Shirley Wiltse Dunn,  1929-2022

A farewell tribute to a Mountain Top native and keeper of local history in the various places where she lived

By Cyndi LaPierre

Shirley Wiltse Dunn was born in Tannersville, NY, graduated from Tannersville High School in 1946, and from New York State College for Teachers in Albany in 1950. She earned Master’s degrees in English and History from the same college, now known as SUNY Albany. Mrs. Dunn worked as a teacher, a museum interpreter, editor, and historic preservationist.

After her graduation from the College for Teachers, Shirley taught school in Delmar, NY and Baltimore, MD for four years while her husband pursued his education. Then she took on the role of devoted mother to her four children. Once her children graduated from college, she returned to the labor market following her passions in History and English as a teacher, writer, supporter of local history groups, and historic preservation consultant. She worked for the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation until retiring in 1992.

Shirley wrote or edited seven books including three well-respected studies of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation. She was a co-author of Dutch Architecture near Albany; authored a children’s book about the Mohicans; and left a legacy to her mother and a gift to all Mountain Top residents by writing a popular book of her mother’s stories of the people and events in the Tannersville area titled Pioneer Days in the Catskill High Peaks. Her last book, on Fort Crailo and the Van Rensselaer families who lived there, was published in 2016.

Shirley Wiltse Dunn was generous with her knowledge, sharing through her writing, sharing a collection of glass plate negatives (which can be seen on the MTHS website), and donating volumes from her own library to the Mountain Top Historical Society.

She could certainly be added to the MTHS’ newly minted list of extraordinary ordinary women and will be fondly remembered by her friends, neighbors, colleagues, students and local historians.

Celebrating the life of Justine Legg Hommel

Justine Hommel and the Haines Falls Free Library Bookmobile in 1950

A librarian, historian, educator, author, expert on the high peaks region of the Catskills and Mountain Top, and Bookmobile director extraordinaire, Justine Legg Hommel (1926-2016) was, as Deb Allen puts it, a “force of nature.” Her memory deserves celebration not only for her boundless compassion and activism that shaped much of the cultural vitality of our mountain top, but also to help address the lack of attention afforded the history of rural women.

While serving as an assistant librarian for the Haines Falls Free Library, Justine was instrumental in coordinating the Bookmobile, a service that provided books and reading materials to mountain top residents who otherwise lacked access or transportation. In 1957, Justine became the librarian and held that position until 1988.

Justine worked to preserve the scenic beauty of our area, in particular the Kaaterskill Clove, many years before advocacy for natural landscapes and the high peaks region was popular. She fought tirelessly to ensure that the Kaaterskill clove road would be complemented with natural stone walls rather than the steel originally intended by the Department of Transportation.

She was a co-founder and dedicated President of the Mountain Top Historical Society (MTHS) for more than thirty years. During her tenure, the MTHS acquired a campus and the historic Ulster & Delaware Train Station.

Her scholarship on the history of the Mountain Top garnered local and national media, including the Smithsonian, National Geographic Magazine, and the New York Times. She was a recognized expert on the high peaks, and served as an advisor on a PBS documentary on the Hudson Valley, was honored by the New York Historical Society, and received the first Jessie Van Vecten Vedder Award from the Greene County Historical Society.

The Justine L. Hommel memorial highway extends from Palenville to Haines Falls, through the beautiful Kaaterskill Clove. Think of her every time you pass the beautiful stone walls.

Note: This post is based on the recent presentation on Justine’s life by Deborah Allen. View the presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWB_oBkl7KY&t=1563s

A Visit to the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church

By Alexandra Prince

Photo by author

This morning I paid a visit to the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jewett on Route 23A. I didn’t expect to see footsteps in the icy snow leading up to the bulletin board. Following them led to me to discover that a member of the church community has been posting notices pertaining to the recent conflict in Ukraine. 

A letter from the Office of the Bishop dated February 26 starts, “As we are all aware, the unthinkable has happened and Ukraine is at war once again, with an aggressor who desires to enslave and destroy her. The Ukrainian army is putting up a valiant defense, but the ravages of war are already being felt.” The letter continues to direct its readers to support the Ukrainian cause by donating to the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolis of Philadelphia and two other organizations recommended by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America.

The bulletin board also displays a recent news article with comments from Rev. Ivan Kaszczak, pastor of the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Kerhonkson, who made it clear that Ukrainians “just want peace.”

St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church stands out prominently along the 23A corridor for its distinctive architecture. The church was built in the style of the well-known wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Mountainous region in Ukraine. 

Construction of the church began in the early 1960s through the efforts of local Ukrainian-American residents who joined together under the auspices of the “Temporary Committee for the construction of the Ukrainian Catholic Chapel in the Vicinity of Hunter, N.Y.” Over the course of two decades, not only a church but a belfry, gate, parish hall (Grazhda), and a parsonage were constructed. According to the church’s website, the project “was financed by Ukrainian post-World War II refugees and immigrants who realized the need for a tangible expression of their heritage and in the context of Soviet control of their country were constantly vigilant in the preservation and propagation of Ukrainian culture.” 

The church was built under the direction of master carpenter Jurij Kostiw. Kostiw employed traditional timber framing techniques of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountain highlands. Cedar logs were imported from British Columbia to form the 61’ high structure. The interior of the church is adorned with intricate wood carvings that feature folk ornamental motifs and traditional religious symbolism, as well as a variety of religious icons including St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the church.

 St. John the Baptist Church Ukrainian Catholic Church is a vibrant religious and community center on the Mountain Top. It was heartening to see an additional message posted on the bulletin board this morning from Congregation Kol Anshei Yisroyal, better known as the Hunter Synagogue, expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian community. The message reads: “To the Mountaintop Ukrainian-American Community: As the terrible attacks on Ukraine by the Russian army accelerates, we, the Jewish congregation of Hunter, write to express our solidarity with the brave Ukrainian people, both military and civilian. We stand with you in opposition to Russian aggression. We hope and pray that the invasion will swiftly be repelled, and that an independent, democratic and peaceful Ukraine shall thrive for many generations to come.”

Christmas and the Catskills

Christmas trees harvested in the Catskills make their way to the sidewalks of New York City by horse-drawn carriage.

According to The New York Historical Society, the now famous Christmas tree displays in New York City began as early as 1851. A New York Times article published that year reported on a Catskills woodsman named Mark Carr, who set up an outdoor store of his “mountain novelties” on the corner of Greenwich and Vesey Streets, now the site of The National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The image above, recently shared to the Greene County History page on Facebook (a wonderful resource if you’re not already following it), shows part of the train journey 11,000 Christmas trees made in 1901 from the mountain top to NYC via the Ulster & Delaware Railroad. According to local historian John Ham, “In October 1899, four farmers from Elka Park and Platte Clove cut 8800 Balsam and Spruce trees to ship to New York City.”

Our mountain top’s high altitudes and attendant lower temperatures allow for the growth of balsam fir and red spruce trees, species that are commonly used as Christmas trees for their evergreen and fragrant foliage.

Then ⏮ & Now ⏩: The Sphinx

By Alexandra Prince

Recently we shared a postcard image of The Sphinx, a large boulder that sits above Kaaterskill Clove, on our social media pages. The first image shows this tremendous rock today, during the Fall of 2021.

The Sphinx, also known as Noah’s Ark, was included as a hiking destination in Samuel Rusk’s 1879 work “An Illustrated Guide to the Catskill Mountains with Maps and Plans.” Rush describes The Sphinx or Noah’s Ark as “a curiously shaped rock, being about twenty feet high, with a base of ten feet square and its upper side projecting so as to resemble the prow of a ship…The Ark stands close on the brink of a precipice on the side of the Cauterskill Clove, commanding a fine view thereof.”

Photo by author. Fall 2021.

The Revenge of Shandaken, The Pine Orchard & the Grave of Lotowana

By Alexandra Prince

A view of the Pine Orchard at the site of the Catskill Mountain House.

A recent presentation by Evan Pritchard, descendant of the Micmac people and Professor of Native American history at Marist College, briefly mentioned the legend of Chief Shandaken. According to Pritchard, Shandaken is a Munsee Delaware word that likely means Land of Spruce, Land of Hemlock, or perhaps Land of Many Evergreens. It’s said that Chief Shandaken lived at the Pine Orchard near North-South Lake, the place well known today as of the site of the Catskill Mountain Hotel.

The legend goes that Chief Shandaken’s daughter Lotowana had a suitor named Norsereddin, a “proud, morose, dark-featured” non-Native man described as a descendent of Egyptian kings who lived a solitary life along the Kaaterskill Creek. Lotowana instead favored a Mohawk man and the two were married to the great chagrin of Noreseridden. During the wedding, Norseridden gave Lotowana a gift—a handsome box. It contained some kind of springed apparatus that upon being opened launched a “poisoned tooth of a snake that had been affixed to it.” The poisoned snake tooth pierced Lotowana’s hand. The venom was so strong that she died in mere minutes next to her new husband’s feet.

Norseridden tried to escape, but Chief Shandaken’s men captured him and brought him back to the cliff to be executed. Lotowana was buried while Noreseridden’s ashes “were left to be blown abroad.” Due to immense grief, Chief Shandaken decided to leave the Pine Orchard “his ancient dwelling-place, and his camp-fires never glimmered afterward on the front of Ontiora.”

There are many interesting aspects of this story to be sure. For instance, is the Pine Orchard mentioned in the story the same one we know today? And if it is, does that mean Pine Orchard is not only the site of the former Catskill Mountain House but the burial place of the legendary Lotowana? Something to consider upon your next visit to the historic site.

Note: The text quoted is from Charles M. Skinner’s 1896 Myths and Legends of our Own Land.

Draperies of Ice

A benefit of the deep freezes of winter are the wonderful “draperies of ice” that form along creeks and waterfalls.

Below are three stereographs from the New York Public Library collection showing beautiful displays of ice and snow at Kaaterskill (spelled Kauterskill in the records) Falls from the early 20th century. The last image was taken from underneath the falls looking out into the clove.

Then ⏮ & Now ⏩ : All Souls Church

By Alexandra Prince

All Souls Church in Tannersville was originally built in 1894. The church is a favorite landmark in the area notable for its stone construction in the Gothic Revival style and it continues to hold Episcopal services during the summer season.

The first image of the church is from a glass plate negative donated to the Mountain Top Historical Society archives by Shirley and Gerald Dunn, part of a larger collection of photographs taken in the early 20th century by Oscar Showers. The second image was taken today, with the overcast sky meant as an approximation of the wonderful swirl-like effect of the clouds in the original glass plate negative.