live in a village that became a small city every summer when thousands of tourists (for whom English was a second language) came to town from New York City.”

Kaltenborn, daughter of Murray and Bertha Cowan Mayes, graduated at the top of her class at Fleischmanns High School in 1967, the year before the school merged with Margaretville. She earned a B.A. in mathematics at William Smith College and a law degree at Albany Law School. She worked at the NYS Tax Department for over 30 years.

Upon retiring, she started to write true stories about her Fleischmanns upbringing which resulted in a 2013 memoir An Uncommon Childhood: Growing up in the Catskill Mountains During the 1950s and 1960s. Copies of the book will be available for purchase on October 26.

A leisurely walk in the Village of Margaretville on Sunday, Oct. 6 will combine the season’s colors with some local history at an event to benefit the Historical Society of Middletown (HSM) Building Fund.

The Autumn History Stroll from 1 to 4 p.m. will be an easy walking tour covering about a half mile with stops to visit interiors of three distinctive homes and a church.

Hear architectural and family histories at Gail Lennstrom’s 1926 kit-built house with its arts and crafts sensibility; Phil and Carol O’Beirne’s 1939 stone house built by a local mason for his daughter; a sumptious 1896 Victorian owned by Tom and Connie Jeffers, and the venerable Presbyterian Church, dedicated in 1895.

Church pastor Shirley Davis will talk about the evolution of the Presbyterian congregation while visitors view a display of photos and artifacts. Then they’ll go downstairs for a quick tour of the Catskill Mountain Model Railroad Club’s impressive HO train layout featuring some local scenes and buildings.

At the last stop, the Jeffers’, tour goers will get to see all three floors of this beautiful home, as well as one of the most well-equipped woodworking shops in the area. Guests will enjoy a delectable buffet of finger foods prepared by the four homeowners.

The 16th Annual Cauliflower Festival will be held Saturday, Sept. 21 from 10 to 4 in Margaretville’s Village Park, sponsored by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.

This family-friendly festival features a tractor parade (11:30 a.m.), a tent full of farmers and local producers, a petting zoo, pony rides, kids activities, history exhibits and music all afternoon. Funders include Pure Catskills and the Delaware County Tourism Grant program.

New this year will be a Quilting Tent where visitors can learn about traditional and contemporary quilting techniques, watch demonstrations by skilled practitioners and try their hand at collage quilting and rope bag making. The quilting tent is coordinated by Lori and Katie Rosa of Bloom Quilts and Retreat shop in Margaretville.

The winner of a quilting retreat for six at Bloom will be drawn at 3 p.m. Winners of five Catskills Getaway Giveaway stay and play packages will also be announced. To register for these prizes, visit the News/Updates page at sceniccatskills.com

Another fresh addition to the festival is the music of John Holt and Jon Light. Their acoustic-based Americana sound features the distinctive voice of vocalist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist John Holt accompanied by pedal steel guitarist Jon Light. The Ulster County performers’ repertoire runs the gamut from lonely mountain ballads to stone cold funk. They will perform from noon until 3pm.
The 3rd Annual Catskills Conquest Endurance Run for vintage automobiles will make the Cauliflower Festival one of the stops on the route from Mt. Tremper to Unadilla. Festival-goers will have an opportunity to view these fine vehicles and talk with their owners. The run commemorates a 1903 test of endurance among early car makers and drivers who traversed the Catskills along what is now NYS Route 28 – the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway. Cars are due to arrive mid-day.