Organizing the boarding houses that will be in “Echo Hill and Mountain Grove.’ Since April, I have been working on Echo Hill and Mountain Grove, book 2 in the series, Memoirs from Eldred, New York, 1800 to 1950. Echo Hill … Continue reading
Photo of ice breaking up under the Barryville-Shohola Bridge with a middle support. Photo courtesy of M.B. Austin. One very cold morning, about the first of January 1865, three teams of horses and mules were crossing the Barryville-Shohola bridge with … Continue reading
This letter was written to Mary Ann Austin in Eldred, New York, from her niece, Addie Austin who lived in New York City. The bridge referred to is the Barryville-Shohola Bridge over the Delaware River, shown in the posts before … Continue reading
Postcard of Barryville Shohola Bridge and Lookout Mountain. Courtesy of M.B. Austin. Until 1856 there had only been a crude rope guided ferry that connected Shohola, Pennsylvania, to Barryville, New York. There became a need for a bridge with the … Continue reading
During the winter, large quantities of lumber from the Halfway Brook mills were drawn to Barryville, made into rafts, then taken to Handsome Eddy, two or three miles further down the river. There they waited for the spring freshets. At … Continue reading
There was still no good way to travel on land in 1828. Whether you walked or rode a horse, the roads were rough and through the wilderness. Whether by foot, horseback, canal or all three, Doctor Perkins left Poughkeepsie, New … Continue reading
Sears Gardner was the Town of Lumberland’s supervisor in 1825, when a school was started for children in the area of Halfway Brook Village and Barryville. James Eldred, was the Town Clerk, Commissioner of Highways, and in July, Town Marshall. … Continue reading
In late 1824, Garrett Wilson and three other men purchased Shohola Lumber property in Shohola, Pennsylvania, across from what was then called the River Settlement, now Barryville. Mr. Wilson became the sole manager, and the company was “…constantly engaged in … Continue reading
In 1800, Lumberland (then two years old), had a population of 733, most of whom had lumber-related jobs. Saw-mills operated on various streams. Halfway Brook was said to have had ten sawmills on its nine miles. Enormous amounts of lumber … Continue reading
The Halfway Brook (there is another one in New York) I write about, is in a most gorgeous area called the Upper Delaware River Region, in New York State. This Halfway Brook was the name of a nine-mile stream, before … Continue reading
