I recently visited Mom in Michigan and found a few photos relating to the Town of Highland which I hope Halfway Brook Readers will enjoy as much as I did discovering them.
Town of Highland Occupations
Boarding houses were the main “industry” in the area, but there were still sawmills (belonging to Harry Wormuth, John Love, and others) and bluestone quarries which needed workers. The Erie Railroad employed many men.
The Barryville Glass Factory employed some 15 local people. Earl Palmer (who also was the bridge tender for the Barryville and Pond Eddy bridges) was a polisher and his wife Kate worked in the Glass Factory Showroom showing glassware for sale. The glass cutters included Albert, Norm, and Frank Wolff, sons of Charles and Janette Kerr Wolff. (We first met the Wolff family in Echo Hill and Mountain Grove.)—Farewell to Eldred, pp. 4 and 6.
Mr. Keller—the Swiss friend of the Wolffs—had a wonderful, magical backyard. His place, on the road between Barryville and Yulan, had wooden creations that worked with flowing water. Cookie remembers yodeling music and waterfalls.—Information courtesy of friends Doris S. and Cookie W.
Doris Stegmaier Schmidt recently left a comment on this Halfway Brook site. She emailed me some more memories and photos relating to Hillside Inn which I thought Halfway Brook would enjoy reading and seeing. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
I think of the old days and the Hillside Inn a lot. About 10 years ago, my husband had found an article on Google that the Inn had burned down. My parents and I spent a lot of time there in the summers, and took other friends there also.
My mother, Clara Stegmaier, grew up with Helen Fuchs and Maria Fuchs (sisters) who immigrated to New York from Waiblingen, Germany. Maria worked at the inn as waitress and she had a house near the crossroads.
Louise (Cookie) Wolff, daughter of Helen and Alfred of the Hillside Inn, and I were together in the summers when my parents drove us from Philadelphia to Yulan.
The “German cuisine” (see comment), and my mother’s cooking was identical (Schwaebisch). My father loved the Rheingold beer, that I remember. Continue reading
This post is a little late in wishing Mom (a major player in the Halfway Brook Books) a Happy 90th Birthday on this site.
My three siblings expertly planned what was hoped to be a surprise (and it was) weekend of events for Mom. Family from six states were in on the plan.
I supplied photos for a DVD one of my sisters put together. And (enjoyed in Arizona) the surprise as it unfolded with texts and photos sent to me, as I recuperated (and still am) from a broken leg.
