The Vedder Research Library

The cover of the 2012 GLHG Calendar is a duplication from the 1977 United Methodist Church of Greenville - Norton Hill Calendar that marked the country’s bicentennial. This sketch is that of the blacksmith shop on Carter Bridge Rd, about 100 yards from the intersection with Rt 81. No structures remain. Claribel Ingalls Gardiner (daughter of Stanley and Eleanor) is the artist.

For the past fifty-six years, these two women have served Greenville as Town Clerk. Jeanne Bear (left, married Orlie Bear, moved from CT, also on Town Board) served from 1956-1983, while Ronnie Campbell (right, married Ed Campbell, moved from Brooklyn, also tax collector 1976-1983) served from 1984-2011. Greenville came to personally know both, especially since both operated the Clerk’s office from home.

The first weekend in February 1970, 1971, and 1972 saw hundreds, then thousands, of participants and spectators flocking to Rainbow Lodge on CR 26 to the Winter Carnival. A coalition of local organizations and businesses formed the Greenville Winter Carnival Association to “introduce the Greenville Area as a Winter Sports Area as well as a Summer Resort Area, and to give all of the people in the area a full realization of the great facilities that are available to the public during all four seasons of the year.” The two day program featured ice fishing, cross-country ski touring, ice skating, ice sculptures, as well as the racing of snowmobiles and the choosing of the Snow Queen for the popular Snow Ball. Poor snow conditions led to the cancellation of the 1973 event.

A weary horse rests on the side of the Freehold to Cairo road (now State Route 32) about a mile south of Freehold. Just beyond the horse is the Freehold Flats, located between Route 32 and the Catskill Creek. It is one of the area’s most fertile agricultural areas and was once the site of a large Indian encampment. To the right is a laid stonewall and fence that was in front of the Becker Homestead, later the Brookside Dairy Farm (a boarding house from the 1920's to1940s owned by Harry and Ottilie Levers), which today is a private residence.

The Greenville Center Baptist Church was built in 1817; a Baptist Society had existed since 1793. An early change moved the entrance from the west side to the south side, until a 1854 turning of the building placed this entrance at the west side again (facing the road). In 1938, the bell from the East Durham Baptist Church was raised into the church’s belfry (inset). Over the past fifty years, longer-tenure ministers of this still active church include: Rev. Murray Mayfield (2001-current), Clinton Phelps (1981-1996); Wendell Hiltsley (1974-01980, 1939-1944), and Jacob VanderPyle (1961-1973).

Owner Miss Aileen Hesel and partner Allen Totzeck proudly pose in front of the Ellis-Hesel house. Built in 1884 by Will Craw, this house is known for the previous occupants – Scott & Elgirtha Ellis, and, later, son Phil. (Scott Ellis oversaw the Greenville Central School education community from its centralization in the 1930s until his retirement in 1964; Phil was Greenville Local editor from 1963 until 1997.) Aileen bought the house in 1999 and, with the help of her mother Dorothy (advisor, colors & details & fabric person) and father Larry (locksmith, plasterer, cabinet & window person, crown molding maker), re-established this house—two houses down from the Greenville Arms on South Street—as an attractive mainstay. Greenville, indeed, appreciates those efforts that update and revitalize our community.

Ghosts of buildings abound throughout the town if memory allows, or if photos record. This photo taken in 1970 on Big Woods Rd (on the long flat between O’Hara Rd and Weed Rd) presents a scene in which all buildings are gone. The former Noah Shaw Farm operated as a 100+ acre farm. Visible on the far right is the Shaw house, a concrete block milk house on right-center, and the cow barn on the left. The acreage has since been divided and built upon, and a road that was occupied by five houses in the 1950s now sports nearly thirty houses, typical of the modern subdividing of Greenville’s formerly more open land.

Anton (Tony) and Mary Fursatz opened Fursatz’s Elm Grove in 1921, first as a farm and then a boarding house. After Mary and Tony retired, their daughter Anna, who had married Fred G. Spohler (The Spohlers had operated a boarding house in Acra), took control in 1955. With help from their son Fred, daughter-in-law Carol, and family, the resort continued operating. Fred and Carol assumed control of Elm Grove in 1973 until its closure in 1983 after 62 years. Located on Red Mill Rd, near the corner with East Red Mill Rd (also known locally as Shaw Mill Rd), this establishment has since operated as Grace Manor and Higher Ground Christian Center, exemplifying the role that religious organizations have had in operating several former resorts.

This nineteen-teens post card shows, in the foreground, the mill area of Freehold on Mill Street, today known as Hempstead Lane. Splitting just above the Elmer Story farm (center of photo) is the road going west (left) to East Durham, and the road going north (Big Woods Rd, upward around the bend by the woods). On the far right is a residence and, more noticeable, the church parsonage (today, a private residence). The mills were powered by water diverted from the Basic Creek into pathways called races.

The Potter Hollow one-room schoolhouse served its community from 1853-1954, and is now the most authentic one room school house still extant in the Greenville Central School District. In an effort to preserve this building for a “perfect setting for local history presentations by students and community members,” many people worked together – Potter Hollow community members, the Greenville School Board and Administration, the NYS Historic Preservation Bureau, and, notably, pictured here, Richard Ferriolo who has striven to see this project to its fruition. The school house is being considered for the National Historic Register.

Although the Ingalls Family has an annual reunion (the 84th in 2012), this Cousins’ Party of August 5, 1956, attracted a sizable gathering. This ‘reunion’ saw, roughly from left to right: Noel, Edna (Ingalls) and Tim Adams; Len & Claribel (Ingalls) Gardiner; Jim Adams; Fred, Betty (Elliott), Eleanor and Debbie McAneny; Annella (Dinnel), Jerry, Stephanie, Paige and Edna Ingalls; JaneAnn, Buddy, Stanley, and Cornelia (Yeomans) Ingalls; Barbara, Janice (Ingalls), Bob Dietz; Thelma Ingalls; Alan Applebee; Keith Ingalls; Ellen, Alliene and Curt Applebee; Gail, Marge (Smith), Ken and Ed Ingalls; Bill, Mary Linn, Muriel (Elliott), Janice Garrison; George, Irene (Elliott) Williams; Susan Garrison; Ken Williams; Lynn (Thibeault) and Robert Elliott; Alayne and Wayne Williams; Ron, Adrian, Tom, Edna (Jennings), and Gail Elliott. The house is that of Norman and Edna Adams, situated across the street from the former GNH. The parenthesis in the list of names indicated the maiden names of the married women.

The fuller aerial taken in 2011 shows Country Estates with most of the proposed 155 units constructed. In the bottom left is GNH; the upper left shows Vanderbilt Park and GCS’s playing fields while the white buildings in the upper right shows Camp Malka (the former Ingalside). The inset, shot in 1990, shows the very beginning, with the dirt tracks marking the sites for the first houses. The shopping plaza sits upper center, while the bottom right would become town park property.

Main Street (today’s Rt. 81) Greenville dozes peacefully on a mid-winter day, in February, 1924. The intersection lies just beyond the two cars and the Corner Restaurant (demolished in the 1960s) on the left, and just past the white picket fence that bracketed the corner that is marked by the empty gas station today. In the distance, West Street winds its way toward Norton Hill, with the Greenville Theater jutting out on the left, while the houses of the Roe, Cunningham, Botsford families, etc., snuggle on the road’s right-hand side.

Dr. Bott’s house – near intersection of Rt 81 and Hill Street, Greenville

The Johannesens of Greenville Center test their winter skills about 1946 on the hill across from the Brinkerhoff house on West Road as it nears State Route 81. Enjoying the anticipation of the “schuss” are Carol Johannesen (daughter of Karl and Mary), and Carol’s uncles and aunts—Thomas and Lillian Johannesen, and Margaret and Morten Johannesen. During the 20th century, a sizeable contingent of Norwegian descent moved to the Greenville Center area (Johannesen, Nicholsen, Salvesen, Gundersen, Mickelsen, Myhre, Lien, and more), adding to the flavor that was, and is, the Town of Greenville.

Youngsters frolic and enjoy winter skating on the Greenville Pond, tentatively set in the 1970s. Skaters on the pond (often cleared by the Cunningham family) were often photographed in the first half of the 20th century. This fountain, right, is but one of many that have graced the pond (other fountains, at times, rest near the pond’s bank).

A March 29, 1932 spring storm intrudes on South Street, Greenville. The photographer is standing near the four corners, looking southward. The second structure on the right still stands, today’s Ciani & Morris building, while the first building on the right once housed telephone operators, and has since been razed. Left and right rows of residences nestle behind the maple trees that once lined the street. If the picture had been taken four years earlier, the Greenville Hotel (Glen Royal) front would have been visible on the right edge of the photo but the old hotel was demolished to make way for the Pioneer Insurance building.

A view not seen for nearly a century, springtime water flows over the Red Mill Dam on the Basic Creek. The Red Mill sits left, using the diverted water to power its machinery and wheels before the availability of electricity. According to local lore, a freshet destroyed the dam, perhaps in the 1930s. In addition to water power, the dam supplied ice for refrigerative purposes (before electricity) and for recreational purposes. The spray of water on the left is probably the diverted water that just powered the mill.

After a fire in 1873, a new Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church was erected, shown here on the west side of Rt 32 near the junction with Hill Street. The first Methodist Church started in West Greenville in 1825 before it was moved in 1856 to a spot on the east side of Rt 32, just yards north of the building shown. In 1867, a parsonage was built, nearly opposite this structure, and was used as such until the late 20th century. With dwindling attendance mid-late century, this church merged with the Norton Hill church in 1973, the combination becoming the United Methodist Church of Greenville and Norton Hill.

The Greenville Free Academy baseball team of 1930-1931 poses: top, left to right: Charles Raddick, Bill Vaughn, Lefty (Reinhold) Schermer, Chuck Burgess, Charles Winans, Don Blenis, Maynard Makely, Scott Ellis; front: Elmer Carlson, Arnold Nicholsen, Lee Cunningham, Roland Young, Joe Slater, Ken Lawyer; Sitting: Russ Baumann, John Zivelli.

As one looks downstream from the Basic Creek Bridge in Freehold near the end of the 19th century, Jennings’ Grist Mill (right) marks a commercial center that had served Freehold since its founding. The mill building was built in the early 1800s and when it was torn down in the early 1900s, its wood was recycled, with part of it used to build a barn on the current Simone farm (formerly Mygatt and Hunt) on Weed Road. Only foundation stones of the mill remain. Across the creek is the local legend, Cow Slip, a large rock that slid from the cliff, killing, according to local lore, a farmer’s cow. In the inset, the tree and the corner of Ruby’s Restaurant obscures the site of the old mill.

William S. Vanderbilt built this Victorian residence on South Street, Greenville for his family residence in 1889. In 1952, Pierce and Ruth Stevens purchased the property, including house and carriage house, and began the transition to a 20-bedroom boarding house—Greenville Arms—a perfect place to raise four daughters while welcoming guests. As vacationing trends changed, Greenville Arms became a destination for travelers who enjoyed country inns. In 1980, daughters Laura and Barbara Stevens became the innkeepers and, soon after, they founded the Hudson River Valley Painting Workshops to draw artists to Greene County. The workshops thrived and, when Tish and Eliot Dalton purchased the inn in 1989, they expanded the art program. In 2004, ownership passed to Kim and Mark LaPolla, who not only maintained the Hudson River Valley Art Workshops but also enhanced their year-round calendar by instituting Fiber Arts Workshops. A gift shop features their homemade fine chocolates. Now known as the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn, this South Street landmark continues to serve as a symbol of Greenville hospitality and of the boarding house history.

Powell’s Store (and before as Stevens’ Store) long served Norton Hill until mid-20th century; the building was then used for different businesses (Rich’s Floor Covering, Liberti’s Pizza, among others). The next chapter of usefulness comes when the Methodist Church purchased the building in 2000, renovated it, and today utilizes the Powell Store Thrift Shop as a community asset once again. Residents, long-time and newly arrived, appreciate the preservation efforts that once again restore a venerable piece of our history. The inset shows the older Stevens’ store.

Serving the Greenville area for over forty years, the Greenville Rescue Squad continues, on a volunteer basis, to serve the area’s emergency medical needs. This effort took form in 1972, with many tireless community members volunteering to serve Greenville, through active membership or helping with fundraising for vehicles or as support. This class of 1973 Medical Emergency Technicians are: (back, l-r) R. Wells, Bob Carl, Bette Welter, Ed Beechert, Paul Augstein, Cliff Powell, Bob Tyrrell, Dave Battini, Dolores Soldner, Harriet Van Benthuysen, Dave Van Benthuysen. Sitting: Liz Carl, Phyllis Beechert, Pat Caldwell, Dolly Barkman, Mickey Hauge, Eileen Wells, Evie Shea. Missing: Jack Kudlack, Pat Elsbree. The inset shows Ronnie Campbell, Frank Tiberi, and an unidentified woman during a 1983 fund-raising drive.

Except for a few undependable fording spots, bridges of all sizes and types were needed to cross Greenville’s waterways to ensure safe passage. The largest creek flowing through the Town of Greenville, the Basic Creek, is crossed three times within town boundaries, with Scripture (Scriptor) Bridge the northernmost crossing at SR 81. This early 20th century photo shows a classic bridge structure of that time, while the insets show the preparation for the newest bridge as well as a view from below.

Freehold’s Main Street (CR 67) lies in the grip of winter. The two buildings on the left were torn down in the 1960s or earlier. The leftmost was the residence of Will Whitbeck, whose descendants still settle the area; Will’s wife was the telephone switchboard operator that was located in the front room. The second building was used for a barbershop (Burdick, at one time), then moved backward several dozen feet during Will’s time. Of course, the next building is the Freehold Country Store (past owners: Lacy, Wood, Hall, Harr, Nugent, Valentine, Nelsen, Dudley) which has anchored Freehold’s northwest corner for well over a century. Behind the “straighter” wood pole is Doc Lacy’s house, on the east side of what would become State Route 32. The inset shows the parking lot that gives no evidence of past structures.

Methodist Church, Greenville, on South Street

Seated on his horse-drawn cutter, Harry Adriance waits for his wife Millie (person with back toward camera) to voyage home on Hill Street on a wintry day in 1939. In a scene reminiscent from an earlier century (if not for the 1930s-vintage cars), this photo was taken from the upper story of the Pioneer Insurance building (southwest corner of Greenville, today the Town Offices). Across the street is SR 32 heading north, with the large colonial house on the corner (the gas station replaced it in mid-1940s), a small building that once served as the Greenville Local printing shop, Wessel’s garage (a blacksmith shop previously), with the elms on the left edging the Greenville pond. In the 2014 inset, Harry and Millie’s daughter Carol duplicates her mother’s position.

The recently windswept, barren northeast corner of Greenville’s center sports new life with the advent of Corner Station Café, owned by Tom Briggs and Brian Wickes. A classic colonial clapboard house, with a picket fence, had graced the corner until the mid-1940s (see January), followed by a gas station that served Greenville’s auto needs until about 2010 (inset, 1996). This transformation is most welcome in Greenville but even more so here as it serves as one of the focal points for travelers entering Greenville. The inset shows owner Tom Briggs.

The Greenville Irish American Club, as it has since 1974, organizes the St Patrick’s Day Parade. Leading this year’s parade (posing inside) are: front—Ed Barry, Gene Wallace, Betty Hayden, Anne Lafferty, Agnes Killilea, Anna Mullen; back—Pat Barry, Jack Kelly, Joe Walsh. The Greenville Irish American Club (25th Anniversary Booklet cover in inset) not only sponsors this annual parade but also supports a variety of charitable efforts through two dinner-dances, and other fundraisers. The other inset shows a crowd favorite: the bagpipes—with John Gallagher leading The Band of Greene County.

This faded lettering on Greene County Highway Department #4 quietly attests to the dream of Virgil (Junior) Phinney (and other Board members Len Gardiner, Eugene Schmollinger, and Judge Jack Fromer) of producing the Jodel airplane under the company name of Iroquois Aviation. Located about one mile west of Freehold on CR 67, the Phinney farm (formerly Lusk, circa 1800) started a transformation in the late 1950s, first, into a short airstrip, and later, into a half-mile runway, necessitating the removal of two stonewalls and the leveling of terrain. With Phinney’s death in April 1963, so too did the plans for this building. The name Jodel is memorialized as the middle name of one of Junior’s granddaughters. The inset shows a heady day in the early 1960s, with Junior behind the video (publicity program) and the freshly painted sign.

The 1917 haying season is underway on the George Conklin farm on Newry Rd—about a quarter mile south of its intersection in Newry with CR 38 (the road to Shepard’s Resort). The photo views the south field (east side of the road) and looks downhill, or south. A scattered row of elm trees line the road that intersects with Irving Rd before meeting CR 26. Visible through the tree row is the next farm, on the west side of the road. The inset, looking down and south from the house’s driveway, shows nature reclaiming unused fields.

Area communities fielded baseball teams of adult men, providing enjoyable entertainment as well as fierce rivalry. The Greenville team of about 1920 featured: (standing) John Sanford, Walter Stevens, Wilbur Cornell, Earl Davis, Elmer Cornell, John Lowe, Orrin Stevens; Seated: Donald Wade, Leslie Wade, William Stevens, Phillip McCabe, and Harry Lockwood.

Jack and Clara Welter had bought a farmhouse/boarding house from her parents in 1945 on CR 26 near the junction of Newry Road, making improvements (third story, motel unit, casino, lake) that typified the nearly 30 resorts that hosted thousands of guests to the Greenville area in the early-mid-1960s. The main house became Santa’s Pizzeria, which burned in an all-consuming fire in March 1999. Today, only the motel unit survives, bearing the faintest of testimony to the boarding house heyday in Greenville. The photo is of 1950s vintage; the inset shows the main house before the third story was added.

Almost sixty years ago, Grandpa Millard Felter proudly posed with grandchildren Ralene and Lew Knott in August 1956, at his home on Rt 32, a hundred yards south of Hill Street. Millard had owned a farm on Cedar Lane since 1910 before moving into the hamlet in 1932. Recently, Lew and Ralene once again posed with Grandpa’s still working 1950 Farmall Cub.

Many a traveler has restored their body and soul at the Freehold House over the last two hundred plus years. Once a stage stop on the Schoharie Turnpike, the inn/boarding house that anchors the southeast corner of Freehold, was owned by the Parks family, and their relatives, for most of the 20th century. This photo, apparently taken from the middle of the four corners, shows a scene tentatively dated about 1920. Nearly a dozen other Freehold houses advertised for guests, with most closing by the 1950s and reverting to private residences. The Freehold House (Parks Hotel, Freehold Country Inn, Green Dish, Hamlet, etc.) was most recently renovated in 1999, generally utilized as a fine dining and event establishment.

The 1946 Price List from Stevens Hills Garden is proof of botanical excellence and curiosity in Greenville. James (“Uncle Jim”) Stevens, in his methodical and inquisitive style, razed a couple outbuildings in 1939 and proceeded over the next fifteen years to devote a dozen garden beds to Hemerocallis, otherwise known as the daylily. Using his bank of index cards for systematic research, he would cross-pollinate, eventually creating fourteen new species of daylilies—among them the Pink Damask, Samarkand, Tinker Bell, and Peter Pan. James traveled widely showing his work, was known nationally, and won prestigious awards—nearly ten from The American Hemerocallis Society and three from The Royal Horticultural Society of England. From his residence and farm, located at the top of the first rise on CR 26 leaving Greenville, James Stevens would share his specialty with community members of similar interests. Born in 1898, deceased in 1969, James was also involved in the Pioneer Insurance Company.

Although East Durham had included Freehold in its fire district, its extensive coverage caused citizens of the Freehold area to found the Freehold Fire Company in October 1945. First based at the former Freehold school house, the company expanded to adapt to the times. The last major adaptation came in 1987 when a four bay building was proudly erected. Recent times has found staffing a difficulty, a far cry from the late 1980s when nearly 70 community members filled a roster. Two of the family names that have served in leadership positions are Maxwell (grandfather Wm., Sr.; father Wm., Jr.; and grandson Mike) and Hempstead (father Everett and son Rich). The Ladies Auxiliary formed in 1962. Pictures show, upper left, clockwise: the schoolhouse and hall before the 1987 construction; current day structures; two Chevrolet fire trucks; and a 1971 photo of FFC leaders: William Maxwell, Jr., George Brown, Larry Waldron, William Maxwell, Sr., James Becker, August Spinner, Ray Bennett, and Bill Tobin.

The Norton Hill Methodist Church has served the religious needs of the community since 1873, a surprisingly late date for a hamlet’s first church. Previously, the community had availed themselves of neighboring churches in West Greenville and Greenville. In 1973 the Norton Hill Methodist Church merged with the Greenville Asbury Methodist Church to form The United Methodist Church of Greenville and Norton Hill. Structural additions included a Sunday School wing, sanctuary space, a meeting hall (the former school house), and the Carney Center (located behind the church); the church has also utilized the Stevens/Elliott House (on its west side) and most recently the former Powell/Stevens store (on its east side).

Mildred Reinhardt’s sketch graces the 2016 cover. The Botsford house rests two houses past the Greenville post office on Route 81 west. Its Victorian color scheme surprised Greenville residents in 1990 when owner June Clark re-painted her house based on the results of a paint chip analysis. The house was placed on the State and National Register of Historic Places following four years of research that linked the Botsfords to early planters from England and distant family links with the Hudson River School painter, Frederick Church.

Some of Greenville’s most dramatic snow drifts have plagued Carelas’s Hill, about a half-mile south of Greenville on SR 32. Carol Adriance poses inside one of the carved out corners during the 1957 winter. An innocent 2015 springtime shot of the same area is shown in the inset. Carelas’s Hill, also known as Fish Hill or Budd Hill, overlooks Lake Barbara, still known to many as Carelas’s Lake.

A snowbank edged South Street (Rt 32) leads northward toward the Hill Street intersection before depositing travelers into Greenville’s four corners. Taken from the road in front of Millard Felter’s mid-1950s house, this photo frames, on the left, the Reinhardt property and the Methodist Church (Upstream Reality, 2015), and, on the right, the houses bordering Hill Street. Cathedral-like elm trees arch upward, perhaps the last twenty years of their prominence in Greenville’s landscape. The inset shows a Spring 2015 angle.

The selling of the American dream and the highlighting the charms of the Greenville area has been the profession of our realtors. Two of our career crafters of this calling include: (left) Anne Lafferty was born in Ireland, came to NYC from London in 1963, married her husband Patrick in 1964, and has three children—John, Eileen and Margaret. Anne moved here in 1974, started in real estate in 1978 before opening her own business, Anne Lafferty Realty on South Street, Greenville in 1983; (right) Virginia (Ginny) Mangold was born in Ridgefield Park, NJ, moved with her family to South Westerlo in 1945, graduated with the GCS Class of 1954, married Bob Mangold in 1956, and has five children—Rob, Jeff, Michael, Kim & PattiAnn. Ginny started working in real estate in 1984 before creating her own business, Virginia Mangold Realty, on North Street, Greenville, and also on Creamery Rd, South Westerlo, in 2001 and continuing until present.

The Greenville Volunteer Fire Company formed in September 1939, serving the Greenville, Norton Hill and Surprise areas. Their first vehicle, a 1939 Sanford 500-gallons-per-minute pumper, was delivered the following month, with a procession of vehicles to follow over the years since and a long history of fund-raisers that the community supported. After utilizing at least two different sites on Main Street for storage of equipment, the fire company purchased the Stevens Shop in 1957 which still houses the Greenville vehicles (2015). Besides providing safety for homeowners, the fire company continues to serve as one of the town’s most significant social centers. The inset shows the fire company parading, with their 1956 Chevrolet keeping pace, in a Greene County Fire Convention hosted by Greenville, possibly 1969. The large photo is the 2014 Installation Dinner; identifications are on the inside back cover.

A new tradition graced the Greenville area during Summer 2015. Joining the live ducks were forty-six Quackers, drawing attention from hundreds of travelers. Initiated by the Greenville Beautification Project, the Quacktastic Ducks were sponsored by local businesses and individuals, painted by area artists, publicized on Facebook, photographed by Beth Schneck, and auctioned in Autumn 2015 with the proceeds going to the Greenville Beautification Project and to the Greenville Educational Foundation. The tradition of live ducks on the pond goes back more than fifty years—“donated” by a community member for the season, fed by many, and reclaimed for safekeeping for winter. John Hull has provided the ducks for the past twenty years; Mrs. Huested and Mr. McCarthy provided ducks and care forty and fifty years ago, according to local sources.

A rare 1950s aerial gives testimony to the nature of the typical farm in agricultural Greenville, with farm house, a larger barn, and outbuildings. For almost thirty years, current owners Dave and Marybeth Tschinkel and family have sold round and square hay bales, harvested wood, and raised Pygmy goats on their Plattekill Road farm, about a quarter mile off SR 32. Previously, the Ansbacher family had operated a dairy farm here from the 1930s until the 1980s; before that, the Carlsons resided here, with Mr. Carlson operating a barbershop in his home, with reports of the barber’s chair ring still pressed on the hardwood floor. The property had been part of a larger tract that stretched to the Basic Creek and included what is today J.P. North’s. Dave and Marybeth first purchased a 17 acre farm and have enlarged the farm to 100 acres since their 1988 purchase. One inset shows James, Khrystyne, Marybeth, and Dave in front of the farm house; the other shows the barn that the Tschinkels have saved from ruin.

Emmalissa McClusky O’Hara and Josephine O’Hara pose about 1930 in front of the 1870 O’Hara Homestead, a stone’s throw west of the center of O’Hara’s Corners, the junction of O’Hara Road and Shipley Road. Born in Ballandary, Ireland, Peter O’Hara escaped English harassment and possible death to start a new life in the United States about 1800. He and wife Lucretia Darbee would bear most of their fifteen children at the original homestead (burned in 1929), a couple hundred yards west of the house shown. Great-great-grandsons John and Peter O’Hara (inset) still maintain the O’Hara presence today—Peter living in the house shown, John spending summers next door.

The Talmadge-Irving House, located on North Street, has undergone an extensive renovation under the care of Don Irving and Matthew Terry. Originally built in the mid 1700's, the house was moved in 1790 to make room for the Talmadge/Atwater residence across the street. The Irving family bought the house in the late 1800's and it has remained in the family ever since. The property has been painstakingly reinvented while retaining its vintage charm. The GLHG applauds the renovation/restoration of properties that re-invigorate the character of the town.

The Schubert Choral Club poses in April, 1933 in the Asbury Methodist Church, South Street, Greenville. This group, according to Ella Tryon Powell notes, gave concerts for about ten years before the Second World War. Back row: Nicholas Rose, Harold Worth, Mr. Koehler, Walter Birkett, Peter Dumary, Curtis Dumary, Merle Powell, Eugene Keyser, Rhodell Stanton, Charles Stranahan; Middle: Mr. Rennis, Margaret Beylegaard, Ella Tryon, Leona Ingalls, Elgirtha Ellis, Danetta Lennon, Lucy Gardner, Ruby Rundell, Helen Woodruff, Phoebe Rundell, Hester Story, Lela Lennon, Mrs. Arloff, Hilda Story, Madeline Rundell, Margaret Ingalls, Anna Wickham, Margaret Matthews, Eleanor Ingalls, Hattie Wickes, Ruth Tryon, Bertha Powell, Hawley Conklin; Front: Fred Bleezarde, Howard Spaulding, Gladys, Beylegaard, Ruth Slater, Ethel Ray, Rolland Heermance (director), Esther DeHeus, Eva Bott, Emily Duntz, Paul Augstein, Phillip Lockwood; Missing: George Abrams, Mrs. Birkett.

A circa 1910 colorized post card shows a placid, not-yet-paved North Street (Rt 32) leading northward from Freehold’s four corners. A portion of the Sutton house peeks from the right, with the Sutton Garage hidden from view just beyond the house. On the left, Antus’s barn leads the way up the west side of the street as it winds toward Sunny Hill Rd. Just out of view, off the lower left side would be The Freehold Store. The inset approximates the same view a century later.

The graceful house of Elsie Roe long held a convenient spot between the Greenville pond and Cunningham’s Funeral Home. Many remember Elsie in the mid-20th century as a taker of boarders at her Park House, as the telephone bill collector, editor of the Greenville Local, as well as other activities. The house was razed in the early 1960s to make way for the Coxsackie National Bank (inset).

The warm glow of Christmas lighting emanating from The Westerner adds to Greenville’s Holiday spirit. Built in 1967 and operated by Richard, William and Jennie Irving, the business celebrates its 49th year in 2016 and has been reimagined by third-generation owners Don Irving & Matthew Terry.

Episcopal Church, sketch by Debra Teator

This unusual angle starts a couple hundred feet south of Greenville’s four corners and looks northward. On the far left is a glimpse of the decks and roof of the Greenville Hotel, an important stop on the Coxsackie Turnpike that connected Greenville and westward points heading to the Susquehanna Turnpike and to the Schoharie Valley. Scanning left to right, the viewer looks across the pond to the Greenville Academy; up North Road (Rt 32) between the parade of elm trees; and, on the right, the stately house and picket fence that occupied the northeast corner until the gas station took its place in the mid-1940s which then yielded recently to the new restaurant.

Assessment rolls for the Town of Greenville, starting as early as 1889 and apparently ending in 1950, gave a public view of each taxpayer in town. Depending on the year, the annual roll noted the number of dogs, number of acres, type of property, assessed value, general tax owed, and highway tax owed. Shown is an S page of 1937, eighty years ago, with many familiar names. Why such a booklet ceased publication is not known. However, the tension between transparency and privacy still plays out decades after the printing of the last booklet.

Russell and Abby Carlsen (inset) have invited connoisseurs of the antique world into Carlsen Gallery since 1983. Conducted a half-dozen times a year at this regionally known venture, Carlsen Gallery attracts hundreds—in person, by telephone, and online. Russ has lived in the Greenville area his entire life and graduated with the GCS Class of 1967. Russ and Abby have two children: son Josh, serving as Gallery Administrator at Carlsen Gallery, and daughter Kayla. Russ’s parents Tom and Catherine had operated the Trivet Antique Shop on Shipley Road in the 1960s and 1970s, thus immersing Russ in the antique world. The photo shows Russ auctioneering at a January 2016 auction on his Rt 32 structure, a mile north of Freehold, the current location from which the Carlsens have operated since September 1991.

Cora Stanton Brown, succeeding her mother Frances Stanton, turned an ordinary farm house into the classic early 1900’s boarding house to help support the family. Started as Balsam Shade Retreat in 1886, it was renamed the Stanton-Brown Farm until the 1960s when it ceased taking guests. Along with an annex on the other corner, about 30 guests could be accommodated when full. Today, Brown’s Farm still anchors the southwest corner of the Carter Bridge and Old Plank Roads in Norton Hill. Cora’s youngest son, Leland Brown, and wife Arlene have lived in the former resort since 1976, maintaining the farm and outbuildings while raising five children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandsons. The inset shows the Lee and Arlene’s family “tree.”

Marion and Leroy Phinney, with son Chester, pose in front of their house, date unspecified but likely the turn of the 20th century. Set next to the house on the southwest corner in Freehold and facing the Freehold Country Store, this structure has seen over three-quarters of a century of use as a pub, bar, and social center, starting with Adolph Kuhn’s Steak House in mid-century; followed by Bruce and Lana Morton’s Scottish Pub; then Jim, Jeannette, and Kim Valentine’s Morton’s Pub; and currently, for the past dozen years, by Wayne Nelsen as the Freehold Country Pub (inset). The back section of the pub, not seen in the photo, was added in 1941.

Whether it be deep snow, strong winds, frigid temperatures, heat waves, high water, freshets, drought, etc., Greenville area residents talk about, are affected by, and remember these events. A common visitor to Greenville’s four corners is high water, this one from June 24, 1944. Upper left shows Wessel’s Garage in center (Deyo blacksmith previous, Mangold Realty today). Upper right shows the Pioneer Building, today the Town Hall; beyond is the Corner Restaurant (razed in the early 1960s) and in the foreground was a shed/garage used by the Greenville Hotel and then used to store the town’s fire truck. Beneath each photo is the current spot.

Owners Mr. and Mrs. Content with their daughters, pose in front of their Red Mill Road residence, Linker Oever. The name is Dutch for "Left Bank," a humorous reference to the Left Bank in Paris. They purchased the house in 2004. Working with talented architect Paul Rousselle, the Contents revitalized the exterior with a new peak roof and a stone terrace. They have striven to uphold the history of past occupants of the house including members of the Howard and Flack families. The inset shows the house in the early 1990s. The GLHG continues to commend community members, long-time or recently acquainted, who restore, renovate, or upgrade historic structures, improving the ambiance of the community, even those set on our back roads.

The Office Force, along with the Elective Officers, pose in front of the Pioneer Building in July 1958. Front row: Marion Bryan, Frances Hladik, Cynthia Ford, Marie Shaw; Second row: Beryl Horton, Shirley Teator, Gail Welter, Phyllis McKnight, Ann Milett, G. Irene Tompkins; Third row: Anne Youmans, Joan Tallman, Anne Pollack, Loretta Lounsbury, Joan Kinscheaf, Sabina Barber, Wilma Ingalls, Helen Nordlund; Fourth row: R. C. O’Keefe, C. Homer Hook, Charles Thomas, Harry A. Backer, Carl Schultz, Walton Nordlund, David Elsbree, Maxwell S. Palmer, Pierce W. Stevens, George C. Morgan. The insurance company had its start in Greenville in 1856 as the Village Fire Insurance Company, enduring until about 2000. In 2003, the Town of Greenville purchased the building for its Town Hall.

The “Knights of the Round Table” gather around the wood stove at Gus Baker’s, possibly in 1936, to listen to a World Series Game. Gus Baker’s Store, starting about 1927, sat on East Main Street, the site known as Sanford’s or Hynes Bar and Restaurant or Tavern on Main. The building was razed to make way for Country True Value Hardware and today is Kelly’s Pharmacy. Back row: Oscar Bogardus, John Lowe, John Craw Nip Burgess, Crow Griffin, Robert Gelchion, Cy Story, Bill Byrnes, Speed Denton, and Gus Baker. Sitting next to the stove: Ford Rundell, Lee Cunningham; setting up scoreboard: Marshal Baker; foreground, Joe Krauss, Kenneth Baker.

The Greenville Volunteer Fire Company Auxiliary formed in 1968 in anticipation of the 1969 Greene County Convention. Thirty-three members joined that first year, with officers President Carolyn Olsen, Vice President Ruth Ahlf, Secretary Shirley Goggin, and Treasurer Lillian Hauge. In the almost fifty years since, the Auxiliary have served the Greenville area side by side with the Volunteer Fire Company, reacting to emergency situations, fund-raising for improved equipment and vehicles, and creating a social fabric that comprises an integral element of Greenville’s character. The 2015 Christmas Party found, front: president Sonia Greiner, vice-president Karen Winnie, treasurer Cindy Lampman, and secretary Eileen Wells; back: Frances Sickles, Maureen Oleksiw (guest), Irene VanWie, Mae Ullstrom (guest), Amy Gossman, Joyce Jones (guest), and Phyllis Beechert. Missing from photo are Murilene Cronk, Debra Danner, Melissa Dunican, Terrie Koeppe, Anneliese Krauss, Lucy Masterson, Laura Sayers and Eileen Silvia. The inset is probably of the 1969 convention.

The Judith and David Rundell house of North Street, opposite the elementary school, has traveled in its lifetime. It first sat on the west side of Rt 32, approximately on the center front lawn of today’s elementary school. When the district centralized in 1930, David’s father Ford sold land to the new central school district. The Rundell residence was moved across the street where it rests today, turned ninety degrees clockwise, with the former front door now facing the Episcopal Church. The 1993 GLHG calendar photo showed the house resting on Rt 32 at the end of the Day 1 move, to be completed the following day. The inset shows David standing where the family house stood.

This simple brochure marks one of the key events of 20th century Greenville. A national need for improved educational opportunities and Greenville’s burgeoning student population had raised calls for a centralized school district in the 1920s. A positive district vote in 1930 led to construction, with an opening set for the 1932-1933 school year. Today, that building is the Scott M. Ellis Elementary building. The front and inside panels are reproduced; the back panel contained the words of America and The Star Spangled Banner. (See November)

The Botsford House has graced Greenville’s West Main Street (two houses west of the post office) for 125 years. The house gained local attention about 1990 when owner June Clark, upon completion of a paint chip analysis, repainted the house to its original multi-hued colors. Clark’s efforts led to placement of the Botsford House on the National and NYS Historic Registers. The cover sketch is signed by June Mead Daniels, 1992.

In a Freehold scene created almost every winter since the hamlet’s settlement in the late 1700s, this photo captures a snowy four corners in an undated photo but possibly of the 1930s. The view is from about fifty yards south of the four corners on today’s SR 32 looking northward. From left to right: Charlie Goodfellow’s photo shop front peeks into the photo (2017-Tilley), Morrison house on the corner (2017-apartments), Hall & Wood Store just visible through the trees (2017-Freehold Country Store/Dudley), the columned Antus house on the bend of the road (no longer existing), Doc Lacy’s house (2017-Cutting Corner) and finally Park’s Hotel on far right (2005-Freehold Country Inn).

This superbly detailed photo documents one of Greenville’s widely remembered restaurants. Although the donor of this photo identified it as Gus Baker’s (Main Street, Greenville, site of current Kelly’s Pharmacy), Gus’s grandchildren Ken Baker and Barbara Van Auken cautioned that it could be of the previous owner, Joe Ennis. All the calendars are open to May 1937, as is the A. J. Cunningham calendar directly above the napkin holder on the center table.

Progress came to Norton Hill when Ruth and Lou Chiamese established Chime’s Market in 1969. Groundbreaking commenced on April 2, with the Grand Opening Celebration on August 16 & 17. The land had previously belonged to Lorraine and Mervin Tryon, with an additional lot purchased from Viola and John I VerPlanck. Office space on the side and back was also created. For the past twenty years, Frank and Rosa Multari have operated the building as Greene Hill Cafe (inset).

Jack and Maureen VerPlanck pose beside the stone monument at the town park in Norton Hill thirty five years after its installation. The inset shows Jack and his mother Viola, in a photo from the June 2, 1983 Greenville Local issue, at the unveiling of the monument and plaque in honor of John I. VerPlanck (inset, father of Jack). John I, as he was familiarly called, was a life-long Norton Hill resident, well-known businessman, and beloved character about whom many stories are still told. An unrelated plaque on the back of the monument reads: Flowering Trees / In Memory of / Jimmy Adams / 9-52 to 1-82. Adams was a son of Norman and Edna (Ingalls) Adams, beloved nephew of Len and Claribel (Ingalls) Gardiner, and an aviator at Freehold Airport before a tragic accident claimed his life in St. Croix. The park is located at the intersection of SR 81 and New Ridge Road.

One hundred American flags sprouted in the weeks before Memorial Day 2017 on the property near the entry to Vanderbilt Park, Rt 32, one-half mile north of the four corners. Sponsored by American Legion Post 291, the Field of Flags project is dedicated in tribute to current and former military members. Posing for this photo are, left to right: Don Bey, Don Savino, Skip Spinner, Ray Albin, George ”Buddy” Soldner, James Goode Jr, and Jack Kelly.

Fifty years ago, the Class of 1968 posed for their graduation photo which would accompany the other graduation photos in the main hallway of Greenville Central School (today’s elementary building), continuing a tradition that had started in 1930 with the creation of the school district. The Class of 1968 would be the last class to graduate from this building. The Class of 1969 started their senior year in the “old” building, becoming the first to graduate from the new High School-Middle School, and the tradition of hallway graduation photos was not continued. The Class of 1968 – First Row, Left to Right: Robert M. Tallman, John A. Bensen, Craig W. Jennings, Katherine J. Ormsbee, Mae B. Baitsholts, Jacqueline Cameron, Linda L. Staunch, Christiane Elsbree, Christopher DeGiovine, Darcy Lynn Griffin, Raymonde P. Hinsberger, Patricia Ann Bear, Carol Ann Soldner, Doris Elizabeth Reidel, Renate Dreher, Ross J. Andersen, George T. Vroman, Michael E. Kuhar; Second Row: Douglas C. Story, Nelson E. Selmer, Henry F. Werker, Florence E. Low, Ralene Lenore Knott, Deborah A. Fallarino, Jeannette Patton, Karen Gale Steeber, Norma Lee Pettit, Dorothy J. Fishlinger, Jean A. Stock, Rosemarie Kuhar, Sandra Ann Olmsted, Cynthia Ann Fox, Linda L. Tanner, David L. Steele, William F. McCafferty; Third Row: Kenneth P. Andresen, Charles R. Williams, Terry L. Williams, Beverly A. Hempstead, Susan Haverly, Jolanda Csontos, Nancy Ann Sabolik, Christine B. Jennings, Rise Jean Van Iderstine, Dorothy A. Augstein, Linda F. Berk, Gloria Jean Waldron, Martha A. Rivenburgh, Craig A. Kummer, Robert W. Werner: Fourth Row: John Boyle, Craig L. Matthews, Barry M. Chase, Arthur C. Bender, Kenneth Wayne Turon, Philip Michael Winegard, Thomas M. Vadney, Robert A. Furko, Kenneth Bruce Zarcone, Steven B. Johannesen, William H. Hoare; Fifth Row: William F. Oravsky, Paul L. Alix, Thomas J. Johannesen, Donald Wetmore, Grant G. Hahne, Thomas A. Elliott, Thomas G.M. Mirabelli, Michael G. Knowles, Kenneth G. Layman.

This circa 1905 photo shows a view toward Greenville’s four corners from “Stevens’ Hill” with its cornfield and orchards. On the far left is the steeple of the Presbyterian Church (Prevost Hall). The bigger building in front of that is Cunningham’s Funeral Home. Just to the right is the Elsie Roe house, razed in the 1960s to make way for the National Bank of Coxsackie. On the far right stands the Vanderbilt house (Greenville Arms). Closest to the viewer, in the center of the photo is the carriage shed for the Vanderbilt house, still part of Greenville Arms. Almost all other buildings no longer exist. The two-tiered roofed building is the Greenville Theater; the building and its side yard is pre-Mary’s and pre-Cumberland’s. Other buildings in the maze of structures in the center include the Greenville Hotel (site of Town Building) and Hartt’s Store (site of parking lot of the Town Building). In the center distance, just below the tree line lies the Greenville Cemetery.

One of the area’s most vibrant resorts of the 20th century, Pleasant View Lodge started when Eugene and Ria Schmollinger bought the Shult farm on CR 67, about two miles east of Freehold, in 1940. Over the course of the next fifty years, they and their sons Robert and especially Ralph developed a destination resort with a 9-hole golf course, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, softball, basketball and tennis facilities, a bar and ballroom, three restaurants, and a capacity of over 300 guests. (The insets show the old farmhouse in 1940, and the indoor pool possibly in the 1970s.) In 1994, the resort was sold to new owners, renamed Thunderhart, and the golf course was later expanded to its current 18-hole configuration. When neighboring Sunny Hill Resort, owned by The Nicholsen family, acquired the "new" Thunderhart at Sunny Hill in 2007, a 36-hole golf complex was created with the merging of the two courses.

Originally known as Locust Manor, this former boarding house entertained guests from New York City for many years. Currently resided by Beth (Blenis) Hulbert, the house is located at the Surprise intersection of SR 81 and Willowbrook Rd, greeting travelers as they head westward from Coxsackie on their way to Surprise, Murder Bridge Hill, Horton’s Corners (intersection with Highland Rd), Greenville, and points westward. Built approximately 1840, the home has been in the Boyd/Blenis family for over 100 years. The house was owned previously by Luman and Edna Boyd, followed by their son Howard. With family help in 2007, Barry, Blaine, and Gina restored and updated the interior and exterior, adding the two car garage in keeping with the architecture of the house. Gracing the front lawn are uncle Dennis R. Blenis, father Barry G. Blenis, Beth A. Hulbert, brother Blaine R. Blenis, sister-in-law Gina (Gundersen) Blenis, and cousin Daniel L. Blenis. The GLHG applauds the renovation/restoration of properties that re-invigorate the character of the town. The inset shows a 1990 photo.

A placid day in 1938 Greenville shows a scene both similar and different from 2018. Taken from the pond’s spillway, the photo shows the Wessel Garage (Socony sign), today the site of Mangold Realty (site of blacksmith shop, Flach’s Barbershop). Just to the left is a house that many remember as the Perkowski house, today the Greenville Pioneer newspaper building (Andrea Macko). To the left of that house, nestled behind the trees and alongside the cemetery driveway, stood the white house associated with Charlotte Story, and no longer standing.

Fifty-six years after forming in 1962, the Freehold Volunteer Fire Company Auxiliary continues to uphold an original bylaw to “render assistance to the Freehold Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. in every way possible and create a feeling of good fellowship among our members.” Charter members included president Dodie Maxwell, vice-president Norma Busch, recording secretary Mildred Mangold, treasurer Barbara Baron, chaplain Margaret Charlton, guard Mabel Brokaw, as well as regular members Sandra Noirot, Ethel Hempstead, Theora Henderson, Marge Harr, Eleanor Tegtmeier, Marjorie Allen, Dorothy Collins, Doris Hempstead, Marjorie Bennett, Joan Blakeslee, Caroline Dreher, Natalie Maxwell, Lillian Simpson, and Rosemarie Preisner. This 2017 Annual Dinner shows: Front: president Roseann Dudley Beck, vice-president Dodie Maxwell, treasurer Theresa Hoch, recording secretary Maryanne Rarick; Back: Donna De Rose, Pat Rubin, director Michele Weidman, Bonnie Staunch, director Tracy Mauriello; Absent: Barbara Licata, director Anna Dudley, Amanda Dudley, chaplain Liza Vanderpyle. The inset shows the Freehold Auxiliary at a Greenville parade.

The transition of transportation technology is captured in this wintry scene in Freehold of a horse-drawn bobsled carrying the Phinney truck. Dated possibly in the 1920s, the photo shows Osman and Fanny Phinney standing on the truck bed and in front of their house and property located one mile west of the hamlet on today’s CR 67. The house was owned by the Phinney family for most of the 20th century, with part of the property becoming an airplane landing strip before expanding into the Freehold Airport about 1960. The inset shows current day view.

Presbyterian Church

A favorite Greenville site to photograph, the Greenville Pond is particularly photogenic in the winter, especially in winters past when the ice froze regularly and the snow that fell was cleared to make way for skaters. This scene shows a game of Snap the Whip, where a line of skaters held hands and skated a circle, with the outermost skaters moving the fastest and usually the first to “snap” the connection. Although undated, the photo is believed to be of the 1910-1920 era, after the old Academy was razed in 1905 and replaced by this building (now the main part of the Library) but before the classroom addition of the mid-1920s.

Generations of the Richardson family have serviced the well-drilling needs of the Greenville area and beyond. This circa 1920 photo, believed to be in the Rt 26 area near Grapeville, shows, on the right side of the photo, George Richardson and his son Clifton G. Richardson, Sr. George had started his business about 1910, married Edna Vincent, and they had nine children. Three of these children – Clifton, Sr.; Alfred; and Ernest – continued the business together as Richardson Bros. until the 1940s. Clifton Sr., married Dorothy Winn and had five children, with two of the sons – Clifton Jr. (Sonny) and Milton – continuing in the business, this time as C. Richardson and Sons Well Drilling and Pump Service. Sonny married Anna Plass, had two children, with son Clifton G Richardson III continuing with the pump and well service business. Cliff III married Phyllis Teator and their son Jared currently assists in the business. The inset shows Cliff and son Jared.

One of the area’s noted natural landmarks came to a crashing end one quiet night in April 2018. The centuries-old oak tree at the rear of the Freehold Church (inset) was featured in the November 1994 calendar. The five-foot diameter trunk crashed across the Freehold Cemetery stonewall, creating a clean-up situation for the Freehold Cemetery Board. Within a month, and with considerable volunteer effort and work by Ben Buel, Tom and Lorrie Spinner, Bud Vanderpyle, and Charlie Henderson, the proud oak is now a historical memory. Another inset shows the current, no-tree space.

The Greenville Central School Class of 1950 poses for this classic pose of their Senior Trip to Washington, D.C., a destination de rigueur for most senior classes into the 1970s. (married names in parenthesis) Front: Herb Ford, Zan Bryant, Merton Tripp, Carl Carsen, Jimmy Moore, Francis Turpin, Robert Knutelsky, Robert May, Charles Eufemia, Robert Elliott, Ernest Millet, David Kent, Richard Elpel, Louis Eldridge. Back: Lorete Leicht (Sanders), Marian Finch (Schwebler), Carol Thompson (Bryant), Virginia Hale (Turpin), Miss Josephine Maggio, Ruth Cowhey (White), Miss Muriel Harding, Shirley Von Linden, Berle Horton (Carley), Ruth Zimmerman (Chebuske), June Tallman (Lounsbury), Mildred Vanatta (Pitts), Marlene Hesse (Tiedermann), Gladys Lamb (Gridley), Marilyn Parker, Doris Haukam, Audrey Gifford (Horn), Shirley Rugg (Koope), Shirley Vincent (Winnie), and Barbara Teator (Hallock).

The Greenville Dairy serviced the Greenville area in the post-WWII era until the mid-1950s. Earlier, Leroy Hannay, who lived on the Cedar Lane farm closest to CR 38, worked a dairy and delivered milk to area households. According to local sources, Bill Graf bought the business, opening at a new site, today the entry way of Lou’s Garage on SR 81at the west end of Scripture Bridge (inset). The Dairy not only sold milk to the Greenville Central School for a time but also ran a popular summertime ice cream bar (inset). Graf sold the business in the late 1940s to E. Ross Hopkins; the Dairy closed about 1955. Posing, tentatively identified; top: Frances (Terhune) Graf, Mrs. Tillie Terhune (Frances’s mother), Larry Cernic, Ron Golden, ? Jaycox; bottom: ?, Gale Gedney, ?, a dog, Bill Graf, and ?.

This page recognizes three contemporaneous professional lives in Greenville. With a combined 120 years of service to the Greenville area, John Bensen, Lou Kraker, and Mark Wilcox pose with the Greenville pond area in the background. Upper right, John Bensen grew up in the Rensselaerville & South Westerlo, graduated from Greenville in 1968. He married Jeanne Wilcox in 1972—moving to Greenville in 1974 and raising two children (Christy and A.J.). John started a self-service car wash and established his Greenville Saw Service in his basement in 1974, becoming a business anchor across from today’s Catholic Church. John’s list of memberships and contributions to area organizations is a lengthy one, most notably, Past President of Kiwanis, Troop 42 BSA Committee member, and Past President of the Ag Advisory Board. Lower right, Mark Wilcox was raised in Oneonta, found his way to Greenville in 1982, married Renee Fairchilds, raised daughters Kaela and Morgan. Mark worked at and then owned Greenville True Value, and purchased NAPA from his partner. He later built /owns the NAPA store beside the Catholic Church. Mark’s lists of contributions is a lengthy one also, most notably the Rotary Club, the Town Park Committee, being Santa at the Old-Timers Party, and the lighting of the Christmas trees in Veteran’s Park. Lower left, Lou Kraker was raised in the Preston Hollow area, graduated from Middleburgh, married Karen Kiefer (children Seth & Stephanie), started working in Greenville in 1973, independently owned the Mobil Station in 1980, and built Lou’s Automotive on Rt 81 in 1990. Lou’s contributions also are many, most notably fifteen years service as Town Board member and also his current service as Town Justice. All three have served on the Greenville Town Board.

Hulick’s Dairy Farm, as the sign on the front porch reads, epitomizes the early boarding house era in the Greenville area. Albert, Sr., and Edna (MacDonald) Hulick bought two neighboring farms on Maple Ave in 1928-1929, taking in boarders during the Depression through the WWII period and on to 1960 when Edna passed away. Daughter Eunice stayed on the farm to help her parents. Eunice also spent twenty-six years as a cook at Sunny Hill Resort. Son Clem taught at GCS before finishing his career with NYS. Son Albert Jr (Lou) farmed with his father and worked at GNH Lumber Co for years. Albert III, son of Lou and Peggy, assumed ownership of the property in 1984 and currently lives in the converted barn behind the old farmhouse which is, in 2018, owned by Tom and Irene Vance. The circa 1935 inset shows parents Edna and Albert Hulick, with children Eunice, Clem, and Albert, while a current-day inset shows Tom & Irene Vance posing with grandson Al Hulick III (right) on the homestead’s front yard.

Twenty years ago this month, the Great Northern Catskills Balloon Festival put Greenville on the map. Spearheaded by the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce, this festival validated the organizational and volunteer efforts of the community, with thousands of attendees enjoying the Friday evening Moonglow and the balloon launches at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. This and five more festivals were set on the grounds of Len and Jyl DeGiovine’s Balsam Shade with its panoramic view of the Catskill Escarpment. The photo captures pages from the newspapers and brochures produced for the festivals, with lists of activities, sponsors, businesses, accommodations, balloon pilots, and advertisers.

Wayne Nelsen poses with his recently acquired house, one driveway from Nelsen’s Freehold Country Pub near Freehold’s four corners. Long a residence of Purl and Dorothy Howard in mid-late 20th century, and most recently for the past twenty years by the James & Darlene Jollie family, this house has been renovated with a coat of white paint and red trim, a pruning of overgrown branches, and the creation of a stone parking lot in the back that serves both the house and the Pub. The Greenville Local History Group supports the restoring and/or renovating of properties that once again bring a fresh air of community character. The inset shows the house in 1991.

Shady Hill Farm sits proudly on a knoll near the intersection of Rts 26 and 26A. George and Mary (Kacvinsky) Turon, both born in Austria and married near NYC, had lived in Alcove since 1918. Purchasing in 1930 the former Sanford farm, George and Mary established their household: Helen 1910, Mary 1912, George Jr 1913, Charles 1917, Joseph 1918, Mildred 1921, Ruth 1923, John 1926, and Elsie 1931. Early on, Mary followed the lead of other women in the community and started taking in boarders in the “new” Shady Hill Farm, a venture that ended during WWII days. In 1950, son George Jr and wife Martha (Rundell) Turon bought the farm and raised four children. Eventually, the farm land was subdivided, with the eastern portion becoming Turon Road, the western end staying with the farm house, and the improved middle section still clear in 2018. One inset shows an aerial of the farm in 1956, placing the barn that George Jr built when he came to own the farm. The second inset shows Lee Turon (son of John), Elsie Turon (youngest child of George and Mary), and Celia and John Costigan, new owners since 2016.

Over the course of her adult life, Doris Blakeslee Hempstead (1922-2002) compiled one of the largest private genealogy archives in the region. Taking information from an obituary, a wedding notice, a request for genealogical help, a trip to an area cemetery, a church record, a Fifty Years Ago clipping in the newspaper, etc., Doris would enter the information and the source on a 3x5 index card, add to a pile, and sort into the pile needed for the time. Over the course of more than forty years, Doris had amassed 50,000 cards which were alphabetized by the Greenville Local History Group ten years ago. Upon her death, Doris’ children—Sharon, Rhonda, Gloria, and Rich—passed along the collection to Town Historian Don Teator. In 2018, in hopes of better visibility and utilization, the 50,000 card collection was transferred to the Greene County Historical Society. The photos show Doris, two scenes of open drawers showing the 38 feet of cards, and the collection’s recent placement in the Vedder Library of the Greene County Historical Society.

Thurman C. Vaughn, Sr. (1888-1971) celebrated his 80th birthday in 1968 with his wife Mildred (Stone), along with five of his sons: back: Virgil, Thurman Jr, Thurston (Toot); front: William (Bill) and Robert on the ends. The sons were the children of Thurman and first wife Charlotte Elliott. Virgil married Anna Babcock, had one daughter Barbara, and lived in Clarksville. Thurman Jr married June Carlson, was a vet in the Delmar/Clarksville area, and raised four children: John, Kathy, Laurie, and Tom. Toot married Betty Winn, lived in South Westerlo, and raised seven children: Millie, Walter, Roger, Cheryl, Lena, and Curt, as well as Ken Friss from Betty’s first marriage. Bill married RoseAnn Spidalieri (GCS teacher), was Greenville’s Postmaster as well as running the IGA store on Main Street, Greenville, and had one daughter Diana. Bob, aka as Murphy, married Marjorie (who had daughters Norma and Marsha from her first marriage) and managed the IGA store before working at Bryant’s. Absent for this reunion was a sixth son, Everett, who married Dottie McArdle, lived in Ballston Spa, and had three sons: Ralph, Billy, and Kevin. The Vaughns were, and are, anchors of the Greenville community, or in the communities in which they lived. The inset shows the some of the grandchildren at a Cousins’ Party on the Fourth of July about 1958 at “Auntie’s” (Fradelia Vaughn). Back: Bobby, Barbara, Ralph; Middle: John, Tom, Diana holding Laurie, Kevin and Kathy; Front: Mildred, Roger, and Walter.

Scott M Ellis Elementary School

One intrepid photographer captured this January 1938 flooding of the Greenville Pond. This photo looks across the pond from the library lawn. From the left: the Pioneer Insurance building (not even a decade old yet after replacing the Greenville Hotel; current Town Offices); in the background, the cupola-crowned carriage barn of the Vanderbilt residence on South Street (today, property of the Greenville Arms ); the small shed that had seen service as the fire house for the town; and, rightmost, the Vanderbilt Theater in its heyday, serving as Greenville’s community and cultural center (it was razed in the early 1980s, today the site of Cumberland Farms). Elms trees dignified the town center until the Dutch Elm blight caused their destruction. The inset shows today’s buildings obscured by the summer growth of young trees.

The 1932-1933 faculty, the first of the new Greenville Central School building include: FRONT: Leta Arnold, Marjorie DeHeus, Scott Ellis, Ruth Rundell Grenci, Virginia Stevens; MIDDLE: Ethel Ray, Emily Duntz, Goldie White, Don Mabee, Elizabeth Meyer, Leonard Palmer, Mildred Stone Vaughn, Muriel Wooster, Leona Thompson Lewis; Elizabeth Bentley, Eva Button Bott, Mary Mabie, Gladys Beylegaard, Ruth Slater Palmer, Dorothy Mitler Price.

A bucolic day awaits the early 20th century four corners in Freehold. A telephone pole stands at the crossing of today’s SR 32 and CR67, waiting for wagons and cars to wend their way. The Freehold Hotel had already anchored the southeast corner for over a century on the Schoharie Turnpike that connected Athens and Schoharie. The wraparound porch gives way to the pillared look mid-century. The Parks family is associated with this structure for most of this past century. To the left sits the Carriage Barn. Note the boards that cross the street in the lower left. The inset shows the modern view.

In 1948, Ruth A Shield, RN, realized her vision of establishing a nursing home in Greenville Center, County Route 41, about a quarter mile south of the four corners. Initial care could take care of twelve patients with later additions of studios, decks, and private rooms in 1950, 1953, and 1955 eventually establishing care of thirty clients. The Far Hills Nursing Home enabled the local community to take care of loved ones closer to home. Ruth Shield also kept an artist studio and, with her husband John, a farm. More stringent NYS regulation caused Shield to finally close her establishment in 1974. Today, the structure is owned and lived in by Dr. Hubicki and family; he is also the owner of the Greenville Medical Center on Rt 26A in Greenville. The insets show four pictures from a mid-1950s brochure.

Based on input from the Greenville Local History Group and from Greenville Central High School Friends (Facebook), the 2020 calendar recognizes influential GCS teachers on the May, September, and inside back cover pages. This page recognizes the Four Icons—those receiving the most votes. Teacher photos are accompanied by name of teacher, years of service at Greenville, student name, graduating year, and comment.

The Nicholsen family – generations 3, 4, and 5 – pose on green #18 at the Sunny Hill Resort & Golf Course. It was a century ago, June of 1920, when Peter & Gurine Nicholsen welcomed their first guests into their farm house. The resort business expanded under their son Arnold and his wife Mae, with third generation Gary, Wayne, and Gail overseeing Greenville’s largest resort. Over the past century, the local area has become a beneficiary not only through the employment of hundreds of people over the century but also from the magnanimous and generous sharing and participation of the family. In addition, many people will attest to the personal relationships developed over the years and of the lessons of life learned through the fulfillment of job duties. From left to right: Hannah Smith, Trey Smith, Sydney Smith, Kevin Smith, Faith Nicholsen Smith, Emily Smith, Brian Labore, Tinker Nicholsen, Anniker Pachter, Finn Pachter, Liv Pachter, Erik Nicholsen, Gage Nicholsen, Jen Magee Nicholsen, Gary Nicholsen, Callum Nicholsen, Libby DeWitt Nicholsen, Wayne Nicholsen, Kathy Becker Nicholsen, Jennifer Zakovic, Gail Nicholsen Tryland, Tor Oddvar Tryland, Karys Gales, Aimee Richards, Sarah Leggio Richards, Travis Richards; Absent: Wendy Nicholsen, Austin Nicholsen, Maria Tryland.

Burrless Chestnut Cottage typified many of the Greenville area boarding houses in the early-mid twentieth century. Carrie Garrison (and husband Lew) took boarders from the “City” from about 1920 till the 1950s, with a capacity of 25 listed in the 1947 Chamber of Commerce brochure. (Daughter Marge Bennett would give up her bed and sleep in the garage attic to secure one more guest bed.) Burrless Chestnut Cottage, named after an unusual tree species in the front yard, defied the usual boarding house progression by not being a farm. Today, in the inset, the private residence is owned by Robert and Johanna Titus who proudly maintain a similar sign. The house is located on CR 67, one-half mile west of Freehold’s four corners.

Main Street, Greenville of 1940 is a familiar scene. Main Street bisects the bottom of photo, highlighting, left to right, the sun-soaked façades of the Baumann building, Stevens Hardware, and Gus Baker’s in a clump. A short break follows before arriving at the Simpson house and a building that is the Doerner Law Office today. Just out of view on the right side would have been Simpson’s Garage, today’s Stewarts. At the bottom sit the larger buildings of the south side: the Pharmacy and IGA store. The photo’s center shows the elongated Stevens store pointing to the Stevens Farm building, today the fire house. Topmost on the left are the trunks of the elm trees that used to ring the pond and park area. Center top is the Perkowski house, today the Pioneer/Rescue Squad office. The inset shows the road level façades of the clump of buildings, in the middle the new Tasting Lab and then Kelly’s Pharmacy.

More teacher recognitions. June’s page featured four teachers; this page shows the next nine

The left photo shows a dressed-for-Sunday Frances (Fanny) Goodrich Phinney, standing on the Freehold-East Durham Road (today’s County Route 67), one mile west of Freehold in front of her house across from today’s airport. The second photo, taken approximately 1935, is a lighthearted depiction of country living, with Fanny on the left and her sister-in-law Mary D. Phinney Lennon “making repairs” to the road. Fanny had married Osman Phinney in 1916, bore no children, and endured his tragic death in 1939. She became a Freehold fixture—maintaining the farm and 150 acres, helping Phinney family members, supporting her nephew Virgil’s airport project, and living a dignified life until her death in 1981. Her grand-niece Linda Phinney Matthews still resides on land formerly owned by Fanny.

Jeff Pellerin poses in front of his house on West Road, one-third mile east of Greenville Center’s four corners. In 2003, Pellerin bought a dilapidated house, with barns, in need of major repair and renovation. Although Jeff claims there is more work needed, the newly painted house has caused passersby to once again appreciate this photogenic abode and setting. Many residents remember the house belonged to local legend Anna Flansburgh Hallock (1883-1972) who resided here most of her life. The GLHG continues to commend community members, long-time or recently acquainted, who restore, renovate, or upgrade historic structures, improving the ambiance of the community, even those set on our back roads.

A mid-winter peacefulness settles over Greenville’s four corners in February 1945. Elms still reign supreme, even more so in the black & whiteness of winter. On the left edge peeks the library building while, on the right, Wessel’s Garage solidly sits. The inset shows a busier road, with today’s Tommy’s Hot Dogs blocking the view of Mangold Realty, the site of Wessel’s Garage.

The remaining eight teachers of the 23 recognized of GCS 90 years.

Main Street, 1903: car of Helen Gould, daughter of Jay Gould; oxen & cart of Ad Hickok

This page recognizes two contemporaneous professional lives in Greenville. Left, Ken Dudley, son of Lester and Mae Dudley, was born in 1945 in Westerlo, moved to Freehold in 1954, and would have graduated with the GCS Class of 1962. Ken married Anna Marie Trombley in 1974 and raised their children: daughter Donna Mae (m. Adam Klob, ch. Colby, Molly, Monte) and son Brian (m. Amanda Robisch). Ken started Tip Top Furniture in Freehold in 1978 (seven years earlier in Ravena), a destination furniture store that serves a regional area. In 1987, Ken and Anna bought the Freehold Country Store which serves as a community anchor. In addition, Ken is a life member of the Freehold Volunteer Fire Company, served as a Greene County Legislator for twelve years, and started the East Durham Flea Market in 2018. Ken takes pride in his community service over the years: Kiwanis, GCS School Board, M. J. Quill Irish and Sports Center. Right, Stanly R. Ingalls, son of Randall and Cornelia Ingalls, grew up Norton Hill, graduated from GCS in 1966, and served in the Navy SeaBees. He was deployed to Vietnam from 1969-1970. In 1970, Stan married Ellen Bush who passed away in 1985. They raised three children: Megan (m. John Lafferty, ch. Eian), Genevieve (m. Tom Howley, ch. Ellen and Olivia Hagan), and John (m. Jeanette Partington, ch. Alex, Clare and Noah). In 1990, Stan married Helen Campbell who passed away in 2017. Stan has spent his entire life at GNH, the business his grandfather Stanley L. Ingalls started in 1937 in Norton Hill. In 2004, as President and CEO, Stan moved the Norton Hill anchor store into the former Ames location in Greenville. GNH also serves the Windham and Latham communities. Among several other awards over the years, in 2005, Stan was named Lumberman of the Year by the North Eastern Retail Lumbermen's Association, an honor also bestowed upon his father and his daughter Genn. Stan has been an active member of the Asbury United Methodist Church for 38 years, serving on the board of Trustees, on the Administrative Board, and as the Chairperson of the Finance Committee. Stan was also instrumental in the planning and building of the UMC Daycare center which continues to serve the community.

After two decades of petitioning and lobbying from the Greenville Rotary and area businesses, NYS DOT effected a major reconstruction of a six mile stretch of State Route 32, centered near the intersection with State Route 143 in Dormansville. This reconstruction almost straightened the curves by Boomhower Rd, moved the road uphill near Dickinson Falls, and made SR 32 the non-stop, 55 mph road it is today. The upper-left photo shows the T-intersection by the older Agway, with the longer drawn-in black line showing the new curved roadway; the shorter blackened line shows the new approach on 143 which today comes to a stop. The lower-right photo shows the view from the south approaching the Hiawatha Grange (just off the right side of the photo) and curving toward the former Agway. Issues of the 1992 Greenville Local chronicled progress of the project, with completion the following year. Business leaders had not only wanted a more convenient ride but also hoped that business and population growth might come to Greenville. In the summer of 2020, that same section was re-paved.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly first appeared in Greenville in March 2020, with directives from NYS to close business, school, and social gatherings. Although the death toll in Greenville seemed to be minimal (as of Labor Day 2020), the social effect was widely experienced. Evidence can be seen in this quintet of photos: center: sign in front of school; upper left: price of gallon of gasoline at Cumberland Farms fell below two dollars; upper right: Freehold Country Store clerks Donna Madl and Kim McGahan wearing masks behind the food counter; bottom right: the Greenville Library sign announcing the closing date, to be partially opened in July; lower left: Mountain View Brasserie server Barbara Klob delivering take-out meals to parked cars. Further effects of the pandemic remain to be recorded.

A jolt of activity erupted on Main Street, Greenville in Autumn 2019 with the opening of The Tasting Lab, “a restaurant dedicated to serving local products and New York craft beverages.” Tom Vance, also owner of the Hop Barn on Maple Avenue, strives “to be part of the revitalization of Greenville and giving people a place to relax and enjoy themselves.” The Tasting Lab occupied the long established Stevens Store site, a mainstay of Greenville life and business. Although COVID-19 suspended operations in Spring 2020, The Tasting Lab, at full capacity, can serve 85 customers with a menu of appetizers, burgers, and wings along with two dozen or more beers. The GLHG continues to commend community members who restore, renovate, or upgrade historic structures, improving not only the ambiance of our community but also restore a vibrancy to our Main Street. One inset displays the interior view out the front plate glass windows. Another inset shows business partners Tom Vance and daughter Madyson Vance with restaurant t-shirt and mascot Alex; absent is partner Robert Snyder Jr.

A stunning view greeted passersby on State Route 32 North as three hundred American flags sprouted in the weeks before Memorial Day 2020 on the front lawn of the Scott M Ellis Elementary School, a first time site. Sponsored by American Legion, Post 291, the Field of Flags project is dedicated in tribute to current and former military members. Pictured from The Greenville American Legion, Post 291, L-R are: Commander Skip Spinner, Jim Wilcox, James Goode Jr, Ray Albin, Billy Rauf, Steve Mataraza, Tom Murphy, Don Bey, Don Savino and Jack Kelly.

In 1921, Cornelius (“Neil”) and Bertha Baumann opened their farm house to boarders. Son Russell and wife Rose Denowski joined the business in 1945; when Rose died, Russell’s second wife Vivian Calapa Callahan joined the business in 1951. Russell and Rose’s daughter Carol and her husband Richard Schreiber Jr entered the business in 1965, to be joined by fourth generation son Richard III and his wife Lynn, daughter Rosemary and her husband Kevin Lewis, Courtney and her husband Jason Reinhard. The fifth generation include Pierce and Emily Schreiber, Tucker and Russell Lewis, and Ben and Julia Reinhard. Celebrating the 2021 centennial: Richard Schreiber III, Courtney Reinhard, Carol Schreiber, Rosemary and Kevin Lewis. The inset, taken from a mid-century brochure, shows Carol, Rich Jr, Vivian, and Russell.

A neat dredging of the Greenville Pond drew spectators as it neared completion in this mid-July, 1949 photo. On the left, Wessel’s Garage was nearing its end, to be replaced by the new barbershop (today, Mangold’s Realty). Right-center shows the Stevens Farm Store. On the right, just visible is the Stevens Store extension. The laid up stonewall edging was “improved” later by the riprap of today. It seems the pond is (should be) dredged every ten to twenty years. Earlier calendar photos have shown a 1930s and a 1970 dredging. The 2000s awaits its first dredging. The inset shows the current angle.

In a classic pastoral vignette, Clarice and Betty Elliott, daughters of T. Merritt and Ruth (Ingalls) Elliott, utilize bovine power. Although this location is uncertain, the Elliotts did have a farm on Old Plank Road in Norton Hill, near the intersection with Johnnycake Lane. Until the mid-twentieth century, Greenville was dotted with dozens, if not hundreds of small farms, with dairy farming the major form in the early-mid 1900s, and perhaps the Town of Greenville’s largest industry. Eventually, the economy of scale forced many farmers to abandon the farming business. Clarice married Charles Adamson and had a daughter Sylvia; Betty married Fred McAneny and had children Debbie, Eleanor, Richard (Miller), John, Beth, Michael, and Dan.

A bucolic North Street, Freehold slumbers on a quiet circa-1940 day. Off the right edge of the photo would be Doc Lacy’s house on the four corners (today’s Cutting Corner). The view is from across the street from the Wood’s Store (Lacy’s Store, Freehold Country Store). Starting from the right: Alvie Sutton’s house (Alvah: 1881-1942, married Jessie Horton, children: Beulah, Edna; today, Erin Elsasser’s house); Alvie Sutton’s Garage, serving Socony gas, according to the sign (formerly the blacksmith shop, livery station; today Marylyn Sewing and The Gypsy’s Closet); and the building with the steeple is the former school house (left empty in 1932 with the GCS centralization, re-used by the Freehold Volunteer Fire Company in 1945.) The inset shows a similar angle, with two new buildings. Beyond the steeple is the roofline of the Freehold Firehouse. A mobile home, with the light front, sits between The Gypsy’s Closet and the Firehouse.

Greenville celebrated when the department store chain Ames opened in a new building in Bryants Country Square, one mile north of the four corners. The Grand Opening took place on October 4, 1986, with these dignitaries invited: roughly left to right: Valerie Lounsbury, x, Al Bryant, x, Zan Bryant, Garth Bryant, x, x, x, Andy Macko, Bill Reinecke, Frank Tiberi, Bob Bolte, Cliff Powell Jr, George Allen, Barbara Valicenti, x, Jeanne Bear, Bill Maxwell, Phil Ellis, Jane Randall, x, Iris Cochrane, Louise Mufala, x, x, x. Greenville’s joy turned to despair in October 2002 when the parent company declared bankruptcy and the Greenville branch closed, leaving many locals to bemoan this loss almost twenty years later. The inset shows a full parking lot on Grand Opening Day at Ames.

On November 24, 1885, Carrie Spalding wed Truman Ingalls and commenced married life on his parents’ homestead on Old Plank Road, Norton Hill, near the junction with Johnnycake Lane. Carrie would chronicle their lives in a life-long diary that painted a panorama of family and town life. Fifty years later, Carrie wrote in her diary: “A little bit of fine snow this morning. The great day is here. We have done nothing all day but get ready for the party. Our 50th Anniversary was celebrated at Warren’s [her son who owned Ingalside Farm] this eve. 53 guests there. Our own family & some of the people who was at our wedding. Geo & Francis, Ed & Minnie Henry Lorenze & wife Alida Bryant. Aunt Bertie Elmer Hunt & wife. A wonderful party a grand time. A very pretty little entertainment. Children & grandchildren sang. Presents. & a beautiful bouquet of chrysantums.” Memorializing the event was a group shot, displayed in the January 5, 1936 edition of the Knickerbocker Press (Albany), with the identification of the well-wishers from one of Greenville’s best known families: First row: Robert Elliott, Janice Ingalls, Betty Elliott, Phyllis Ingalls, Clarice Elliott, Walter Ingalls. Second row: Muriel Elliott, Ellen Ingalls, Kenneth Ingalls, Stanley Ingalls, Philip Ellis, Irene Elliott, Claribel Ingalls, Warren Ingalls. Third row: Ransom Ingalls, Henry Lorenz, Mrs. Henry Lorenz, Mrs. Edwin Rivenburg, Mrs. Truman L Ingalls Truman L. Ingalls, George Spaulding, Mrs. George Spaulding, Mrs. Elmer Hunt, Elmer Hunt. Fourth row: Mrs. Stella Mabie, Mrs. Charles Rugg, Charles B. Rugg, Edwin Rivenburg, Leroy Ellis, Edward Ingalls, Mrs. Edward Ingalls, Thelma Ingalls, Miss Alida Bryant, Miss Blanche Palmer, Mrs. Ella King, Merritt Elliott, Mrs. Scott M. Ellis, Mr. Schmidt. Back row, Gerald Ingalls, Adrian Elliott, Keith Ingalls, Leona Kingsley, Mrs. Stanley Ingalls, Mrs. Norman Adams, Mrs. Gerald Ingalls, Mrs. Bertie Spalding, Mrs. Ransom Ingalls, Mrs. Warren Ingalls, the Reverend Norman Adams, Mrs. Mary Elliott, Clarence Ingalls

The SRV (Sarada Ramakrishna Vivekananda) Retreat Center is one of several churches welcomed by the Greenville area over the past half-century. Located on Jennings Road, one quarter mile north of the Town of Greenville/Greene County line off of State Route 32, the main house was the site of Webb and Marie Jennings’ House on the Hill Resort during mid-century. The visually distinctive ochre dome of the Interfaith Peace Temple serves as a landmark beacon for travelers. Sold in 1986 to the SRV group, the church and retreat was headed by Bruce Hilliger (Swami Atmavratananda) upon his arrival in 1988. Now Greenville’s longest continuously serving minister in the area, Swami Bruce coordinates not only the Retreat’s religious services but also a busy schedule that has invited many community purposes (AA meetings, food co-op, karate & aerobics classes, meditation, etc.). The Greenville community also recognizes Bruce as a long-time school bus driver, substitute teacher, and guitar/music teacher. One inset shows an interior view of the wide area floor of the Interfaith Temple as it looks toward the Catskill Mountains. A second inset of the Interfaith stone, set on the Temple’s front façade, contains the symbols of five major religions, namely Buddhism (wheel of Dharma), Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Another Mildred Reinhardt sketch gracing a calendar cover

In the second half of the twentieth century, Alexander “Zan” Bryant Jr. shaped Greenville more than any other person. Born in 1932 to Al and Pearl Bryant, Zan graduated from GCS in 1950. He married Carol Thompson, enlisted in the Marines, and served in the Korean War. After being discharged in 1954, he joined his father in the family store. In 1961, Al and Zan had the vision that would turn Greenville into a regional shopping destination. This started modestly as a new supermarket, occupying the front of today’s Tops Plaza. They would expand it numerous times until it became Bryant’s Country Square containing the largest volume independent supermarket in New York State and numerous other shopping opportunities, while providing employment for thousands of local residents. He would partner in opening Greenville’s first self-service gas station as well as its first sewer treatment plant, bringing in Ames Department Store, State Bank and Dollar General, among others, while developing businesses countywide. Later, Zan would partner in developing residential properties, including Turon Road, and culminating in starting Country Estates that would grow to provide homes for 150 families. Photos: Zan as Marine, Zan with father Al, early store in 1961, expansion of plaza.

Stanley Maltzman, left in center photo, wishes George Story, right, a Happy 100th Birthday, at a February 2020 Community celebration at the Freehold Fire House Community Room. Since then, Maltzman has celebrated his 100th birthday, allowing the Greenville area to wish these two centenarians best of wishes. Both spent productive years in Freehold. Maltzman spent most of his adult years sketching and painting scenes of nature and area vistas, and still doing so. George spent all his years in Freehold, still visiting the eponymous nursery that was the center of his life and was, and is, a community resource for gardening needs and goodwill. The left photo shows Maltzman standing beside his former business sign in Freehold, while the right inset shows George from a 2005 calendar photo

One might argue that the heart and soul of Greenville’s Four Corners is the Greenville Public Library. A library or library association has functioned in Greenville at various times since the town’s formation over two hundred years ago. The current site hosted the Greenville Academy in 1815 until its razing in 1905 for construction of the current building in 1906. It use as a school ended with centralization in 1930/1932 and then re-utilized as a school in the 1960s as emergency space. In 1957, a town vote established this building as the town’s library. The friendly and helpful faces upon entering: clerk Phyllis Wolf (retiring Fall 2021, after many years of service), Library Director Barbara Flach (director since 1991), and clerk Bethany Best; missing clerk Jodi Omoto. The Library Board of Trustees include: Joan Smith, Carol Schreiber, Kathie Quackenbush, Margaret Finch, Jerry Adinolfi, and Melissa Palmer. The inset shows the pre-1906 Academy Building.

Brian and Robin Johnson stand before their home in Newry, at the intersection of CR 38 and Newry Road. In 1997 they purchased this former home of Daniel S. Miller (1762-1839) and Betsy (Jones) Miller (1771-1855), who moved here from East Hampton, NY around 1801, and established a tannery, harness and shoe-making enterprise. Daniel S. Miller was elected as a Commissioner of Highways at Greenville’s first Town Meeting held on April 5, 1803. In 1806 he was an Incorporator of the Greenfield Turnpike, which ran from his home to Rensselaerville. He was among the first Trustees of Greenville Academy chartered in 1816. He operated his businesses for many years, and was a central figure here at Newry. Daniel S. Miller was considered to be a prominent New York merchant, as was his son, Daniel Stratton Miller (1806-1878), who moved to NYC. Daniel and Betsy Miller had four sons and five daughters, and their home remained in the family for over one hundred years. Robin and Brian have raised their two daughters, Allison and Casey, here, and love the land and the sense of history that surround them. They have restored the foundation, floors, fireplaces and fixtures; have replaced the boiler, roof and gutters; and remain committed to the ongoing efforts of their stewardship. The GLHG continues to applaud home owners and community members who restore, renovate, or upgrade historic structures, improving the ambiance of the community, even those set on our back roads. One inset shows an early stage of renovation; a second shows the historic marker beside the house.

The Mamas were a choral nonet of Greenville area women who performed gratis for area and regional events. With a nod to the 1960s rock group The Mamas and the Papas, this group originally formed in 1972 as The Mamas Without the Papas. The photo in 1977 shows, left to right, Marcy Bostrom Cunningham Hynes, Brunhilde Miller Simpson Sutton, Gail Parks Welter Biskupich, Susan Anthony Von Atzingen, Joan Kelly Baumann Smith, Jeannette Singer Rose, Ginny Eufemia Mangold, Carol Baumann Schreiber, and Elena Fuentes. Elena served as the early leader of the group—the newcomer who could play guitar and teaching vocals. Carol, Bruni, and Jeannette had replaced original members Barbara Van Auken, Cathy Quackenbush, and Sharon Adinolfi. During their seven years, the Mamas rehearsed every week during the school year and performed for Rotary, the local resorts, anniversaries as well as the College of St. Rose, the Cerebral Palsy Telethon, and other regional benefits.

A growing GCS student population led to an approved proposition of a new Jr-Sr High School on property to the rear of the then GCS K-12 building that fronted State Route 32. This new site had been the Rundell orchard. On June 8, 1967, school officials and students, community members, and company reps gathered in the traditional ground-breaking ceremony. Captured during a moment of speech making, from left: Walter Ingalls, School Board President (with shovel); face front; Paige Ingalls (Gr. 7); Mary Lou Norton (Gr 9); face; two bits of head, then a dark hair with an eye; Carolyn Dedie (Gr. 7); Jeff Tyrrell (Gr 9); Chris Maxwell?; Stanley Ingalls (father of Walter, on first GCS Bd of Ed); Jeff Haverly (Gr 9); Reverend Richard Clark (Episcopal Church); Robert Mirabelli (Gr 9); girl in dress; Steve Chatterton?; Rev Duncan MacKenzie (Methodist Church); Regina Cassin?; Margaret Hulick.

The Turner Table continues to be re-discovered, with at least twenty-five known models having passed through several generations to the current day. The table maker, David Turner, was born about 1810, lived on the former Augstein Farm on Maple Avenue, about one-quarter mile from the SR 81 intersection. Crafting these tables in the mid-1800s, Turner is believed to have made as many as 170 tables. The table, in its simplest form, is a two-panel top, forming a 42”x42” square or oval. Spreading these two panels reveals an extending mechanism, made only with wood elements, that, with additional leaves, allows the table to spread to more than ten feet, often allowing twenty-five people to utilize the table. Descendants of Turner—among them members of the Ellis, Ingalls, Lockwood, Merritt, Spalding, Losee, Rundell families—often found a note attached to the underside of the table top identifying the maker. Top photos show Mike Knott’s table closed and extended; bottom photos show Barbara Stevens closed table and Don & Debra Teator’s open table with details of the extender.

Post-WWII has seen several new churches satisfy the religious needs of our community. After purchasing a site in 1996, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints erected its meeting house on County Route 41, Greenville Center, with John V. Gulisane, Jr., serving as the Branch President of the new unit. The congregation was first organized in December, 1989, renting space from the Freehold Christian Congregational Church, County Route 67, Freehold. The building was dedicated on July 6, 1997. Currently, Wayne Marquit serves as Branch President. Historically, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized on April 6, 1830 in Fayette Township, New York, beginning with six members. Currently, there are over 16.7 million members worldwide. Past calendars have featured these churches: Freehold Congregational (1998 calendar), Grenville Episcopal (2000), Greenville Presbyterian (2001), Greenville Catholic (2002), Greenville Center Baptist (2012), Norton Hill-Greenville Methodist (2014 & 2015), and Greenville SRV (2021). The inset shows the roadside name stone.

GCS students pose for a strings group photo, possibly as early as 1936, in the gymnasium/auditorium. According to an identification on the photo back, seated: Merle Powell (Class of 1933), Geraldine Wood (1937), Dorothy Huested (1940), Muriel Stotesbury, Muriel Burdick; standing: Janet Lacy (1936), King Hall (1936), Leta Arnold (teacher). Powell’s date of graduation suggests that he might have been on hand to accompany.

This innocuous picture of men spraying water from a hose into the Greenville Pond is actually a benchmark photo for the Greenville community. The need for fire protection culminated in a September 1939 meeting of 28 people, presided by Millard Felter, with the purpose of organizing what would become the Greenville Volunteer Fire Company. Almost two months later, the company took possession of its first fire truck, a 1939 Sanford 500 GPM pumper. This photo shows an early test in temperatures cold enough to create ice on the overhead lines. The structure in the background is Wessel’s Garage, today’s Mangold Realty site.

The “duck-taking-flight” outline of the Greenville Central School District took initial shape ninety years ago. Early 20th century educational policy and reform recognized the need for the maze of one room school houses to better serve and be served for the changing economy and culture. A vote in 1930 approved the formation and centralization of the new Greenville Central Rural School, with twenty-two local school houses joining the Greenville Free Academy. Currently, the school district represents over forty original, smaller school districts from the Towns of Greenville, Rensselaerville, Westerlo, New Baltimore, Coxsackie, Cairo, Durham, Berne, Coeymans, New Scotland, and Conesville. One of the most recent additions was that of the Potter Hollow district, contributing the “head” of the “duck,” looking “leftward.” Although not part of the official district area, many Durham area students were given the choice of attending Greenville or Cairo until the early 1970s.

The Vanderbilt Opera House served Greenville as its cultural center. Here, a children’s performance is shown in a rare interior photo. An approximate date of the 1930s has been suggested. The building had been the Episcopal Church located in East Greenville of the mid-1800s before being moved to its site, today the property of Cumberland Farm. The inset shows the theater exterior in its final years before it was razed in the early 1980s.

aka Hush-Hush, Manor House of Augustine Prevost, Rt 81; artist Claribel Gardiner, 1976

The wooden bleachers of the GCS gymnasium invited friends, family, and fellow students during the long winter evenings of basketball season. Encouraging, enduring, and socializing were all parts of these athletic contests that also masqueraded as community-builders whose memories have lingered. This JV game in the winter of 1976-1977 drew the usual crowd, with this bleacher section focused on a down-court play. Tentatively identified are: Row 1 (bottom, basketball team): 1-Ron Clifford, 2-John Whittaker, 3-Gordon Caldwell, 4-Jim Kudlack, 5-Steve Andrus, 6-Larry Bryan, 7-Darryl Cornell, 8-Kevin White?, 9-Coach John Hagan, 10-Dan McCarthy; Row 2: in wheelchair-Tim Welter; bleacher row 2: 1-Robert Welter, 2-Bette Welter, 3-Bob Rose, 4-Jeannette Rose, 5-Carol Schreiber?, 6-Joan Smith, 7-Gail Parks Welter Biskupich, 8-Barbara Van Auken, 9- Jack Van Auken, 10, 11, 12, 13, scorekeeper-Bob Randall; Row 3: 1-Chris Ahlf, 2-Sandy Benigno, 3-Ruth Ahlf, 4-Alice Clifford, 5, 6-Carol Boyd, 7-Fred Bilewski, 8, 9-Guy Lounsbury, 10, 11; Row 4: 1-Don Mabee?, 2-Art Werking, 3-Eleanor Werking, 4-Mike Werking, 5-Kim Pettit, 6 , 7-Mike Zarcone, 8-Martin Brand, 9, 10-Bob Fisher, 11-Freda Fancher, 12, 13; Row 5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-Richard Ferriolo, 8-Bob Mangold, 9-Curt Cunningham, 10-Pat Elsbree, 11-Dave Elsbree, 12; Row 6 (top): 1, 2, 3-Joan Sweeney, 4-Jack Sweeney, 5, 6-John Whitaker, 7-Jean Whitaker, 8-Paul Bear, 9-MaryLou Bear, 10, 11-Liz Carl, 12-Bob Carl; In lower left, two boys.

photo courtesy of Alice Clifford Bryant

Town of Greenville Supervisor Paul Macko’s gaze sweeps the view of Greenville’s Four Corners his office provides from the Town Building, formerly the Pioneer Insurance Company. Paul was born in Greenville, the second child of Andy and Eva Macko, graduated with the GCS Class of 1973, and worked at Sunny Hill Resort until 1981 before working at NYS Department of Corrections until 2007. “Retirement” led to serving on the Town Board for a term. Macko was first elected as Supervisor in 2010 and is now serving his seventh term—the second longest Town Supervisor service in town history. Accomplishments of Macko’s tenure include the much talked about but finally completed sewer system; an upgraded and expanded water system; improved and expanded sidewalks, especially on Main Street and north to Country Estates Rd; a substantial revision of zoning laws; an update to the Comprehensive Plan; plans for a water tower replacement; and, dear to his heart, full support of Greenville’s Beautification project (decorative lighting, planters, banners, the Ducks and auction, Prevost Hall development, etc.) The list of Town Supervisors since 1900, in reverse chronological order: Paul Macko 2010-current, Kevin Lewis 2008-2009, Aldo Cardamone 2004-2007, Brian Wickes 2000-2003, Chris Martens 1996-1999, William Maxwell Jr 1991-1995, Frank Tiberi 1986-1990, Kenneth Huemmer 1982-1985, Len Cuifo 1980-1981, Ed Murphy 1978-1979, Andrew Macko (Paul’s father) 1970-1977, Curt Cunningham 1969, Fred Flack 1964-1968, Arnold Nicholsen 1954-1963, David Horton 1949-1953, Stanley Ingalls 1940-1947, Robert Van Houten 1922-1939 (longest tenure), Harrison Gardiner 1920-1923, Lewis Hoose 1914-1919, Truman Ingalls 1910-1913, Henry Botsford 1902-1905, and O. C. Stevens 1900-1901. One inset shows part of Main Street’s new sidewalk during construction starting from the four corners; the other inset shows a decorative post with the distinctive Greenville Duck banner in front of Town Office.

Breezy Knoll was emblematic of the patchwork of the few dozen boarding houses/resorts that dotted the Greenville area in mid-20th century. Located on State Route 81, a quarter mile west of the Red Mill Rd & Ingalside Rd intersection, Breezy Knoll opened its doors probably in the 1920s. Following the pattern of a farm house taking boarders to supplement income, Breezy Knoll (aka Jesse’s Breezy Knoll, Breezy Knoll Acres) advertised a capacity of 75 guests in 1945 and that number grew to 125 in 1960. One of its local claims of fame, unverified, was “Longest Bar in the Catskills.” The chain of ownership started with the Jesse family (Fred and Minnie) in the 1920s and ended with a group of seven partners, one of them Al Kozich, in the 1960s (Joey D, Little Al also remembered). The resort closed in the early-mid 1970s and sat vacant for a few years before the next reincarnation. (next calendar page).

The founding of Orgyen Cho Dzong Buddhist Retreat Center, the former Breezy Knoll (previous page), in 1980 caught the attention of passersby with its vibrancy of color. OCDR is connected to the main temple building Yeshe Nyingpo located in NYC. OCDR acts not only as a spiritual place but also as guardianship of Tibetan culture, tradition, and ancient artifacts brought over from Tibet dating back up to 2000-2500 years. One structure is the World Peace Stupa, built with the aspiration that all wars and disasters would be averted, contains relics of Lord Buddha and other saints. The founder, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, along with current leaders, worked tirelessly to upkeep the center for the community’s benefit. In keeping with the Buddhist principle, the door is open to everyone. For more info, visit: www.dudjomtersar.org. The main photo shows the view from the road through gate, capturing only part of the whole campus. The insets show valued edifices on the grounds.

caption assist, inset photos by Quoc Do

The Greenville area welcomed the first Arts Around Greenville Studio Tour in July 2022. Organized by Natalie Boburka and a group of volunteers, this event showcased the talents of over twenty artists. Additional artists are anticipated for the next tour/showing. AAGST was sponsored by Community Partners of Greenville (CPOG), a non-profit organization that was originally formed as the Greenville Citizens Park Committee to assist with the development of Vanderbilt Park. CPOG is committed to the protection, preservation, and development of natural and historic resources in the Greenville area. The front and back of one of the publicity cards are shown. The 2023 Opening Show is planned for May 7; the 2023 Studio Tour is planned for May 20-21.

Greenville Troop 42, with scouts from Ulster County, posed at the 1973 National Scout Jamboree in Farragut State Park, Idaho. This trip to see the USA lasted five weeks and covered more than 8,000 miles. Since then, the Troop has taken these summertime trips more than thirty times in partnership with Troop 54 and its leader, Dave Stuhr. Each trip includes a ten-day backpacking trek, covering 75 to 100 miles at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Troop 42 was founded in 1932 and has been sponsored by Greenville American Legion Post #291 since 1952. Back row: Leader George Hood, Leader Dave Battini, unknown, Charles Probst, Doug Welter, Randy Hood, unknown, Colin Tumey, Leader George Trumpore; Front Row: Paul Kempf, Larry Smith, Gary Welter, Emmett Trumpore, Steven Coddington, unknown, Neil Baumann. Dave Battini was Scoutmaster from 1971 to 2018; Colin Tumey has been Scoutmaster from 2018 to present.

photo and caption assist courtesy Colin Tumey

Austin Field’s 2019 Eagle Scout project – erecting a sign for American Legion Post #291 – anchors the corner of Maple Avenue and SR 81. This project helped the sponsor of Troop 42. To earn the rank of Eagle Scout, a youth must be active in their Scout unit and hold a position of responsibility and leadership. They must demonstrate their Scout Spirit by living the Scout Oath, Law, and duty to God in their everyday life. This Scout must earn a total of 21 merit badges, 14 of which are required to be earned for the rank of Eagle Scout.

caption assist from Colin Tumey

Matt Plattner’s 2015 Eagle Scout project – erecting four Town of Greenville signs – welcomes those entering the hamlet of Greenville on State Routes 32 and 81. To reach the Eagle Scout level, a Scout must plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious, school, or community institution. After completing all these requirements, the Eagle Scout candidate must be approved by adult leaders before they can be called an Eagle Scout.

caption assist from Colin Tumey

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops, an internationally known art instruction destination, has graced Greenville’s South Street at the Greenville Arms for over forty years. Starting in 1982, sisters Barbara and Laura Stevens transformed the business model of the country inn (established in 1952 by their parents, Ruth and Pierce Stevens) to the establishment found today, which includes an art school. In 1989, Tish and Eliot Dalton continued and expanded this business, the first ones to use the name of Greenville Arms 1889 Inn. In 2004, Kim and Mark La Polla became the most recent owners, even expanding the palette of instruction with Fiber Art workshops as well as offering a shop with chocolate, espresso, and art supplies. In 2020, daughter Adina and son-in-law Zeke Pease joined the team. Greenville Arms currently offers 35 workshops a year, showing the Greenville environs to hundreds of students and instructors from around the world. Photos: business sign, sisters Barbara and Laura Stevens, watercolor from an Arms artists with Laura in chair on righ, Tish and Eliot Dalton, Mark La Polla, Zeke & Adina Pease & Kim La Polla.

photos courtesy of Barbara Stevens; the La Polla family

Matt Crawley poses with his new home on Weed Road, Freehold, overlooking Story’s Nursery and the Catskills Escarpment. The 2000 square foot, single floor residence replaced a wornout mobile home (inset) and thus dramatically improved the ambiance of one of our rural neighborhoods. The GLHG continues to applaud home owners and community members who restore, renovate, or upgrade our country landscapes. (For the curious: Weed Road is named after Hervey Weed who owned a sizable farm in the mid-1800s.)

During its thirty years, the George Vanderhoef Vanderbilt Park, more commonly called the Greenville Town Park, has evolved into a regionally known asset for the Town of Greenville. Previously operated as a farm by the Sherrill and Vanderbilt families, the Town of Greenville purchased the 156 acre property in 1992 from Joan Vanderbilt Davidson with the assistance of an Iroquois Pipeline grant and through a myriad of community fund-raisers and contributions. A newly formed Citizens Park Committee guided early progress and was recognized by a 1993 Greene County award for Most Outstanding Planning Achievement. That committee morphed into the current Community Partners of Greenville which continues to guide park progress. The page shows the park sign, the newspaper clipping of the award notice, a hand-drawn map of the nature trail, the North Barn peeking through the playground, hikers on a backwoods trail, and a Debra Teator aerial. This aerial shows the South Barn to the left of the North Barn. In front of the North Barn is the Vanderbilt house and barns that were razed in 1999, now sitting as a vacant lot in front of the park. The park entrance starts from Rt 32 on the right side of the aerial, continues along the wooded stonewall, and then turns a right angle to the rear of the North Barn.

Simpson Sales and Service, owned by Fred and Bruni Simpson, became the largest Arctic Cat snowmobile dealer in the entire Northeast in Autumn 1969 with this shipment of 126 snowmobiles on three tractor trailers. Housed at their residence on Red Mill Road, halfway between Alberta Lane and CR 67, Fred and Bruni (Miller) Simpson had entered the fledgling industry in 1967. Basking (quaking?) in the enormity of this delivery are, back row: Lillian & Dean Simpson (Fred’s brother and business supporter), Emily Simpson (mother of Dean & Fred), Fred & wife Bruni Simpson holding niece Gail; front: Janet (Dean & Lillian’s daughter), daughters Debbie, Susan, and Carol Simpson; infant daughter Dawn was napping. In the inset, Fred Simpson holds a trophy won in 1970 for Outstanding Arctic Cat Dealer of the Region. He died in 1973. Bruni Simpson Sutton still lives at the former Arctic Cat site, with the words Home of the Champions still emblazoned on the former service structure.

photos courtesy of Bruni Simpson Sutton.

facing inside back cover

inside back cover

Two long-time businesses have anchored the Freehold area. Mary Peele, proprietor of MaryLyn Sewing, first started on Greenville’s Main Street in 1994 before upsizing to Freehold in 1996. The business is now located 200 yards north of Freehold’s four corners on SR 32. Mary specializes in all formal wear including the rental/sale of tuxedos. Other facets include consignments, zipper replacements, shortening of pants, and many general alterations/repairs. Since 2001, Ken Thompson and Rachael Ashley have carried on with George Story’s tradition of offering new and unusual nursery stock, perennials and garden shop items. With over 80 years of combined knowledge and experience, they continue to serve the customers of Story’s Nursery. This destination nursery services a 50+ mile radius, bringing happiness to its thousands of customers.

The inventiveness of a Greenville area resident, Frank Vedder, endures almost invisibly on a hundred different sites in the Greenville area. Looking for a vertical siding alternative in the 1970s, Vedder took a one-side finished, 7.25 x .75 board, cut a .375 tongue hanging on the rough side and a 1.25 inch tongue hanging on the smooth, planed side. When butted together, the result was a flush fit on the smooth side and a .875 innie-groove on the rough side. This contrasted with the common board-and-batten in which two boards are placed on a wall, with a gap between, to be covered usually by a 3-4 inch board, leaving an outie projection. The competition to the Vedder siding was T-111, a 4’ x 8’ panel with thin lengthwise grooves every eight inches. Vedder siding was first milled at GNH, its production ending when the sawmill closed in the 1970s.  Currently, a national company utilizes the same pattern, calling it Rustic Channel. Any credit to Frank Vedder was lost. One photo shows the pattern on the Howley house in Freehold. A second photo shows the Flach barn complex in Newry, utilizing the Vedder siding, while a third shows the siding pattern in a close-up of a Flach barn, The other two photos show a cut-out of the smooth side and of the rough cut, innie side.

One of the oldest photos in the Historian’s files, this photo, perhaps from the 1880s, shows the Greenville Academy and Presbyterian Church on a bright leafy day. Although both buildings still stand (inset), their current uses have changed to our Library and the Prevost Hall. The Academy served as a regional learning center from 1815 to 1932 when GCS centralization combined 22 one-room school house districts. The Academy was razed in 1905-1906 to make way for a newer Academy. The Presbyterian Church served the community until about 2000, followed by community efforts to preserve this historic building as a community/performance center. One inset comes from the 1992 calendar showing an 1880’s winter view, less well kept. The other inset is current.

file picture

Tommie’s Hot Dogs continues a half century of tradition near Greenville’s Four Corners. Second generation Tom Briggs took over in 1986 from first generation father-in-law Matt Chesbro who started his food truck business in 1969. In 2023, Tom’s son TJ joined the family enterprise. Tom’s nod to Home of the “Matt Dog” continues to invoke and make memories of a Greenville institution. The menu, once strictly hot dogs, has expanded to hamburgers and sandwiches.

An active Freehold Four Corners plays out on this leafy day, tentatively dated in the early 1940s. Standing on the southwest corner, one looks north and on the left: Woods Store (today’s Freehold Country Store); a barely visible attachment to the store that was Park’s Farm Store; and the Antus residence, still standing today. Not visible, between the Farm Store and the Antus house, is a house that burned in the early 1990s; on the right: the Sutton house (today, Elsasser). Escaping the camera angle is Doc Lacy’s corner house, today’s Cutting Corner. The inset approximates the same angle except it includes the corner house while the trees obscure the Sutton house.

courtesy Marianne Morrison

Pine Lake Manor celebrates its centennial as a resort in 2024. Nicholas and Lydia Schirmer bought a farm house located on the northeast corner of today’s Newry Road and County Route 26. They started the business by taking in the overflow guests from Twelve Maples, the boarding house across the street (site of today’s office). Willow Rest Farm, as the Schirmers named their new business, thrived as they expanded and raised six children. Son Reinhold (Reiny) Schermer (spelling change) married Josephine (Jo) Gawel in 1942, bought the business in 1948 and they started their first year as the renamed Pine Lake Manor in 1949. Reiny and Jo’s daughter Joanne married Tom Baumann in 1963 and they entered the business in 1972.  Their children (Amy, Kevin and Jacquie and their families) are also actively involved in running the business. The photo shows the centennial family: 

courtesy Pine Lake Manor

Tuesday evenings in July and August illustrate Greenville community character and country living. Up to several hundred people gather around the gazebo and pond areas for a new Greenville tradition – Greenville Summer Concerts. Starting in 2022, under the auspices of the Town of Greenville, Community Partners of Greenville has funded, partly through grants, to hire an array of bands to appreciative audiences. Free ice cream by Stewart’s and the availability of a food truck enhance the new memories. Since the gazebo’s inception in 1989, local bands have performed their craft, with up to five nights a week of music one busy summer.

In September 2022, Greenville was the epicenter of a Greene County venture – the dedication of the Greene County Vietnam Veterans Monument at the Veteran’s Park. Located on the west bank of the Greenville Pond, the trio of markers include a bronze battlefield cross, a black granite stone that is the dedication stone, and a second black granite stone that lists the names of the seventeen Greene County men who died in the war. On the northwest corner of the pond is an 80 foot flagpole that has become a visual marker for Greenville’s Four Corners. The marker photo shows the pattern of a new 2023 pond fountain.

The students of  the Greenville Free Academy High School of the 1919-1920 school year pose, and were identified years later, by Helen Lockwood Conklin (fourth row): Front row: Phil Lockwood, ?Bill Irving, Howard Irving, Lewis Rundell, ? Gifford, Horace Rundell, Ralph Stevens, Maurice Hedges; Second row: Walter Stevens, Lawrence Wooster, Geraldine ?, Lillian Tryon, ? , Violet Tryon, ?, ?, Fradelia Vaughn, ?Howard Story, George Stevens, George Hawley Conklin; Third row: seated on steps Dorothy Irish, Elizabeth Griffin, Ruth Ellsworth, Helen Shaw, Eva Evans, Irene Chesbro, Gladys Evans; Fourth row: Austin Tunison, Gerald Palmer, May Shaw, Florence Newman, Laura Barker, Luella Irish, Lucille Hannay, Marian Stevens, Helen Conklin, Estella Griffin, Beatrice Griffin, Clifford Hunt, Clifton Morrison, Maxwell Palmer; Top row: Nettie Gifford, Izora Spalding, Mary Vanderbilt, Louise Van Dyke, (teacher) Prof. George Cook, Elizabeth Williamson, Anna Hannay; other students in classes, might be in photo, but HLC could not recognize: Agnes Tunison, Lillian Thompson, Dorothy Ingalls, Dorothy Lord, Mildred Winegard, Reider Beylegaard, Margaret Boomhower, Charlotte Birmann, Helen Story, Florence Evans, Muriel Wooster

photo courtesy Bette (Woodruff) Welter, daughter of Helen Lockwood Conklin

A clubhouse, pavilion, and shooting range comprise the core of the Norton Hill Wildlife Club on Big Woods Rd, a half mile from the intersection with Carter Bridge Road. Chartered on December 29, 1958, the Wildlife Club’s purpose was to promote interest in wildlife and natural resource conservation, and to promote interest in target shooting of all types, fishing, and several other goals related to wildlife. Signers at the incorporation included: Wilbur Baumann, Charles Simpson, Carl Schultz, Robert Pierce, Erwin Yeomans, Fred McAneny, and Adelbert Butler. The 43 acre property today still serves those same purposes as well as hosting clambakes, lobster bakes, hunter safety classes, support of local food pantries, and sponsorship of students’ attendance at DEC Conservation Camp. Current membership numbers 250. Photos show the shooting ranges.

caption assist: NHWC

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses is located on SR 81 midway between Maple Avenue and Carter Bridge Roads. Purchased in 2001, the land was prepared, graded and the foundation for the building was laid over the course of several weeks by volunteer members of the local and neighboring congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. The building was also completed in 2001, using the bricks recycled from the demolition of a public school in Fort Ticonderoga, NY. The emphasis is placed on the Bible instruction that takes place within the building rather than on the structure itself.

caption assist by KHJW

The Horton-Bates barn, located one mile east of Freehold on CR 67, served as the agricultural hub of those family enterprises in the mid-19th through mid-20th century. Possibly built during the lifetime of David Horton Jr and his son Marcellus, and lastly utilized by Floyd and Will Bates, this barn, and the dozens of others like it in the Town of Greenville, came to symbolize a bucolic rural mythology. Many a Greenville area family’s way of living was determined by the hard work this lifestyle demanded. Today, these rural grand dames give a nostalgic look to our area, albeit a fading one as one after another either collapse from neglect or have been razed for newer ways. This barn, with its commanding view of the Catskills Escarpment, joined the list of defunct barns when it burned nearly a half-century ago. The inset shows the current site, a nondescript shoulder of CR 67 begging to tell its now invisible story.

photo courtesy Ken Mabey – great-grandson of Marcellus Horton

Imagine Greenville without the George Vanderhoef Vanderbilt Park! This aerial photograph, taken just before the establishment of the park in 1992, shows the 157 acre farmland of Catherine Davidson, daughter of GVV, before there was a GVV Park. Thirty three years of development have resulted in several ballfields, hiking trails, a children’s playground, and the Ingalls Pavilion. Other changes: Far left: the GCS boundary has expanded to incorporate playing fields. Far right: the natural growth stone wall boundary will separate the future park and the future Country Estates. Note on right, along Rt 32, all buildings along the road, including the Lewis Sherrill house were razed (1999); further in the rear, the two barns still stand, with the North Barn (right) now used regularly for meetings and gatherings. At the top of the photo, the white specks locate Ingalside Farm on Ingalside Rd (today, Camp Malka), a mile away. This aerial photo, along with hundreds of other aerials, document the aerial life work of Freehold aerial photographer Debra Teator and are now a resource at the Vedder Library, Coxsackie.

courtesy Debra Teator

The formation of Greenville visually comes to life with this eight panel map – The Evolution of Greene County. Over the course of sixty-five years, the maps show the setting of the county line and the evolution of the towns’ formation. Important to the Town of Greenville is the 1800 formation of Greene County and the 1803 formation of the Town of Greenfield (renamed Freehold, then Greenville). Parts of Delaware and Schoharie Counties are involved. A modern map would superimpose on the 1836 map the Towns of Ashland, Halcott, Jewett, and Prattsville, as well as the villages of Catskill, Athens, Coxsackie, Hunter, and Tannersville. Pity the researcher who determines if the mention of Freehold is the 1800 large town, the 1808 town (today’s Greenville), or the hamlet of Freehold at the corners of SR 32 and CR 67.

courtesy file map

The Clematis Garden Club celebrates its 85th birthday in 2025. A 1940 meeting held at May Chatterton’s home sought interested garden The Clematis Garden Club celebrates its 85th birthday in 2025. A 1940 meeting held at May Chatterton’s home sought interested gardeners who then formed the Clematis Garden Club. It was named for the vine growing over the front door of Bramblewood, Ms. Chatterton’s house. CGC utilizes the talents of gardeners from a twelve town area of Greene, southern Albany, and eastern Schoharie Counties, with meetings often held in the Town of Greenville. Activities include regularly scheduled meetings, field trips, lectures, demonstrations, open houses, planting and beautification work, recognition of Gardens of the Month, and charity fundraisers. It also is a member of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, Third District. Current membership numbers around fifty. The photo captures members at their recent annual picnic at the new Ingalls Pavilion. The inset shows one of their projects—the Mary Heisinger bench garden at the southeast corner of the Greenville Public Library.

The back of this original photograph identified Mary Talmage, in July 1925, driving the family cattle on a dirt road to an unknown destination. This type of drive, in early 20th century Grenville, could be to a nearby field or even through a nearby village. Mary was known to drive her herd to the Stevens Hill area (hill overlooking southwest corner of Greenville Four Corners). Mary V Hickok (1883-1960) married Roswell “Rod” Talmage (1859-1941) on 4 Jan 1902 by Rev. R. D. Van Dyck. At least three spellings mark this surname, with the Greenville Cemetery listing Tallmadge. An estate auction of note took place in 1960, after Mary’s passing, at her homestead located about a mile north of SR 81 on Ingalside Rd, across from the Ingalside/Camp Malka swimming pool. The buildings on the Talmadge property (another spelling) fell into disrepair and were razed. Rod’s taxidermy business was noted in the October 1992 calendar.

 courtesy Judith Rundell

Dwight Grimm and Leigh Van Swall pose by the movie projector of the Greenville Drive-In, a venture they assumed ten years ago in 2015. The couple revived and re-imagined the operation of a Greenville landmark. Marking this transition was the upgrade to digital projection, a licensed biergarten, a performing stage, local musicians, and a shift to a movie line-up of retro, independent, and filmmaker-direct offerings. Fame found the drive-in when a Taylor Swift video featured the movie screen. The Drive-In first opened in 1959 under the ownership of Pete Carelas and family. In 1988, a group of eleven community members assumed control and kept the Drive-In open into the new century.

A vacant spot 1.1 miles north of Freehold’s Four Corners on SR 32 belies the activity of thousands of guests who stayed at a series of resorts located there, whose names graced four different eras. In the early 20th century, The Oakwood was one of the largest hotels in town. By the 1920s through 1940s, Raffo Villa advertised itself as the largest Italian American boarding house in the Catskills, hosting up to 125 guests at a time. In the 1950s, the Nilsson House anchored the same site with added amenities. In the 1960s, the Conservative Baptist Camp (not pictured), added a block building and presented a religious flavor. The only buildings that remain from this complex today are the block building that houses the Carlsen Gallery on the west side of SR 32 and the Annex across the road on the ridge line that is an apartment building hidden behind trees. Also on the east side of the road are vestiges of ball courts; the large, leveled tract of lawn is the former swimming pool. Photos, starting in upper left: a postcard of The Oakwood; a postcard of Raffo Villa; a four-panel postcard of the Nilsson House; and a photo of today’s vacant spot.

courtesy: Gerald Boomhower, Gerald Boomhower, Doris Hempstead, Don Teator

Agricultural life is memorialized in a photo album showing the harvesting of crops on the Vanderbilt farm in 1928, today the site of George V Vanderbilt Park. George’s father, William S. Vanderbilt, succeeded the Lewis Sherrill family in farming this 160 acre parcel. Earlier records mention acres of buckwheat, corn, oats, rye, wheat, potatoes, and apples. In later years, hay for cattle became dominant. The photos show machines of the 1920s, long ago enough to render these agricultural practices as almost unrecognizable. This farm was but one of dozens of farms that populated the Town of Greenville and its environs, making this industry one of the economic engines of the area, joined by the up and coming tourism business. This photo album belonged to the family of David Rundell, neighbors of the Vanderbilt farm, and whose farm land would, soon after these photos, become the site of the new Greenville Central Rural School District. The upper left photo shows a view from a field top looking into town center.

courtesy Judith Rundell, wife of David Rundell

Main Street Greenville (north side) in 1940 presents both the familiar and the altered. Starting from left: Barely visible is a two-story Main Street Greenville (north side) in 1940 presents both the familiar and the altered. Starting from left: Barely visible is a two-story structure, a residence that filled the corner, surrounded by a picket fence. It was razed in the mid-1940s to make way for a service station and today is the site of the Tiny Diner. Next is Baumann’s Appliance Store with a gable that was removed, leaving the present building that has seen many uses since Baumann’s ceased operating. Left-center is Stevens Hardware Store, owned and operated by the Stevens family until Randall Cutler took it over in 1962. Currently, The Tasting Lab occupies the site, maintaining some of the old features. In the center is a flat roofed structure connected to the large building on the right that was Baker’s, then Hynes’, Restaurant and Bar. The building was razed, and today Kelly’s Pharmacy is located on the site.

Main photo courtesy Anita Stevens Sanctuary

The Ingalls Family Pavilion is a welcome addition to the George V. Vanderbilt Town Park. A September 2023 invitation attracted several The Ingalls Family Pavilion is a welcome addition to the George V. Vanderbilt Town Park. A September 2023 invitation attracted several hundred community members to a barbecue celebrating a new 40’ x 80’ covered space that not only will serve as a community center in the years ahead but is a memorial to family members of GNH Lumber, Inc. – Stanley L. Ingalls, Randall (Buddy) S. Ingalls, Walter H. Ingalls, and Stanley R. Ingalls, all of whom current GNH President John Ingalls said during its dedication, “chose service over self.” GNH provided the plans and materials for the pavilion; Delaware Engineering assisted with permits; and local contractors, vendors, and volunteers helped bring the project to fruition. A prospective Eagle Scout project took on the task of constructing twelve picnic tables and benches for the pavilion. Those from the Greenville community who use the pavilion also enjoy a splendid view of the Catskill Mountains to the south. The inset shows the length of the building from the south.

Almost two hundred years marks the presence of the Irving family in Greenville. The earliest Irving in Greenville arrived about 1830. William Irving ran Irving’s Pharmacy on Main Street until he passed in 1922. One of Greenville’s landmark houses, built around 1780 and located two residences south of The Westerner, was owned by Marion Irving until she passed in 1991. The photo shows the Marion Irving house in the 1920s (Marion, sitting left) while the inset shows her great-nephew Don Irving and husband Matthew Terry near the end of their renovation in 2016. Currently, Don Irving owns four adjacent properties – the Marion Irving house, the William Irving house, The Westerner, and the Knowlton. A past calendar photo noted the glitter of Christmastime in the Irving area. The nearby road, Irving Road, further testifies to the Irving influence. Note: in 2024, the Westerner closed its doors after fifty-seven years in operation.

Main photo courtesy Don Irving.

Rosemary (Schreiber) and Kevin Lewis pose with their son Tucker (left) with one of the two trucks of the family business – Baumann’s Septic Cleaning. In 1947, founder George Baumann moved his septic cleaning operation from Hudson, NY, closer to Baumann’s Brookside, his brother Russell’s resort, in Greenville. As outhouses were phased out, septic tanks were installed, and the task of cleaning them was undesirable but necessary. George turned over the business to Russell the same year, and, in 1965, Russell’s son-in-law Richard Schreiber (husband of Russell’s daughter Carol) joined the business. A diaphragm pump was used first, but it proved inadequate in some cases. In 1971, Rich and Carol bought a vacuum pump that initially was used for businesses located close to Brookside. Soon, other resorts in the area requested the service. Rich and Carol’s son-in-law Kevin Lewis joined the operation in 1994; Tucker joined in 2022. Nowadays, the collected product is disposed of at approved DEC septic collection sites. Word of mouth about the business has spread throughout Greene and southern Albany Counties, which now comprise its service area. Baumann’s Septic Cleaning thanks its many customers of the past three-quarters of a century for their loyalty.

caption assist – Roe & Kevin Lewis

A local history gem, the nearly twenty acres of the Greenville Cemetery has served as a final resting place for many area residents since the 1780s. The oldest section holds the names of the settlers mentioned in Greenville’s earliest records and documents. With its view of the village and Catskill Mountains in the distance, it is a bucolic setting. It is inevitable that cemeteries face the encroachment of time, tree and other foliage growth, the settling of roads, and rising costs. Operated as an Association Cemetery (with no formal link to a funeral home), the Cemetery Association Board is tasked with offering a public service and ensuring well maintained grounds. In the last couple years, a group of community minded individuals has risen to the challenge of volunteering to help sustain a well-kept place that is respectful of the town’s deceased. This group encourages other community members to be a part of this effort, whether through physical involvement and/or financial support.