1894, The Waning Season at Yulan

by Louise Smith Posted on October 12, 2011

The Last Dance the Jolliest One of the Summer
The season drawing to a close has been the most successful ever known in this section of Sullivan County, and the boarding house keepers are correspondingly happy.

Washington Lake is the center of attraction for the boarders in this neighborhood, and its mirror-like surface is dotted daily with merry rowing parties and the more sober fishermen luring from the depths the pickerel and black bass.

Last Wednesday evening at Prang’s Lake View Farm House was given what will probably prove to be the last barn dance of the season and it was pronounced by all to be the jolliest. The barn was prettily decorated with autumn foliage, sumach and golden rod, but these were far outshone by the bevy of pretty girls…

Refreshments were served after the dance. The music was by Professor Kinley.—Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 9, 1894.

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1890s Recreation for Summer Guests

by Louise Smith Posted on October 11, 2011
The Bluff looked down over the Delaware River and Erie R.R. Postcard courtesy of Kevin M.

There was boating (canoes were popular) and swimming (bathing). Some places offered archery, croquet, dancing, bowling, lawn tennis, or perhaps a piano for guests to play.

Picnic grounds and sometime a playground for children were available. Arrangements could
be made to visit other points of interest—complete with a picnic lunch.

Shohola Glen was one place to visit. Or maybe a trip to Port Jervis with a stop near the Hawk’s Nest for a view of the Delaware River.

The Bluff which also looked down over the Delaware River and across to the Erie Railroad was another favorite site to visit. There vacationers carved their initials into the shale, took photos, or smooched. If you weren’t from the area, a guide from the resort would help you locate the hard-to-find Bluff.

Hayrides, ice cream socials, church bazaars, dances, plays, and town fairs were other events for the summer guests.

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Chapter 5: Sublime Scenery, Town of Highland Boarding Houses, 1890

by Louise Smith Posted on October 10, 2011

Sublime scenery beckoned summer visitors to boarding houses and hotels in the hamlets of Highland and other villages along the Delaware River as the 19th Century came to a close.

The 1890s would see the decline of the D&H Canal which had been responsible for the growth of the area since 1828.

Trains, which transported passengers and goods such as petroleum, livestock, lumber, and dairy products, were not so limited by winter weather, droughts, and floods.

Summer tourists and boarding houses would flourish into the 1960s. If the boarding house was not on a lake, or stream, there was one not far away. Visitors to picturesque Highland’s boarding houses (summer homes) in Barryville, Eldred, Venoge, or Yulan would have a healthy, enjoyable vacation—just as advertised in both newspapers and railway booklets.

Meals would be made from fresh farm ingredients—milk, butter, eggs, and produce. Farms were close by, and many of the proprietors were also farmers. The many apple trees meant there would be cider to look forward to in the fall.

Whether you stayed at Bodine’s and enjoyed French gourmet cooking, or at a home that featured typical local fare (like the Leavenworth’s), you could plan on excellent meals.

The sportsman could hunt for deer, bear (sometimes), rabbit, and wild pigeons; or fish for trout, perch, pickerel, and bass. Hunting dogs were available for a fee. Some places had horse stables.

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Bear in Eldred, October 2011

by Louise Smith Posted on October 8, 2011

A bear in Eldred, October 2011, courtesy of Cousin Cynthia.

The first chapter of The Mill on Halfway Brook, mentions the abundance of wildlife in what was once the Town of Lumberland.

Starting in 2008, Cousin Cynthia took photos of the current animals in the area—many deer, turkeys, and eagles. She promised me that one day she would get me a shot of a bear. And recently, when she visited Eldred, she did see a bear as she and friends were looking at Echo Hill and Mountain Grove.

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1888 Villages and Houses Reached by the Erie Railway

by Louise Smith Posted on October 3, 2011
View of the Delaware River from the Hawk’s Nest mountain road. Postcard courtesy of Kathy.

The following descriptions are from “Picturesque Erie: Summer Homes,”
by L.P. Farmer, N.Y., L.E. &R.R., 1888. The distance is from New York City. Week days: 3–8 trains from and 5–8 trains back to N.Y.C.
Sundays: 1–5 trains.

Sparrowbush, N.Y.,
90-3/4 miles
Fare: $2.80; round trip $3.80.
Sparrowbush is a romantic village two miles west of Port Jervis. It is in the midst of some of the finest mountain scenery of the Delaware Valley. The Hawk’s Nest Mountain Road, which is one of the attractions of Sparrowbush, is an unequaled drive. There are many other natural and artificial attractions in the vicinity which commend Sparrowbush especially to the summer visitor.

Boarding houses: Geo. Terwilliger, John R. Patterson (Sparrowbush); and Mrs. Mary Rose.

Pond Eddy, Pa., 99 miles
Fare: $3.05; round trip $4.20
Situated in the Delaware Valley, in the midst of picturesque mountain scenery, with ponds and streams, ravines and glens in profusion. Boating, bathing and fishing of the best. Population, 200. Comfortable and healthful place to spend the summer. Wm. Rixton Hotel. Continue reading →

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Kilgour’s Shohola Glen

by Louise Smith Posted on October 1, 2011
High Bridge across Shohola Creek was part of the Shohola Glen rustic walking attractions in the area of the gorge upstream of Twin Lakes Road.—George J. Fluhr, Historian for Pike County, Pennsylvania. Postcard courtesy of Kathy.

From 1882 until 1907 the Erie Railroad ran excursion trains from New York City and Scranton, Pa., to Shohola Glen—the original of the modern theme parks.

In lower Shohola Glen, Kilgour constructed a large lake, pavilions, galleries, amusement rides including a carousel, a huge dancing and roller-skating platform under the Shohola Viaduct on the Erie Railroad, and a large dining hall and kitchen…

In the upper glen he constructed paths and rustic bridges across the Shohola Creek and through out the park to showcase the natural beauty of the Glen.

Pools of water and formations named Cascade Cavern, Bell Rock, Devil’s Pass, Hell Gate, Terror Grotto, Satan’s Nose, and The Spirit of Dark Waters, were some of the names given to these places of natural beauty…

The park was lighted by colored electric lights, lanterns and electric torches with power being generated on site from a turbine in the old mill.
—shohola.org.

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Boarding Houses Starting in 1885

by Louise Smith Posted on September 30, 2011

These listings first appeared in Erie Railway publications from 1885–1889.

Washington Lake House, Joseph Tether, Proprietor
Accommodates 30; 20 rooms, adults $6 to $8; children half price; servants $5; transient $1.25 per day. Discount for season. Transportation adults $1; children, half price. Lake of 200 acres only 2 minutes’ walk. Perch, pickerel, bass. Surrounded by forest. Raises vegetables. Plenty milk, eggs butter and poultry.

Spring House, Barryville, George Layman Proprietor
5 minutes walk from Shohola. Accommodates 30; 20 rooms; adults $7 to $8; children under 12, half price; servants $6; transient $1.25 per day. Discount for season. Transportation, $1. Raises vegetables. Plenty fresh milk, butter, eggs and poultry.

Laurel Valley Farm House, Charles Hickok, Proprietor
Accommodates 20; 10 large rooms; adults $7; children $3.50; transient $1.50 per day. Transportation free to weekly boarders. 3 miles from Shohola Glen. Good livery. Will meet guests in response to telegrams. Raises vegetables. Plenty of butter, eggs, milk and poultry.

Lake View Farm House, Edward Prange, Proprietor
Accommodates 20; 13 rooms; adults $7; children $3; servants $5; transient $1.25 per day. Discount for season. Transportation, $1. Raises vegetables. Plenty fresh milk, butter, eggs and poultry. Continue reading →

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Echo Hill and Mountain Grove!

by Louise Smith Posted on September 27, 2011

Halfway Brook Publishing presents: 
Echo Hill and Mountain Grove!

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove continues the story started in The Mill on Halfway Brook, in the Town of Highland, Sullivan County, New York. It is the second in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800–1950.

The narrative is an account of the change from lumbering, rafting, and bluestone quarrying, to that of running boarding houses in the picturesque hamlets of Barryville, Minisink Ford, Yulan, Eldred, and Venoge (Highland Lake) located near the Delaware River. 

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove tells the history of the Town of Highland and its townsfolk (Austin, Leavenworth, Eldred, Myers, Bodine, Bradley, Bosch, Clark, Gardner, Hallock, Mills, Boyd, Horton, Parker, Greig, Stege, Sergeant, Tether, and others), many of whom owned boarding houses. 

It includes visits to Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New York City, and France. Details on the Shohola Depot, Shohola Glen, Shohola House, the Pelton Soda Factory, the Roebling Bridge, the Congregational Church Centennial, Zane Grey, two presidential assassinations, and World War I, are a part of the story. 

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove is 2.5 pounds, over an inch thick, and 512 pages packed full of stories from 1880 to 1920 in the Town of Highland, NY.

Click on Look Inside under Echo Hill and Mountain Grove on the right hand side to see a few pages of chapter 3 and the 20 page index. It takes a half minute or more to load.

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove is available for $39.95 (which includes USPS shipping).

Feel free to email any questions to me, Louise Smith: 
info (at) halfwaybrook (dot) com.

A special thank you to my husband Gary for a new updated site!

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