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Retrospect
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Alan Barrish at the grave of George B. Wooldridge in Mongaup Valley.
A Footnote to History
On September 14, 1814, after watching British warships bombard Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key, a successful attorney and amateur poet, penned a poem about the experience. Originally entitled … more
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The plaque commemorating the Battle of Chestnut Woods near Grahamsville was erected in 1920. It lists three men who were killed in the ambush. It is more likely there were at least 11 killed.
The Confusing Saga of Chestnut Woods
On September 5, 1778, a small contingent of colonial militia from Fort Honk near present day Napanoch, were ambushed near where the Chestnut Brook flows into the Pepacton Creek in what is today the … more
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The ferry that ran between Masthope, PA and Tusten, NY beginning about 1840 was typical of the Delaware River ferry boats.
Delaware River Ferry Boats
Long time readers of the Retrospect column will no doubt recall the chronicles of the protracted efforts 35 years ago to discover the moorings of the ferry that crossed the Delaware River between … more
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Sullivan County Court Judge George L. Cooke presided over the trial of five of the Farm Rest Bandits in December of 1935.
The End of the Farm Rest Bandits
It was early morning on September 1, 1935 when NYS Police Sergeant Thomas Mangan shot and killed a man attempting to flee the scene of a hold-up at the Farm Rest, a house of ill-repute just outside … more
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New York State Police Sergeant Thomas Mangan
The Farm Rest Bandits
As August of 1935 was drawing to a close, and with it the summer resort season in Sullivan County, law enforcement officials were busy trying to solve two highly visible hotel robberies, and being … more
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Richard Jenkins with the powder horn engraved with the route of the Sullivan Expedition of 1779.
Guiding General Sullivan
On August 11, 1779, at the height of America’s war for independence, General John Sullivan arrived at Tioga Point in upstate New York with a large force of men and began construction of what … more
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St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church has stood on the corner of Broadway and Liberty Street in Monticello since 1899. Prior to that, the corner was home to Hugh Orr’s blacksmith shop.
The Smithy
The village of Monticello’s Main Street of 1840 little resembled the Broadway of today and perhaps even less so the hustling and bustling thoroughfare of the 1950s and ‘60s the Dominican … more
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Historical musician Linda Russell will be presenting a program on colonial era music at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg tomorrow (Saturday, August 2) at 4 p.m.
Music in the Colonial Era
Not much is known about the music that was played in the Cushetunk settlement along the upper Delaware River in colonial times, nor about the men and women who might have played it. One of the … more
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A view of Round Top from across Kiamesha Lake. Abraham Finkelstein’s body was discovered in a berry patch there on July 25, 1930.
The Body in the Berry Patch
On Friday afternoon, July 25, 1930, in the midst of a pervasive heat wave that brought record high temperatures to much of New York state, 60-year old Paul Senson of Kiamesha Lake was out picking … more
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Hospital Rock at the Minisink Battleground in Barryville.
In the Shadow of Hospital Rock
Over the years, many visitors to the Minisink Battleground have noted that when young people visit the Park, the scene of the July 22, 1779 Revolutionary War battle, their attention is typically … more
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The Anthony Hasbrouck house, the scene of the 1840 murder of its proprietor, still stands.
Sullivan County’s First Hanging
On the afternoon of July 14, 1842, Sheriff Felix Kelly fastened a noose around the neck of Cornelius Hardenbergh, and a few seconds later Hardenbergh, a member of what had once been the … more
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Former U.S. Congressman Dr. Chris Gibson will be at Fort Delaware on Saturday, July 5 for a 4pm program about his new book, “The Spirit of Philadelphia.” The program is free and books will be available for purchase.
The rift over Independence
The first time the Declaration of Independence was read aloud for the public was in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, making the residents of that city the first outside of the government to learn of … more
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A color postcard of the popular Half Moon Lake Hotel in Narrowsburg, one of the hundreds of cards on display at the Ten Mile River Scout Museum this season.
A postcard history of Tusten
It is easy to think of Ten Mile River Scout Camp as something of little interest to anyone outside of scouting. But since David Malatzky has spearheaded the reorganization of the Museum there, that … more
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The economic impact of the D&H Canal on Sullivan County is the subject of the presentation, “A Mere Bagatelle” at the D&H Canal Linear Park on Sunday, June 22.
A Mere Bagatelle
On or about June 20 in 1872, the D&H Canal Company received some good news. The NYS Court of Appeals had upheld a lower court ruling that had granted the canal company a rate increase in its … more
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Onlookers watch the great Liberty fire of Friday, June 13, 1913.
The Great Liberty Fire
It was sometime after 4 o’clock on the afternoon of Friday, June 13, 1913 that the fire alarm sounded in the village of Liberty, and by the time firemen responded, a number of buildings were … more
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God save Benedict Arnold
Jack Kelly, the author of the highly acclaimed 2023 book, “God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man” said recently that he was “very … more
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A scene from the 1909 silent movie, “The Mended Lute” shot along the banks of the Neversink River in Sullivan County.
On location in Sullivan County
It was late in May of 1909, and D.W. Griffith was putting the finishing touches on his plan for a trip that would forever change the business of making movies. Those changes would begin right here in … more
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Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold at Fort Delaware
At approximately 11:30pm on May 9, 1775, a force of colonial militia under the joint command of Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold began crossing Lake Champlain in an operation that would … more
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A view from Seminary Hill Cidery with the Delaware River in the distance.
How do you like them apples?
It may seem difficult to believe today, but there was a time when Sullivan County apple producers shipped apples to every state in the country except for Washington and Oregon. Local apple orchards … more
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Irving Wexler A/K/A Waxey Gordon
The war of the Jews ends in White Lake
  It was early May in 1933, and one of America’s most notorious gangsters was lying low in Sullivan County, passing the time with a couple of bodyguards in a secluded hunting lodge in … more
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The E.L. Henry painting of the D&H Canal, “On the Towpath,” was one of the inspirations for The Delaware Company’s Kate Project, where the Celebrate Trails History Hike will take place on Sunday, April 27.
Celebrate trails with a history hike
On April 23, 1823, the D&H Canal Company was incorporated in New York State, and a little more than two years later ground was broken for one of the most transformative projects in American … more
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Authorities stand over the unearthed remains of Hyman Yuran in Loch Sheldrake in April, 1940.
The body in the swimming pool drain
It was on a dreary Monday afternoon in April of 1940 that the last of the bodies linked to Murder, Inc. turned up in Sullivan County.   That day, law enforcement officials, piecing together … more
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As late as the 1980s, the Tallwood Lodge in Barryville advertised itself as a “Shangri La in Sullivan County”.
Ideal for your vacation
It may be difficult to believe based on life along the Delaware River today, but the area wasn’t always a tourist destination. In fact, in its earliest days, it wasn’t particularly … more
A section of Broadway in Monticello in the 1930s, when it had surpassed Liberty as the largest village in Sullivan County.
Shifts, flips, and blips in Sullivan County’s population
There was quite a commotion in Sullivan County government circles in the spring of 1930, as officials came to grips with a surprising revelation: the village of Monticello had supplanted the village … more
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Abe “Kid Twist” Reles
The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn’t Fly
Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, the notorious Brooklyn mobster who helped run the enforcement arm of organized crime fashionably dubbed Murder, Inc., sat in the Manhattan jail called the Tombs and … more
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