13th Catskills Preservation And History Conference
The Liberty Museum & Arts Center has announced the schedule for their 13th annual Catskills Preservation and History Conference, to be held at the Museum in Liberty, Sullivan County, NY, on Sunday,...
View ArticleA Short History Of Serial Killer Lizzie Brown Halliday
There may be no more despicable person in Sullivan County’s history than Lizzie Brown Halliday. She was known to have murdered at least five persons, and was suspected of killing many more. When she...
View ArticleChappaqua Doesn’t Exist! Peter Feinman On Place
Chappaqua doesn’t exist. So says Ken Jackson of Columbia University, a longtime advocate calling for New York State to promote New York history. This might seem strange to the many people who have...
View ArticleCatskills Resorts: The Beginning of the End
Many of the 75 or so people at the recent 13th Annual Catskills History and Preservation Conference at the Liberty Museum & Arts Center were shocked to hear that the Sullivan County’s heralded...
View ArticleThe Catskills Conference That Changed The World
In the middle of September of 1959, more than160 of the world’s most prominent scientists– eight of whom would go on to earn a Nobel prize– gathered at a remote mountain lodge for three days of...
View ArticleCasino Push Recalls 1960s Catskills Nuke Project
Even those who are not particularly astute observers of the current battle for casino licenses have recognized that the struggle has devolved into one in which some of those in the running have...
View ArticleCatskills: New Uses For Old Hotels
The now long defunct Flagler Hotel in Sullivan County’s Fallsburg had a rich tradition as one of the region’s premier resorts, and for decades was a trend setter in the industry. In 1920, the Flagler...
View ArticleAn Infamous Criminal’s Connection To Monticello
Edward H. Rulloff was one of the most famous American criminals of the 19th century, believed responsible for multiple murders and sundry other crimes, and eventually being publicly hanged in...
View ArticleWashington Irving’s Spooky Tale of Mamakating Hollow
It was once without question the best known ghost story set in Sullivan County, written by one of America’s most respected writers, and yet it is largely unknown today. It combines detailed...
View Article1931: Tammany Hall, Voter Fraud, and Sullivan County
Of all the fascinating races in Sullivan County’s colorful political history, none has had a greater statewide impact than the 1931 contest for the New York State Assembly. And the significance of the...
View ArticleWinter Recreation Resorts In The Catskills
Time was that the Sullivan County Catskills were as popular as any summer tourist destination in the country. And as far back as the 19th century, some enterprising hotel owners attempted to translate...
View ArticleA Secret Stay At The White House Revealed
The hamlet of Long Eddy has a rich and colorful history, including a few years in the 19th century when it was known as Douglas City, the only incorporated city ever in Sullivan County. It also has a...
View ArticleThe Fuehrer In Sullivan County
During the summer of 1939, a small group of men from out of the area rented a camp just outside Narrowsburg, a small community on the Delaware River in Sullivan County, where they spent most of their...
View Article1939: Nazi Saboteurs In Sullivan County
There have long been stories – most of them unsubstantiated – about the activities of the German American Bund in Sullivan County in the years leading up to World War II. While the activities of that...
View ArticleEarly Black Landowners In Sullivan County
Nearly 400 years ago, in 1626, a ship carrying eleven slaves was unloaded in New Amsterdam by the Dutch West Indies Company. Those eleven men are believed to be among the first African-Americans...
View ArticleBeer in the American Revolution Event
The Delaware Company, a non-profit whose mission is to promote and support the history and historic landmarks of the Upper Delaware River Valley, will host “American Walks Into a Bar: The Role of Beer...
View ArticleSullivan County’s First African American Firefighter
During the night of April 26, 1874, fire broke out in the livery stables of LeGrand Morris’ Exchange Hotel in Monticello, NY. Village residents were roused from their beds to form a bucket brigade to...
View ArticleAfrican-American History: Seeking Fortune In The North
When Harvey Griffin became a member of the Monticello Fire Department in 1875, he was the only African-American living in the village, and one of just a handful in all of Sullivan County. In 1930, when...
View ArticlePhebe Reynolds Thwarts The Tories
James Eldridge Quinlan’s History of Sullivan County is generally regarded as one of the most thorough and entertainingly written local histories. Published in 1873, Quinlan’s history is the undisputed...
View ArticleA Salute To Teachers
From 1812 – when the New York state legislature authorized the formation of common schools to provide basic educational needs to a community’s students – through the early part of the 20th century, one...
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