Here are some photos or postcards of Barryville taken before 1945. The Spring House boarding house or inn was on River Road. If you would like to write about your memories of Barryville whether a house, the Riviera Theater, Clouses, Reber or boarding houses between Yulan and Barryville such as Woodland Cottages, that’d be great.
My Uncle John Parker had Parker’s Garage and a little restaurant on 97 across from the fire house back in the 60s. It had a little one room building that was the office for the gas station, then the big garage where he worked on cars. Attached to the garage was a building that had the restaurant downstairs and they lived upstairs. Loved going there as a kid and helping in the kitchen at the restaurant or even pumping gas. Happy memories!!
Remember staying at the Riverside Cottage as a child in the early 50’s. There was a wonderful aroma of the combination of the home cooking and the pine trees that I still remember. Returned again in the early 60’s when they had built an in-ground pool which if I remember correctly was in the shape of an “R”. Remember walking in the evening to see a movie at the Riviera theater.
While summering with my parents who were boarding at Woodland Cottages up on the Mail Road in the late 40s and into the 50s, I frequented the Riviera Theater known then as “Delaware Valley’s Radio City. That came on the screen along with an advertisement for Shohola Feed and Grain, just before the start of the feature film.
The theater had a sloping wood floor and many times, someone would send an empty soda bottle rolling noisily down between the seats during the movie. It wasn’t unusual for a skunk to wander through either! One night a week was Camp night and bus loads of campers with their counselors filled the house.
On another very crowded evening, one year, I sat on a folding chair in the doorway behind the last rows to see Gone With the Wind.
We were often driven to the theater, but on many occasions I remember walking the three miles along the partially paved Mail Road to the movies with my friends.
I also remember shopping in Barryville at Eckhart’s store, or Jensens; there was the post office and the beauty parlor (Mary Eckhart was the hairdresser) as well.
Rebers was a great place; Herman and Mathilde Reber were the proprietors and the German American cuisine was outstanding. There was an organ that you could see from the bay window (facing the bridge road) and the music was very enjoyable. The Rebers soon built and operated a motel and lovely gift shop, where I also made some purchases.
My family lived in Barryville. My Grandmother was postmistress from the 40 ‘s until the 70′s, and the post office was in our house. I grew up in Barryville, and I knew every inch of Half Way Brook. Of course, it all changed after the flood in the 50′s, but still I fished that brook for hours. Not sure anyone fished it as much as me other than Bill Wortzel. The brook is just the right size…the pools, moss and smells stay with me still.