The Vedder Research Library

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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