Halfway Brook

Currier & Ives Chromolithograph, 1885. Grand birds eye view of the Great East River. Library of Congress: 03205r.

Close-up view of construction of Brooklyn Bridge over East River, New York City. Library of Congress: 3c08446r.

The Great East River (Brooklyn) Suspension Bridge, the first land connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was also the first steel-wire suspension bridge. It was the longest (5,989 feet) suspension bridge in the world from 1883 (when it opened), until 1903.

John A. Roebling, who designed and constructed the Roebling Aqueduct in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, was the initial designer of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Very unfortunately, Mr. Roebling’s foot was crushed when he surveyed a possible bridge site. His toes had to be amputated. Soon after, he died of a tetanus infection.

John’s son, Washington Roebling, was then put in charge of the bridge. Washington and his wife Emily had gone to Europe as newlyweds. There they learned how to use caissons (watertight structures) to work on the foundation of the bridge. Continue reading →

Switchback railroad in Pennsylvania’s Moosic Mountains.

The most novel and pleasurable summer excursion route in this country is that offered by the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway over the famous Gravity Roads of Northern Pennsylvania.

These Railroads are a series of inclined planes and reach an altitude of 2,500 feet above tide. They traverse a country of rugged mountains and glens; waterfalls, gorges streams and valleys greet the tourist in magnificent variety.

One of these novel roads connects with the Erie at Honesdale, Pa. It is owned by the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and climbs the Moosic mountains to Carbondale by one route, and returns to Honesdale by another—both offering continuous delight to the tourist…. Continue reading →

There are a number of grocery book ledgers in the
Austin collection. The following groceries were
bought from Abel S. Myers who had a store in town.

January
443 lbs. B. flour: $8.86
18 bushel oats: 9.00
3 dozen eggs: .54

February
333 lbs. B. Flour: 6.66

March
5 lbs. 2 oz. butter: 1.28

April
4 lbs. butter: .68
4 dozen eggs: .60
4 dozen eggs: .60

May
4 dozen eggs: .50
1 egg beater: .30
1 illustrated Lord’s Prayer: .40
6 bushels potatoes: 3.00

August
Work on road, District No. 13
Team: 6.5 hours: 2.44

September
1 cow: 25.00
Goat to Wm. Gallagher: 67.50

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