Racine’s West Shore Cottage

by Louise Smith Posted on October 29, 2011
West Shore Cottage postcard courtesy of Kevin M.

In 1888 to 1890, the Erie RR brochures included Chas. C. Racine as having a boarding house in Eldred.

    10 miles [from Shohola which seems a little too many miles]; conveyance, $1. 1 double, 6 single rooms; adults, $7; children, half price; servants, $7; $1 per day; discount for season. Boats, $1 per day; own livery.

West Shore Cottage run by T.W. Racine in Yulan was advertised in 1907 through 1910 Brooklyn Daily Eagle and again in 1919 Republican Watchman.

    West Shore Cottage; accommodates 40 on Washington Lake; rates $7, $10. T.W. Racine, Yulan.

Racine’s West Shore Cottage on Washington Lake would one day belong to the Cantwells.

Posted in Boarding Houses, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove | Comments Off on Racine’s West Shore Cottage

Cold Spring Farm

by Louise Smith Posted on October 27, 2011
Cold Spring Farm House. Postcard courtesy of Kevin M.

There were several Crandall families in Highland who seem to be related.

Milton and Martha Crandall’s Cold Spring Farm (advertised in 1897) was just off Irishtown Road. Milton had hand dug wells and had run a pipe from the spring to the house.

Posted in Boarding Houses, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove | Comments Off on Cold Spring Farm

Barryville-Shohola Bridge

by Louise Smith Posted on October 25, 2011
Spring House (left); Barryville-Shohola Suspension Bridge (right), courtesy of Kevin M.

The Spring House on the left was owned by George Layman in 1900.

    During the last preceding summer and fall [1900], Stephen St. John Gardner renovated the structure [bridge] generally, added additional cables; laid a new floor, supplied new stringers, erected a new and improved railing and the bridge is now a safe passageway and a good source of income…

    [Nearby] is the beautiful and valuable house buildings and premises of George Layman.

    Mr. Layman has enlarged the house, improved and beautified the grounds and now presents a premises that, for its location and attractiveness, may vie with any in the land.

    He employs it for summer boarding and entertainment of travelers and the comfortable entertainment and moderate charges combined, insures a general custom to his place.—Johnston, J.W., Reminiscencespp. 351–3.

Posted in Boarding Houses, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove | Comments Off on Barryville-Shohola Bridge

Barryville, New York circa 1900

by Louise Smith Posted on October 20, 2011

In 1900 Charles M. and Lottie Bradley Colville and their newborn daughter Ruth lived in Barryville. Charles was a farmer. Lottie was a daughter of Isaac and Joanna Bradley. We learn a bit more about the Colville family through letters Ruth writes in 1918, to my uncle McKinley Austin.

Samuel and Elizabeth Hulse’s son Chester was a friend of Rowlee Schoonover. Mary Eaton, a servant, and Mr. Decker, 57, boarded with them.

Marie DeKnetel taught music. George and Julia Eckhart had 2 children, Albert and Lillie.

August and Anna Clouse had 3 children: Katie, Freddie, and Clarence. August was a master carpenter. We will read about him in a later chapter.

Samuel Rusby was a pastor. He and his wife Carrie had 6 children.

Gilbert and Mary Nelson had been married 30 years. Gilbert was a mail carrier. Their daughter Minnie, 26, would attend the Methodist Church in the 1930s when Irwin Briggs was the preacher. (The Gilbert Nelson family was not related to the Robert Nelson family who would later live nearby.)

Brothers John and George Steel were both butchers. Continue reading →

Posted in Barryville, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove | 1 Comment

Where is this?

by Louise Smith Posted on October 19, 2011

I am hoping some Halfway Brook friends may know where this photo was taken and which church is in the distance. I think that the original photo indicated it was taken from the Sloan’s property.

Posted in Where is this? | Comments Off on Where is this?

1897, Mrs. Skinner’s New Shingles

by Louise Smith Posted on October 18, 2011

The old shingles were worn some, having been put on her house just 101 years ago.
Mrs. Mary Skinner, who lives in Wayne County, Pa., across the Delaware River from this Village [Cochecton], has been having her house shingled and repaired.

There would be nothing strange about this, but for the fact that this is the first time the house has been repaired or reshingled since 1796, when the dwelling was built. It is known in the Skinner family as the new house, because it took the place of the old house which was built in 1765 and was burned by the Indians in 1777. The old barn is still standing, though it was built in 1777, and needs no repairs.

The locality where these buildings stand was one of the first places where white people settled in the Delaware Valley, the Skinner family having gone thither in 1754. Continue reading →

Posted in Old Newspapers | Comments Off on 1897, Mrs. Skinner’s New Shingles

Echo Hill Farm House Rules

by Louise Smith Posted on October 14, 2011
Rules and Regulations for Echo Hill Farm House, courtesy of Kevin M.

Echo Hill Farm House was the original home of Sherman Buckley and Charlotte Ingram Leavenworth, my Leavenworth great-great grandparents. By 1900 it was the boarding house of my Leavenworth great-grandparents, Sherman S. and Maria Myers Leavenworth.

The original house may have been a bunk house for lumbermen as there was a sawmill nearby. Sherman B. was a lumberman. Charlotte was the cook for the lumbermen, or that is the story told. You can read a bit more about Sherman Buckley and Charlotte Leavenworth and the bunk house, sawmill, and property in The Mill on Halfway Brook.

Posted in Boarding Houses, Echo Hill and Mountain Grove | Comments Off on Echo Hill Farm House Rules