The Vedder Research Library

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.