The Vedder Research Library

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.