On a sunny day last summer, board members Carli Gazoorian and Alexandra Prince sat down for a delightful Armenian lunch with longtime Mountain Top resident and Hunter-Tannersville school teacher Sonia “Siranoush” Hairabedian at her home (aka Fort Shish Kabob) overlooking Hunter Mountain. Below is a snippet of the conversation.
Sonia: I’ll tell you about one of the hotels over in Lexington that’s Armenian—O’Hara house. And my parents came there with my grandparents. …And they liked it up here very much. The mountains reminded them of parts of Armenia. Then after that, my father and my grandmother went looking for property, and they found the boarding house here [in Hunter] for $2,800.
Carli: And what year was that?
Sonia 1940.
Carli 1940. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Sonia …So I came up for one year. My grandfather had put heat in one of the single apartments that was still winterized …So, I said, I’ll come up for a year. Well, fifty years later, I’m still here.
Carli It’s hard to get out.
Sonia So after one year I came up with stockings on, high heels, and makeup, and false eyelashes. And I’m working in the ski shop. Irving Schwimmer— he sees me in town. “What are you doing up here?” [he asked.] I said, I’m going to stay here for the year. “Oh, come and work for me.” I said nah, I had enough money saved then. He knew we were grocers. “You said you worked in your parent’s grocery store. Selling skis is the same thing.” So, I did that for winter.
Carli Where was that? Where did you work?
Sonia Heller’s Ski Shop in um, it’s the building is still, you know, where the rotten buildings are, [the] broken down buildings? Right next door was the ski shop.
Carli Okay, cool.
Sonia Heller’s Ski Shop. And it was Irving Schwimmer’s. So I worked there that winter. And in the springtime, I said, I can’t live up here. You don’t make any money. Everybody’s on unemployment. I mean, the creek, I couldn’t go swimming in the winter. Cuz the creek was an attraction to me. The creek, definitely.
Alexandra Of course, yea it’s beautiful.
Sonia I moved up here. And then after that, that’s when I bought a chainsaw and I started burning wood. And I didn’t have stockings anymore. You know, I had hammers and screwdrivers.
Carli Nice.
Sonia And I have no regrets.
Additional conversations about Armenian history on the Mountain Top, including photos, recipes and more will appear in the Summer issue of The Hemlockand future blog posts.
A collection of 42 glass plate negatives donated by Shirley and Gerald Dunn. The photographs were taken in the early 20th Century by Oscar Showers and include photographs taken in and around Tannersville. They include some images of general interest and several family photographs of the Showers family and others as well as local homes and buildings.
View the full collection online for the first time:
Decorating for Christmas, Main Street, Windham, 1981. Do you recognize the men in the photo? Frank Lacky’s Store, Tannersville early 20th C. After heading down the rabbit hole with several archival enthusiasts, we turn the “discovering” over to you… Do you remember where Frank Lacky’s store was located in Tannersville? What kind of store was it? Egbert Dibble’s Station Corner 23A & 296, circa mid 20th century. Postcard of a corner of The Grill at The Sugar Maples in Maplecrest in the Catskills, NY. Date Unknown. Station for the Otis Elevating Railway with view of Catskill Mountain House, 1889. Tannersville U&D Station, late 19th century. Archivist Notes: Women and a little girl, in Tannersville standing in front of a sign which reads the miles to Kingston and to Kaaterskill.Jack Hommel with sithe (for cutting grass) Mountain Golf Course. C. late 19th/early 20th century. Colored photograph of 3 men and 3 bears with halters/muzzles and leashes. Caption: “Met ’em in Kaaterskill Clove” Archivist Notes: In the late 19th C. and early 20th C., as tourism and hospitality became a major part of the economic backbone of the Catskills region, it was a common practice to capture wild bears and keep them as pets or use them as entertainment. The times have certainly changed and there are now rules and regulations prohibiting these actions as well as intentionally feeding or unintentionally feeding through reckless misconduct. As we continue to experience warmer weather seasons, please stay vigilant about not leaving trash behind. Tannersville’s Rip Van Winkle Airport, C. 1929 Archivist Notes: Tannersville’s Rip Van Winkle airport was built by the Town of Hunter at Gaffey’s corner (Elka Park Road, off Route 16) for the purpose of creating an airport. The agreement was signed on July 8, 1929. The lease gave Perry Edwards exclusive rights to its use it for commercial aviation with a lease period allowed him to run for five years until July 15, 1933. The field would be used during July and August. At the same time Edwards was to guarantee an airplane would be operate on at least one day a week during those two months. It was further agreed that the Town of Hunter would not be responsible for the maintenance of the grounds. — The late Perry Edwards, retold by Justine L. Hommel and transcribed by the volunteers of the MTHS.Buying Meat in the Catskills. Archivist Notes: Postcard of a butcher selling meat from a horse drawn wagon. Side of wagon says AJL Mulford. Postmarked September 1, 1914
We are deeply saddened by the untimely passing of Vice President Gary Slutzky. He was an incredible friend of the MTHS. A mover and shaker, he would see what needed to be done and would just do it. He was an active spokesperson for the Society with our local, county and state officials and representatives. He was key to the MTHS securing the NYS grant for the continuing restoration of our historic 1913 Ulster & Delaware Train Station. He led the effort to install a historic marker on Ski Bowl Road honoring the establishment of Camp Jened at that location and the connection Camp Jened had to the creation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. He worked hard to recruit new Board members. At Board meetings he could be counted on to provide an element of levity. He was a fount of knowledge about Mountain Top history and an inveterate collector of ephemera related to the Mountain Top grand hotels and railroads and road and bridge construction. The depth of his legacy is yet to be calculated, it runs so very deep and wide.
He will be profoundly missed. His untimely passing represents a huge loss for us and the entire Mountain Top community. We extend our deepest sympathies to Barbara and their children and to the entire Slutzky family.
Adrienne S. Larys
President
Below are photos of Gary working on the rehabilitation of the Ulster and Delaware Train Station, an image of the Camp Jened historical marker Gary had installed on Ski Bowl Road, some images of Gary from the MTHS’s Harding Ball in 1991, and an image of Gary and Barbara at the opening of the Visitors Center.
I felt it was important to again share information on the Ukrainian Church, just outside of Hunter. Most readers feel the same way about what is happening in Ukraine; it’s difficult to watch and impossible to understand.
Part of the following information is from an undated Windham Journal article.
Five miles west of Hunter Village is the home of an exceptional-looking Catholic Church, the St. John’s Ukrainian Catholic Church. Built on the north side of Route 23A, Hunter’s neighbor to the northwest and located in Jewett. You must see it in person to grasp its distinctiveness and beauty and how it fits into the surroundings. (Its location is just past the intersection of route 23A and county route 17, just past the Xenia; a delightful restaurant [make a reservation] with a wonderful Saturday Ukrainian buffet.
A description found on the website, Brama, said St. John’s the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Eastern Rite is both a spiritual and a cultural center for Ukrainians in the United States. It was built in 1962 in the traditional (but modified) timber blockwork style.
Brama explained the grounds, the builders, the architects, and the many other people involved in the undertaking.
On August 14, 1960, John Kobziar organized a meeting of local Ukrainian American residents and property owners in the neighboring area. Kobziar owned the “Xenia Tourist Home” near routes 17 (the road leading to Jewett center) and 23A. The group formed the “Temporary Committee for the construction of the Ukrainian Catholic Chapel in the Vicinity of Hunter, N.Y.” The name was soon shortened to the “Temporary Committee” and chaired by Mr. Kobziar. It was May 21, 1961, when they accepted the submitted sketch design of the wooden chapel of a three-dimensional structure. (Much of this information is from the Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church website). (Oshanna Kobziar, a striking-looking, bright daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kobziar, graduated from HTC not long after the church was completed in 1962. Oksana, with their home next door, watched the daily progress of the church.)
Ukrainian Church at Hunter Serves Over 100 Families
“Saint John’s was consecrated on Saturday at 11 a.m. by the Right Reverend Joseph Shmondiuk, Bishop of a diocese that includes New York State and New England. After the consecration ceremonies, the bishop celebrated Mass according to the colorful Byzantine rite. A total of twenty-four priests took part in the first Mass held in the church.
Over 2,000 persons were present to witness the rites, some coming from Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto, Canada.
The church, built as a memorial to the more than 2,000 Ukrainian archbishops, bishops, and priests martyred by the Communists in Ukraine, is the only one of its kind in the United States. Constructed of hand-hewn red cypress put together with dowels throughout, it is an exact copy of the Ukrainian Catholic Churches of the Carpathian Mountains, now all destroyed.
The completed structure cost just $40,000 (about $347,712.00 in 2021). Many Ukrainians contributed their labor and materials.
The church will serve over 100 families mainly settled in the Schoharie valley between Hunter and Lexington.
Following the religious ceremonies, a dinner for 270 persons was held at John Kobziar’s Xenia Motel. St. George’s choir sang the Lord’s Prayer in Ukrainian at the beginning of the dinner and presented a selection of Ukrainian folk songs afterward. A troupe of 14 girls and boys from Hempstead, L. I., under the direction of Mr. Petrina, entertained the guests with a series of Ukrainian folk dancers.
Father Barnych, the toastmaster at the dinner, introduced the keynote speaker, former Assemblyman Stephen Jarema, representative of the Ukrainian Congress committee; Bishop Shmondink commented on the many recreational facilities built into new homes as contrasted to the complete absence of a place in the home for prayer. ‘We have televisions rooms, game rooms, playrooms, even bars,” remarked the bishop; “why not a prayer room?’
Mr. Lesawer, president of the Ukrainian National Association, extended greetings; Dr. Pushkar, of the Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics in Philadelphia; and Fr. John Tracy, of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Haines Falls, extended the hospitality of his church’s facilities. Dr. Ivan Makarewycz welcomed the clergy and people in the name of the new church, and its new pastor-administrator, Fr. Osidiach, extended thanks to all.”
The new church was built under the supervision of Jurij Kosliw of South Jewett.”
Today’s mountain top tidbit history is about the Lox-Hurst property that houses the Mountain Top Historical Society.
It’s had a long, interesting history before it was purchased when Justine Hommel was at the Helm of the MTHS. No, this hotel was in that location but went by a new name, The La Cascade, meaning “A Waterfall.” Its new owners were Paul and Lucienne Dumas. They were known for their distinctive cooking style and had previously operated a restaurant in Paris, France.
The going rate then, including your meals, was about $60 per person per week (about $590 today). Their daughter, Fran Dumas Hoose, lives in Haines Falls, while her son, Randy, and daughter, Cindy, remain in the area. (Its fun phone number, 456, was upgraded to 589-6430 in about 1963).
Very little Information seemed to be published when owned by the Dumas family, although they owned it for over ten years. Numerous articles were found after the Jamet brothers purchased it from the Dumas family. They went back into the early 1960s.
In 1966, a New York Times writer, Craig Claiborne, wrote: “There is a twisting, turning, rock-rimmed road that leads to the La Cascade, a hotel and restaurant that has for a slogan, “A Touch of France in the Catskills.”
Claiborne said the restaurant was worth a detour to the mountains. He said the kitchen produced its cuisine, served family-style. Claiborne described it as hors d’oeuvre, chicken crepes, or hot quiche Lorraine, soup, salad, an exquisite dinner, and ended with coffee and dessert. Walk-ins paid the cost of $4.50 for dinner and an extra $4.50 for a good bottle of wine. ($4.50 is equal today to $40.25).
Claiborne said the interior was cordial. The main room had an upright piano in the corner and a deer-skin rug on the wall. The bar walls had two mounted deer heads overhead.
The cost was $10 to $16, depending on whether you had a private bath and the size of the room accommodations. ($10 for room and board for a day equals about $92 today.)
An interesting ski contest was held in 1963, just three or four years after Hunter Mt. Ski Bowl opened. The contest required a letter (of 50 words or less) to be sent to the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, telling them why you want to learn to ski. It gave five days of free room and board at the La Cascade, five days of free skiing, and two hours of ski lessons daily: a once-in-a-lifetime family vacation.
The La Cascade did well for years until Louis Jamet sold it sometime before 1978.
Thanks to MTHS board member Debbie Fromer for providing the following information… New owners operated it as a dude ranch until it ws lost in foreclosure. Jamet once again owned it for a few years before selling it to a partnership. It ran successfully as the Hunter Mountain Dude Ranch, managed for years by the well-liked Anna and Red Flechter.
It went from C. A. Martin’s Lox-Hurst, circa 1884, to the La Cascade, about 1945, and later the Hunter Mt. Dude Ranch. The property continues its interesting history as the Mountain Top Historical Society.
On June 27, 1881, George Harding opened Hotel Kaaterskill, just eight or nine months after construction began. Elias Dutcher was credited for its completion, opening ahead of schedule.
Important names credited to its construction:
– Architect, S.D. Batton from Philadelphia, PA. – Master Builder, Elias L. Dutcher from Cairo. – Lumber and Road, Meech & Dibble from Platte Clove. – Millwork, Edwin Lampman from Haines Falls.
This information is credited to the Catskill Mountaineer website.
The original dimensions:
– Main Building: 324’X44′ had four stories. – Towers: 34X34′ had six levels. – North & West Wing: 224X42’was four levels – East Wing: 90X26′ had four levels. – North Wing: 141X30′ had four stories. (from the end of the East Wing) – Laundry: was one mile away: 120’X80′. – Barn: 240’X32′ (a reasonable distance west of the Hotel). – Icehouse: 65X30′ (next to the hotel).
KAATERSKILL HOTEL SOLD – Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 03, 1922…
“The Hotel Kaaterskill property at Catskill, N. Y., was sold to Dr. Harry Tannebaum of Oak Court, Lakewood, N.J., formerly owner of the Hollywood Lodge, Highmount, N. Y.
This property covers an area of six-hundred acres, comprises a township, and contains the main building, annex, and outbuilding with several lakes. The main building includes one thousand bedrooms, exclusive of other rooms; also bowling alleys, billiard rooms, and numerous recreation rooms. The property consists of a 9-hole golf course, which will be enlarged to an 18-hole course.
The property was initially constructed by day labor in 1882 by George Harding, the leading patent attorney of his time, and cost over one million dollars [today, that’s equal to just under $29 million] to complete. It was necessary to cut through roads and level mountain tops in its erection.”
An impressive accomplishment, even with today’s equipment!
I’ve shared related articles before, but Manitou seems to be found frequently in different variants and is always a fun and exciting read. Here’s a little bit more.
Unfortunately, the following paper was unsigned… “According to Indian traditions, there was a kind of Manitou or Spirit, who took a mischievous pleasure in wreaking evils and vexations upon the red man. Sometimes he would assume the form of a bear, a panther, or a deer, lead the bewildered hunter a weary chase through the tangled forest and ragged rocks, and then spring off with a loud Ho Ho, leaving him aghast on the brink of a beetling precipice or raging torrent.
The Indians considered the Catskills the abode of spirits, who influenced the weather, and sending good or bad hunting seasons. They were ruled by an old squaw spirit, said to be their mother. She had charge of the doors of day and night to open and shut them at the proper hour. She hung the new moons in the skies and cut the old ones into stars.”
In 2016, Dr. Robert Titus, a renowned geologist and local resident, wrote about Henry Hudson’s 1609 exploration and discovery of an important landmark, the Hudson River. Titus said Hudson and his crew must have wondered about those mountains as they sailed past them. Dr. Titus noted, “The Catskill Front, or if you like, the Wall of Manitou, is very roughly the Algonquian words for the Wall of God. It is a very striking landscape feature, stretching about ten miles long and extending from Overlook Mt., in the south, to North Point in the north. It is broken twice by sizable cloves. The biggest is Kaaterskill clove; the other is Plattekill clove, and that is only a bit smaller.”
Titus wrote: “To watch as thunderstorms pass over the Catskills is a grand experience. I think that they must have invented thunderstorms just for the Catskills. On clear dry days at Olana (the home built by Artist Edwin Church), the image of the mountains seems to expand; I think the dry air actually magnifies the view. It is always a wonderful panorama at Olana. Church and his family enjoyed it for decades; I envy them that.”
Olana was constructed in 1872 as the home for Edwin Church and his wife. Church was a student of artist Thomas Cole who described Church as “the finest eye for drawing in the world.” Olana had been an old farm, a site where Church and Cole often painted together. Olana is a New York State historic house and museum in Greenport, near Hudson.
Wikipedia tells us that in some Algonquian traditions, Gitcher Manitou refers to a “great spirit” or supreme being. Some Christian groups adopted the word to refer to God. It tells us, “Algonquian religion acknowledges medicine men, who used manitou to see the future, change the weather, and heal illness.” Illness was believed to be caused by magic and spirits.
Just as the name Rip Van Winkle is shared among many businesses in Greene County, so has the name Manitou. The Catskill Escarpment, the Wall of Manitou, is a name proudly shared with numerous other sites in North America. Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your summer.
This story shares a bit on the life of one of the fascinating people who lived in the Town of Hunter: Maude Adams, also known as Peter Pan. Miss Adams lived on the Mountain Top for about forty years. She died in 1953 in a friend’s home on the west side of Tannersville. She was 80 years old.
Maude Adams, known as a gentle and private person, learned that a photograph of her home had been taken and made into postcards. Her home in Tannersville was (is) not far from the main entrance to Onteora Park. It was designed by the famous architect G. A. Reid and was built back off the road. It had several windows looking toward the mountains she so loved. She considered her summer home, her sanctuary, her refuge. She was distressed over her privacy being compromised.
Miss Adams consulted an attorney and learned she’d have to give her permission before anyone could legally enter her property.
She visited souvenir stores in Tannersville, Hunter, and Haines Falls and purchased over one hundred postcards. In the following weeks, she bought all that was available. It quickly became a popular card.
Miss Adams visited the local photographers, but each denied taking a photograph. It took her about a week, but she soon traced the photo’s origin to Harding Showers, an amateur photographer, and a nearby neighbor. As soon as she asked him to discontinue the sale of the photographs, he agreed and gave her the plate. It was quickly destroyed.
Maude prided herself in her excellent relationship with the villagers and did not want to leave her home. The locals adored Miss Adams and respected her desire to live in absolute quiet. Like many prominent people, she continually had to fight for her privacy.
The article noted that Maude Adams had other troubles at that time. It said, “A polish artist is painting her picture as Peter Pan, and it was decided that the background of Artist’s Seat, one of the highest places in Onteora Park, was exactly appropriate to do the painting. Miss Adams, clad in her costume and wearing a long cloak, climbed up the 235 steps to the spot with two pickets (guards) to warn her if anybody approached. As early as half past 8 o’clock in the morning and again at 6 o’clock in the afternoon, the actress tried to pose against the rocks and trees. Every time she was interrupted, however, and at last, a photographer from New York was sent for to take pictures of the background.” (From a New Jersey Morning Call paper, August 10, 1906.)
Miss Adams called the mountains, visible from the crossroads of County Route 25 and 23C, “The Giant Elephants protecting the high peaks.”
“Union Free School at Hunter, Catskill Mountains, NY”
From the September 8, 1933 Albany Times Union:
HUNTER STUDENTS ON STRIKE
“Protesting against the combining of the Hunter and the Tannersville High Schools, the junior and senior classes of the former school announced their intentions of staying away from classes.” The article said that Sol Meisel was one of the leaders. In 1933, Meisel was a junior at the Hunter School.
DEMONSTRATIONS “EGGED-On”
The paper said that before the strike began, the kids got together and had an automobile parade through Tannersville. It was not well-received. They heard catcalls and had decayed fruit and vegetables thrown at their automobiles. Meisel said that alone convinced the students not to cross the threshold of the Tannersville school. At least not until they felt they got what they wanted.
Frank Lackey, school board president, said he was equally firm in his standpoint.
Lackey said that the transfer of the schools was done with the state’s approval and that the board wouldn’t move an inch in the matter. If anybody yields, it will be the students, or the state department must reverse its decision. Lackey went on to say that the consolidation was done for economic reasons. He said the problem is two or three troublemakers stirring things up. Lackey believes it will all be ironed out in two or three days.
HUNTER STUDENTS TO ARBITRATE
“The 20 members of the junior and senior class of the Hunter High School out on strike as a protest against the consolidation of their school were to meet tonight with members of the board of education at Hunter High.
The students have refused to attend classes this term because Hunter was merged with Tannersville High School. The situation remains deadlocked, the students declaring they will not return until word is received from the state education in Albany as to whether the consolidation is legal.”
The school board president, Frank Lackey, said the New York State Education Department sanctioned the consolidation. (September 14, 1933, Times Union).
HUNTER’S SCHOOL TROUBLE RESTS
Stamford Mirror September 14, 1933
Board Abandons Merger– SUGGESTED BY THE STATE
It said the situation that challenged the Hunter-Jewett-Lexington Central School Districts and the twenty students on strike was because they did not want to attend Tannersville. Meetings and discussions were held until last May when a special school election with 1,510 ballots was cast. Tannersville’s location won by 114 votes.
It was brought to the public’s attention last week when a local radio station announced the problem. The radio said a protest parade by the Hunter students was met with disapproval. The Hunter students said they’d rather go to Windham, nine miles away. The Village of Hunter taxpayers supported the students.
At a special board meeting, the district decided to reopen the Hunter school and temporarily cancel its plan to have the Hunter students attend Tannersville. They said this added expense would cost about $3000 a year for two extra teachers plus rental space for a temporary high school at Fred Quick’s home in Hunter. The old Hunter high school had already been converted into a grade school.
Hunter residents and students were “bitterly disappointed,” so when school re-opened this past September in Tannersville, the Hunter students were at their desks, but briefly. Some students quit school over the issue. Before long, the Hunter student body walked out. Discussions and meetings were held, with no agreement forthcoming. Finally, acting on the suggestion of Frank P. Graves, NYS Commissioner of Education, the board of education voted to permit the pupils to return to school at Hunter.
It makes one wonder how this situation would have resolved itself today.
