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NY Governor John T. Hoffman
The execution of Noah Bigelow
On July 15, 1869, Noah Bigelow of North Branch became the third man to be hanged for murder in Sullivan County’s history. Just three days earlier, New York Governor John T. Hoffman had … more
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Photography still evolves: This postcard shared by Jim Henke fifteen years ago describes a challenge that photographers today might be glad they missed. According to the notes on the right of the card, the image was a double exposure, one of Klinger’s dam and mill pond in North Branch, and the other of the sheep on parade. The sheep seem to have won out, although the comments (signed by E. Jost) indicate that the photographer thought the glass plate was a lost cause. Without noticing that the plate had already been exposed, the effort was revealed once the plate was developed. Dated in late 1907, we know that the sheep seen here, as well as Klinger’s mill pond, are now long gone.
July 11, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 William Hardenburgh, well known in this part of the county, died in San Francisco, Calif., last Wednesday and was buried there. Mr. Arthur Bird has retired from the … more
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Of patriots and loyalists
Cushetunk, the first permanent European settlement in the Upper Delaware Valley was established around 1755 by a group of Connecticut farmers calling themselves the Delaware Company. The settlement … more
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July 4, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 Sheriff Winner was in town the other day armed with papers with which those two worthies, Ludington and Waller, are bound to compel the Board of Supervisors to give Waller a … more
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June 27, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 Mrs. Christina Weintz of Beechwoods has by far the finest orchard in the Town of Delaware, containing about 700 fruit trees, all of choice and selected varieties. John … more
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‘The Summer House’: This Artino postcard at Kenoza Lake conjures up memories of the sunny heat of summer, and the welcome escape to a shady gazebo like this. We can just imagine tunes from a local brass band drifting from the shelter, as night falls and cool breezes waft from the lake — time for an evening stroll! This year, the summer solstice arrives on Wednesday, June 21. Welcome, Summer!
June 20, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 On Saturday the Callicoon Fire Department sold to the newly organized Lake Huntington Fire Department, the hand engine which was used here before the hydrants were put in, … more
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Mugshot of Irving “Big Gangi” Cohen.
The acquittal of Big Gangi
Late in the afternoon of Friday, June 21, 1940, a jury of 11 men and one woman delivered a verdict in one of the most famous trials ever conducted in Sullivan County Court. They found Irving … more
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Falls at Reynolds’ Mill: Thanks to Elise Hornbeck for identifying the falls in Glancing Back (May 23, 2023 issue). The feature formerly existed at the Reynolds sawmill on Chestnut Creek, near what is now the New York City DEP sewer facility, which was renovated in 2019. Readers who would like to learn more about the falls, the tannery, or the town of Neversink in general, can visit the Time and The Valleys Museum in Grahamsville to find out more.
June 13, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 Messrs. Gardner, Casey & Co. of Hortonville offers the following rates of good rye straw — $11 per ton is offered for flail threshed rye straw; $9 per ton for … more
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June 6, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 The Lenape Lake Club near Livingston Manor was fined $120 last week for using traps in their private lake. The lake was stocked several years ago and is one of the best … more
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In May of 1953, a year after Sullivan County’s perfect summer, the New York Times reported that there were 2,000 bungalow colonies in the county, averaging 25 bungalows each, for a total of 50,000 bungalows. This is a fairly typical example.
Retrospect
It is probably safe to say that the participants in last Sunday’s bus trip to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway and the closing of the second annual Festival of … more
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May 30, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 I have just returned from New York and have a complete stock of all that is latest in exquisite millinery and would be pleased to have you call and inspect same. Mrs. … more
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Photo of a portion of “the letter that won the American Revolution” from George Washington to Nathaniel Sackett asking him to form a network of spies.
The godfather of American Intelligence
On May 23, 1789, Nathaniel Sackett sent a long, rambling letter to newly inaugurated president George Washington. The letter informed Washington that Congress had denied Sackett’s proposal that … more
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On the road to Grahamsville: This postcard was mailed from Aden post office to Ferndale in 1907. There are several brooks in Grahamsville but what falls are depicted here? If anyone knows this photo’s location, please call Ruth at our Callicoon office at (845) 887-5200.
May 23, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The Birch Ridge Sunday School picnic takes place today. A pretty banner has been made for the occasion. A shoe peg factory will soon be added to the industries of the … more
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The Festival of the Founding Fish 2023 emblem.
Retrospect
As far back as 2012, Debra Conway, at that time beginning her second year as the Director at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg, was advocating for an annual festival in the … more
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A Delaware River Scene: Postmarked in Hambletville, New York in 1911, this postcard was published by G.V. Millar of Scranton, Pa. The image for the card was likely made from a glass plate negative recently donated to the Sullivan County Historical Society in Hurleyville. When Charles Bergner’s former Callicoon home was sold, the plates were found by the new owners in an outdoor shed. Bergner, who was married to Jenny Curtis, also worked for G.V. Millar as a sales representative for some time, and he traveled in that role to different hotels and boarding houses to sell restaurant supplies. It’s possible that he is the photographer who captured this image in Deposit over a century ago.
May 16, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The Town of Callicoon may claim with no small degree of pride that it stands alone as the promoter of agricultural interests in our county. We know of no other section in … more
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A sportsmen’s parade
Long before the O&W Railway touted the healing environment that was Sullivan County beginning in the 1880s, the Erie Railroad had been established along the county’s western edge. By … more
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‘Halsey Corners’ Home: Many people have passed this dwelling at the corner of 17B and Route 115 in Bethel (Pucky Huddle Road) and wondered how soon it will succumb to gravity. Its legacy as part of the Halsey Corners of West Bethel is nearly forgotten, because it likely had its beginning well over a century ago. In 1984, Bethel Historian Beatrice Schoch wrote: “According to Mr. Ralph MacArthur, who owns this building and in whose family it has been for many years before the little building was built, this was never a toll house. It was a wash house behind the barns that were used as a way station for teamsters hauling a distance too great for one team or without a rest. It was moved where it is now about 1900 and used for some years as a home.” The Halsey Inn, which stood across from this on 17B, was reportedly owned by two of Mr. MacArthur’s aunts at one time; his mother was a Halsey before marriage. In the 1850 U.S. census, David Halsey is listed as an innkeeper in Bethel, and the inn is depicted across the road on the 1856 Gates map and the 1875 Beers Atlas. The late Callicoon historian Charles S. Hick wrote in the Sullivan County Record in 1944 about the Halsey Four Corners (as the intersection had been known), adding that they were also known sometimes as the McArthur Four Corners: “Many of you remember the ruins of the old tavern and the numerous barns that were a part of the es­tablishment... Here the horses on the turnpike stage coach were changed at that time and the passengers were provided with meals [at the hotel]... Every one was served with a meal, fresh horses were hitched to the coach, and every one was on his way with as little loss of time as possible.”
May 9, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The “island” in the Delaware River was completely swept away by the late flood. Mr. Charles Muller of Jeffersonville has recently produced an accurate and … more
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Arthur C. Butts.
Famous Sullivan County murder trials
Few Sullivan County residents have ever attained the success of Arthur C. Butts of Monticello– lawyer, assemblyman, judge, and published author– and yet there are only a handful of locals … more
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Time machine: Buildings which survived the fire of 1918 on Main Street in Jeffersonville are few. At least two of these buildings still remain. Lixfield’s offered Ballantine’s Beers & Ales at the left. A notice in the Sullivan County Record in 1911 said, “Wm. H. Lixfield is remodeling the interior of his building, formerly the Baum place, so that the cafe floor will be up with the street level. George C. Lixfield has moved his harness business to the Beck building across the street.” A confectionery and the Knell & Durr Café were also renovated at some point, enclosing the balconies you see here. Another sweets and ice cream shop sign is visible down the street. The Eagle Hotel street banner proclaims “Automobile parties accommodated - oil and gasoline for sale - garage and livery - ice cream.”
May 2, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago - 1873 The new charter of the village of Port Jervis passed both houses of the legislature. Our neighbor, Mr. Scheidell of Jeffersonville, has completed a new fence on the border … more
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The comedian Jean Carroll
The first Mrs. Maisel
It seems as if a number of those who chose to celebrate April as National Humor Month last week by taking in this columnist’s presentation of “Laughter is the Best Medicine: The Borscht … more
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A busy corner at Briscoe Road: After we published this photo in Glancing Back (March 7, 2023 issue), we heard from Katherine Calkin who grew up on Briscoe Road. She wrote that Eben Lawrence owned the Hotel Lawrence [far right], the Leona, the feed store and miniature golf across the street where the fire department is today. Said Katherine, “The first kindergarten class in White Sulphur Springs [was] housed upstairs in the firehouse. June Ellmauer started the year with us, but was replaced by Edith Paul when Mrs. Ellmauer became pregnant.” She also recalls Jack Eggler’s garage, Fishbein’s market which was only open in the summer, and the house which Jack Eggler lived in, which is on the pond. Does anyone have photos of the miniature golf or the early fire department that they would be willing to share? If so, call Ruth at (845) 887-5200 or email alookatyesteryear@gmail.com
April 25, 2023 Edition
150 Years Ago -  1873 Pigeons are again flocking over the county. Several flocks have been seen at different points. Owing to considerable opposition, it is doubtful if Monticello’s … more
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Some of the participants at last year’s Delaware Company sponsored Highland History Hike at the Minisink Battleground Park listening to the hike’s narrator, Sullivan County Historian John Conway (forground).
History hikes in Hurleyville and Barryville
Hurleyville’s Milk Train Trail and Barryville’s Minisink Battleground Park are the venues for two more in a long line of popular History Hikes, this time to again commemorate national … more
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April 18, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 A. Brown and A. Mitchell of the garage firm of Mitchell and Brown have dissolved partnership. Mr. Brown will open and conduct a machine shop and garage on the completion of a … more
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Like so many trends in the Sullivan County resort industry, the idea of making entertainment a staple of the visitor’s experience began at the Flagler Hotel in Fallsburg.
Laughter is the best medicine
Like so many other Sullivan County hotel trends, from Mission style architecture to telephones in the rooms, it all started with the Flagler.   In 1929, Asias Fleischer and Philip … more
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Scenes from the commute: More than a century has passed since this postcard was cancelled in Livingston Manor, on its way to Delaware County. The writer was sending word to his sister that all was well and that he would return to Hobart within the month, with his brother. This Artino card is a view of wood chemical industry work, which at one time flourished between Sullivan and Delaware counties. Note the teams pulling the carts were horses and oxen, and their way downhill was unpaved, narrow and likely to be slow going —a lengthy and difficult commute.
April 11, 2023 Edition
110 Years Ago - 1913 Mitchell & Brown, garage and machine shop of Callicoon and agent for Detroiter cars, offer the cars for sale at $850 and $900. Mr. and Mrs. Alec Brown of Callicoon … more
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