Halfway Brook

Aida Austin shopped at Lord & Taylor in New York City according to her 1881 Diary. It would be interesting to know if Aida knew that her neighbor in Eldred, Jane Ann Myers, was a niece to George Washington Taylor who along with Samuel Lord started the store.

Elizabeth Van Pelt (my great-great-great-grandmother), mother of Jane Ann Myers, was Mr. Taylor’s half sister.

Jane Ann Myers named one of her sons George Washington Taylor Myers. George W.T. Myers and his wife Martha Mills would have a large, beautiful boarding house on Hagan Pond (Highland Lake).

George W. Taylor, of Lord & Taylor, died at age 72, in March of 1879, in Manchester, England.

Opening Day at Lord & Taylor at Broadway and 20th Street. Ladies Ascending in the elevator. Wood engraving in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, v. 35, Jan. 11, 1873, p. 289. Library of Congress: LC-USZ62-121663.

Cover of “Summer Excursion Routes,” Erie Railway, 1881.

The Shawangunk Mountains cross the state of New York in a north eastward direction through the counties of Orange, Sullivan and Ulster. They are a continuation of the Blue Mountains of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The main line of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad begins the ascent of the Shawangunks 65 miles from New York, and crosses them at Otisville, at an elevation of 1,500 feet above tide… Continue reading →

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove hopefully available in September.

Jennie Louisa Leavenworth and her future husband Charles
Mortimer Austin lived near brooks on opposite sides of the
charming village of Eldred, Town of Highland, Sullivan
County, New York.

The Leavenworth home near Blind Pond Brook on the
west, would become Echo Hill Farm House. The Austin
family would build Mountain Grove House near Halfway
Brook, on the east side.

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove is an account of the change
from lumbering, rafting, and bluestone quarrying, to that
of running boarding houses in the picturesque and healthy
hamlets of Barryville, Minisink Ford, Yulan, Eldred, and
Venoge, located near the Delaware River.

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove is bursting with anecdotes
and stories of townsfolk, boarding houses, occupations,
and events in the years 1880 to 1920. It includes accounts
on Shohola Glen, Shohola House, the Pelton Soda Factory,
the Roebling Bridge, the Congregational Church Centennial,
Zane Grey, two presidential assassinations, and World War I.

The narrative draws on information from many families,
censuses, church records, land documents, a diary, Erie
Railway booklets, newspapers, grocery books, scrapbooks,
as well as over 900 photos and postcards, maps, and
numerous letters, including 130 written during World War I.

Echo Hill and Mountain Grove is fully indexed, with names of
well over over 1500 people, places, and events. It is the second
book in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800–1950.

Slow but steady progress is being made on Echo Hill and Mountain Grove. But it could be up to six or more weeks until it will be printed. The cover is done and I will post it soon. Here are the chapters.

Chapter 1: Lumber and Bluestone
The Town of Highland, New York, 1880

Chapter 2: Dear Diary
Aida Austin’s 1881 Diary

Chapter 3: Picturesque Highlands
Boarding Houses of Highland, 1880s

Chapter 4: Paths Diverge
The Austins of Highland, 1883–1889

Chapter 5: Sublime Scenery
Highland Boarding Houses, 1890s

Chapter 6: An Old Bachelor
The Austins of Highland, 1890–1899

Chapter 7: Turn of the Century
1900–1905

Chapter 8: Homestead Cottage
Mort and Jennie L. Austin, 1906–1910

Chapter 9: Echo Hill Farm House
1910–1916

Chapter 10: Dear Soldier Boy
World War I: April 1917–to May 1918

Chapter 11: Another Soldier Boy
World War I: May 1918 to the end of the year

Chapter 12: Mountain Grove
The Austin Family, 1919–1920

It has been over a month since I last posted. I have continued to get information and photos from very helpful people and I recently was given a link to a site and remembered 2 other sites that are sources for information on the boarding houses from 1870s on up.

These sources (newspapers and Erie Railway booklets) have corrected some of my assumptions, confirmed others, and added new information.

All this to say, though I continue to work almost non stop on Echo Hill and Mountain Grove, I am realizing that I can not project the date that the book will be available. I hope to start posting more on this site in a couple weeks

For those of you who know I live in Arizona, we are safe from the horrid fire on the east side of the state.

Remnants of a house in the Johnstown Flood. Photo Library of Congress: loc.pnp/cph.3b08648.

On May 31, 1889, the worst U.S. flood in the 19th century occurred. The Johnstown or Great Flood of 1889, took place in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, some 300 miles southwest of Eldred, New York.

There had been an extremely heavy rainfall, and when the South Fork Dam, 14 miles upstream of Johnstown, Pennsylvania failed, 20 million tons of water broke through.

Over 2,200 people were killed, including 99 entire families; 4 square miles of Johnstown were completely destroyed. Property damage was $17 million; and the clean up took years.

It took 7 days and nights to replace the huge stone railroad viaduct that had almost disappeared in the flood. By June 2, the Pennsylvania Railroad was able to provide service to Pittsburgh, and food, clothing, medicine, and other necessities began arriving.

Clara Barton, who led the American Red Cross in its relief effort, was in the area for over 5 months.

Help for the people of the area came from all over the U.S. and 18 foreign countries. There were up to 7,000 Relief workers.—Johnstown Flood.

Town of Highland students around 1890.

Top row, the tall girl with the arrow pointing to her head is Bertha Boyd Wilson. The girl next to her was Belle Boyd, a pretty girl, but her photo is torn out.

The girl in front of the teacher, Mr. Merritt, was Norah Bradley, later, Norah Avery.

The first boy in the second row from the bottom was Charles Myers, son of George W.T. and Martha Mills Myers.

The boy in the middle of the same row with the check on his shirt is Garfield Leavenworth.

The girl behind Garfield on the right, is my grandmother Jennie Leavenworth, I think.—Photo courtesy of my cousin, Cynthia.