HISTORY CORNER:
Tin Horn
OBSERVATIONS AND DISCOVERIES
Honey Hill, revisited
Such a sweet name, but a place that came to signify hell on earth for hundreds of men who clashed there on November 30, 1864 just inland from the coast of South Carolina. The 144th Regiment from Delaware County was there. In the thick of it was Co. G, largely made up...
Sing it like you mean it
By Trish AdamsFirst published in the Catskill Mountain News If your ancestors include Boutons, Faulkners, Scudders, Hewitts, Hinkleys, Hubbells, Blishes, Kellys, Dimmicks, Millers, Davises, or Greens, it’s likely that you are part of the founding stock of one of the...
Mystery in stone
The Coffin Man’s calling cardThere once was an itinerant stone carver who traveled the dusty roads of upstate New York in a horse-drawn wagon loaded with quarried pieces of sandstone. He was looking for families who had recently buried loved ones, to sell them a...
Need your feathers renovated?
While doing some research in the 1880 Middletown census I came across an unusual occupation of a man named J. L. Thurber, age 54: “feather renovator.” He and wife Olive had three sons, Adelbert, 20, Eddie, 18 and Herman, 14, all listed as laborers. Hmmm, what the heck...
Who were the Waterburys?
The headstone in the Sanford Cemetery, Dunraven is impressive, a bronze plaque on a granite monument: Robert L. Waterbury, MD, 1823-1881 “He lived so others may live”; Christiana Dowie, 1823-1878 “His faithful wife”; and two children, a five-year-old son, and a...
Calling all bakers!
As you know we need a new roof and will be doing a lot of fundraising this year to pay for it. Our first event will be a bake sale at Freshtown (between Freshtown and CVS) on Saturday, Feb. 15 from 10AM to 2PM. Since it is Valentine’s Day weekend we think homemade...
Does the man on the left look familiar?
Backstage at the Capitol Theater, NYC Paula Eisenstein Baker, Houston, TX cellist and musicologist, is trying to verify whether he is Bernard Nadelle, a prominent cellist with the house orchestra at the Capitol Theater in NYC in the 1920s and 30s. Eisenstein Baker,...
The groaning board
At this the season of feasting, we offer this 1944 photograph of Max Kass, proprietor of the former Kass Inn in Kelly Corners, which was known for its marvelous buffets. The Inn was started in 1919 when Max Kass and two others (Nachman Groubarth and Harry Taub) bought...
The “last word” in campaigning, 1940 style
The GOP campaign trailer stopped at the Esso station on Margaretville’s Main St., Oct. 14, 1940 He was nowhere near Margaretville but his presence loomed large on October 14, 1940 when the “GOP Motion Picture Caravan” streamed in to town to campaign for Republican...
Bob’s gone, but the cider-making continues
Burr Hubbell reports that the ancient apple press at Hubbell Homestead farm will be operating Sept. 28 at 1 p.m., Oct. 5 at 1, 1:30 and 2:30, and Oct. 6 at noon, 1 and 2. Anyone interested in seeing history at work is welcome to stop by and watch the process unfold on...
A wrong righted
Eleven Margaretville Cemetery monuments that were toppled by vandals August 6, 2012 have been righted by the Margaretville Public Works crew. With guidance from experienced cemetery restorer Brian Wheaton, the workers pieced and cemented together the stones of the...
Preserving cemetery history
Preservation of the history contained in burial grounds is relegated to a small group of dedicated caretakers without the resources, time and often energy to take care of the sacred places with which they are entrusted. HSM member Ed Stewart passed along an article...
250 years and counting
The 250th anniversary of the first European settlement of the Town of Middletown back in 1763 was observed with the dedication of a historic marker at the Town Hall July 12. HSM is proud to have facilitated the marker’s placement, and pleased to have had a small part...
Bird’s eye view of A. H. Todd & Son
A. H. TODD & SON AUTO DEALERSHIP PHOTO GALLERYClick for a larger view of each image...
Save the date!
You’re invited to join us on Friday, July 12th at 4p.m. at Middletown Town Hall, 42339 State Highway 28, Margaretville, for the unveiling of a commemorative marker in celebration of Middletown’s 250th Anniversary of settlement. Dr. Bill Birns will be speaking as well...
Take a closer look…
Stroll three blocks of Margaretville’s Main Street and SEE what you’ve been missing . . . Click on this link, print it out and take an awesome visual scavenger hunt. It’s fun, challenging and could win you a ticket to our Labor Day concert and community picnic! Thanks...
Go directly to jail!
There is a mystery in Dunraven: Why would an iron jail cell have been set atop a concrete bunker built into a stone retaining wall on the old Smith farm on New Kingston Road (now the Blue Deer Center)? The cell was made by the E. T. Barnum Wire and Iron Works Company...
Season preview!
It’s just starting to feel like spring but we’ve been busy firming up plans for a jam-packed season of programs and activities. Details will follow on this website, and in a flyer to be sent with the Spring Bridge to our members. For now, a partial preview: The first...