New York, Sullivan County

RETROSPECT by John Conway December 18, 2020 ONE NOT-SO-BENIGN INFLUENCE... The positive impacts of the Delaware & Hudson Canal on Sullivan County were indisputable. With its opening in 1828, the 108-mile-long waterway made it possible for the first time to easily transport goods into and out of the area, and directly led to the growth of the tanning and bluestone industries here. Entire communities, including Barryville, Wurtsboro and Phillipsport, owe their very existence to the D&H, and while the canal was in operation, each was among the largest communities in the county in terms of commerce and population. The negative impacts of the Canal on the region it served were less numerous and less well-known. Among them was the role it played in the transmission of communicable diseases, many of which had no effective treatment in the days before antibiotics. Because the canal directly linked the remote communities of Sullivan County with the Hudson River and New York City, boats travelling up the Hudson from New York to Rondout, which served not only as a busy port on the river but also as the terminus of the D&H, would occasionally bring with them passengers or crew infected with one or another of the diseases that then seemed rampant in the overflowing metropolis. The disease could then easily spread along the canal if a member of the crew of a canal boat was exposed before it headed westward. The canal itself was also a breeding ground for disease, with its relatively shallow, stagnant water, often contaminated with human and animal waste. A deadly outbreak of scarlet fever that ravaged Pond Eddy and Barryville, among other communities, in December of 1880 was specifically attributed to the canal. Although generally controlled today with antibiotics, scarlet fever was a killer in those days, especially among children, and several epidemics struck the United States between 1820 and 1880. The association between the disease and the streptococcus bacteria responsible for it did not come about until 1884, and a full understanding of the cause of the disease was still decades away, but after 1880 there was a pronounced decrease in the number of outbreaks, due mainly to effective public health measures put in place in urban areas. Those measures were nearly non-existent in rural places like Sullivan County, which were typically years behind the cities in learning to control outbreaks when they did occur. Scarlet fever is raging in this part of the country, the Port Jervis Evening Gazette reported in its December 11, 1880 edition. A family of three children are affected with it at Pond Eddy, and at Barryville there has been several deaths. First class physicians say it originates from the Delaware & Hudson Canal. For years, the filth of inorganic matter has been allowed to accumulate on the bottom of the ditch. The article goes on to claim that the canal company had been promising to clean the bottom of the canal for years, and was supposed to undertake the project that very winter. Given the poor season on the waterway that year, which had been plagued by drought, the article noted that the cleaning project would provide much needed employment for locals and would greatly improve the health of the community. Stories like these notwithstanding, the D&H Canal remains among the most significant enterprises in the history of not just Sullivan County, but of the nation as a whole. James Eldridge Quinlan wrote in 1873 that the benefit of this canal to Sullivan is a mere bagatelle when compared with its benign influence on the coal-region of Pennsylvania, on New York and other cities, and on the country at large. Its success led to other works for a similar purpose, which now minister to the comforts of the poor, and add to the wealth of the rich. Destroy the coalfields of the Lackawanna, and the public improvements which have been made to convey the carbonaceous deposit to those who consume it, and you will bring upon an immense number of the human family an evil not exceeded by famine and pestilence. From such a contingency only could we learn truly to estimate the benefits conferred by William and Maurice Wurts, whose memory should be honored by all good men. John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. He is president of the non-profit history education group, The Delaware Company, which has embarked on the Kate Project, to better tell the story of the D&H Canal. Email him at [email protected]. PHOTO CAPTION: Crews of canal boats unloading their coal at Rondout sometimes became exposed to diseases carried up the Hudson River from New York City, and then potentially spread the disease while travelling back through the canal.

Greenwold Supon Company, Monticello, NY This became the Trading Post Ace Hardware Store on 116 Broadway. I was there the first day my father bought it, tearing down partitions.

Monticello ice Company Monticello New York

Main Street, Liberty, N. Y.

It's 2020 holiday season! Which means you have more of an excuse than ever before to ingest tremendous amounts of cookies, cheesecake and chocolate tart. To pre...order, give us a ring at 845.439.1185 or cleverly stop by while we're rolling out croissants. Happy holidays and thank you for supporting our new bakery! See more

We’re all in luck. None of us have to fly to France for Paris level croissants anymore.

Our Town of Neversink Community Ice rink is almost ready! The crew has been working extremely hard to get the rink built and the ice ready for skating. The ic...e rink would not be possible without some very important people that we want to acknowledge: Preston Kelly and the highway crew who have been with us on this from the beginning helping in everyway they can--they installed the walls of the rink and it looks amazing; Paul Keller and John Erts who not only shared their expertise but gave us their time and the materials we needed; Ric, Dwight & Phil Coombe and Walt Zeitschel who gave so freely of their time from the very early morning to the wee hours of the night. And a big shout out to the Grahamsville, Neversink and Claryville Fire Depts who have volunteered to help make the ice. All these people have done an incredible job to make our dream of a community ice rink a reality! And we thank them all. Stay tuned for more info on the rink, including the rink rules and the rink maintenance. Remember.... this is OUR community ice rink so we need to come together as a community and keep it maintained. See more

From USpostcards.com collection The Swimming Race Regatta Days, White Lake NY postcard

From USpostcards.com collection Park Fountain, Broadway, Monticello, NY postcard