HISTORY CORNER:
Tin Horn
OBSERVATIONS AND DISCOVERIES
The Stone family saga
This is the tale of a Clovesville family whose name has faded from the Catskills because the men who carried it left to find their fortunes and meet their destinies more than 130 years ago.Clovesville native John Stone’s burial place in Arizona. The “Col.” title was...
A new pair of boots — a shop local story
In researching the lives of Middletown’s Civil War veterans, I came across an interesting letter to the Catskill Mountain News published April 8, 1960. B. C. Todd wrote in to share memories and stories that old-timers had passed on to him, including this one about...
Hey, check out our new wood splitter!
That’s what these young men may have had in mind when they posed for a photo on the Robertson farm in New Kingston with a monumental stack of perfectly proportioned wood in 1922. If anyone can identify these guys, or explain how the wood splitter worked, or how the...
More News is good news!
Several hundred more pages of the Catskill Mountain News, 1967-73, have been added to the commons! This batch of digitized microfilm will be the last for awhile, the end of a five-year effort to make the News, 1902-1973, readable and searchable on line.The only years...
Here’s to George . . .
The Historical Society has lost a good and faithful friend with the passing of George Hendricks. A trustee on the board since 2008, George was always ready to help. He was a prime mover in getting our historic marker program started with the installation of the first...
210 barns!
New Kingston is the big winner when it comes to the number of barns — 32 — still standing in the Town of Middletown. Mind you, they’re not all big dairy barns, but even the smallest horse, chicken and storage barns had important roles on the farm. So many of them have...
Arena, uncovered
The opening of the Pepacton Reservoir to boaters became more than a recreational opportunity for David Rainbird and Jennifer Kabat of Margaretville, who discovered these artifacts of old Arena on a recent paddle. Low water levels have daylighted sidewalks, bridge...
The Great Outdoors, historically speaking
If you didn’t get a chance to see the exhibit at the HSM hall this summer, highlighting the many ways Middletown area folks have enjoyed the Great Outdoors, you’ll have another opportunity Saturday, Aug. 25 at The Central Catskills Great Outdoor Experience Festival in...
Margaretville Cemetery desecrated, reward offered
The restoration of the Arkville Cemetery resumed August 2 when two Hubbell Inc. crew members, John Ferraro (in cab) and Scott Gray (standing), along with Joe McKeon (left), and Brian Wheaton (on ground) righted seven large monuments and cemented them to their bases....
Margaretville Cemetery desecrated, reward offered
Vandals struck the Margaretville Village Cemetery August 6, and toppled a dozen headstones in the oldest part of the cemetery, on the hill beneath the pines. The 3 gates were locked, but whoever did this actually cut through the chain on the upper gate to get in. The...
Fairbairns and Millers set to reunite
To renew bonds of kinship and affection and to share our stories, the descendants of John and Elizabeth Miller Fairbairn will gather on Saturday, October 13th, at 12PM at the Margaretville -New Kingston Presbyterian Church on Mountain Avenue and Orchard Street in...
Got any old stuff?
On Saturday, August 4 the Historical Society will have a table at the Margaretville Hospital Auxiliary Flea Market and Antique Show in Margaretville Village Park. Do you have old stuff (in good condition, and not really big) that you would consider donating to HSM for...
Were you there …
. . . at the Post Card and Ephemera Show and Sale June 16? Great time, lots of happy card hunters, and congenial vendors – Martin Wadler (back in his old stomping grounds), Carol Golas, Nancy Foutz, John Hartner (soon to be the Undertaker in our upcoming Living...
A shocking story from 1940!
In this season of thunderstorms, we pass along this story of two boys – and a couple of men – who survived a lightning strike in Arkville in 1940. Ed Stewart sent this clipping from the Catskill Mountain News of July 12 that year – his father was one of the boys...
HSM is open Monday
If you couldn’t come to our Open House last weekend, you have another chance to see The Great Outdoors and experience some of it with a stroll around the pond this coming Monday, May 28 from Noon to 3 p.m. See you there!HSM OPEN HOUSE PHOTO GALLERYClick for a larger...
Celebrate The Great Outdoors!
Your presence is requested Saturday, May 19 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Open House at our new home (778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville). We’ll have food and door prizes, a wonderful raffle for an original painting by Michael Fauerbach, and an exhibit, “The Great Outdoors,” a...
Many hands . . .
. . . make light work, and indeed it was true April 28 when several HSM board members and supporters showed up at our new hall to help reorganize and spruce the place up in preparation for our Open House May 19. Earlier, Nick Verni had supplied the equipment, and his...
Diner detective
Bowls Hotel, c. 1920s-30s, Postcard courtesy Roger DavisMichael Engle, who maintains a site about classic diners at www.nydiners.com, wrote to ask if we knew of any photos of a diner that was incorporated into Bowl’s (Kelly’s) Hotel on Main Street in Margaretville. A...