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Sullivan County, NY place names

Sullivan County, NY placenames that have changed

Place names change through the years....

(Be sure to visit our main Sullivan County page, too!)

In Sullivan County, as elsewhere, names of places tend to change as the years, decades, and centuries go by.  It's a fact of life for local historians and genealogists -- that person so clearly identified as living in "Sandburgh" in 1873 is found, a century later, to have lived in "Mountaindale", yet the foundation of their dwelling in the Town of Fallsburgh (or Fallsburg) has not moved one inch!  

There are many reasons place names change over time.  Economic development (or lack thereof), international relations, a new industry (or industrialist) leaving a permanent mark, ethnic migrations into or out of the area, the desire to be "modern", governmental fiat, and just plain whim are some of them.  Quite a few road names particularly have changed in recent years to support the 911 emergency system -- if two roads in a general area had the same name, one was changed to something different.  Behind every place name change there is a story, and in the stories there are people. To the extent we can capture those changes now, before the backgrounds are lost, we will help those who are puzzling over that question 50 or 100 years from now.  

Remember, the fact that a name changed recently does NOT make it ineligible for this page.  In fact, because more people know that road by the old name, it makes it especially eligible.  Please provide input! 

There have been many name changes in Sullivan County over the years, and this page will try to provide information about all of them we find out about. If we have additional information about any of these name changes, including the year (approximate) in which they happened, we'll be very happy to include that too.  If you know about place names in Sullivan County that have changed over the years that don't appear here yet, you can help us make this page better by letting us know about it.  We will credit all contributors by name right on this page.  (Just go to the "contacting us" page, and be sure to say in your message that it's about the name changes page for Sullivan County). 

Perhaps the best place to start is with Sullivan County itself.  Sullivan was created from Ulster County, one of New York State's original counties, in 1809.  Thus, to the extent that they existed at all before 1809, pretty much all the locations listed in the sections below were, at the onset, part of Ulster County.  

As the townships in Sullivan County were created from other, preexisting townships, some of the locations below also changed the township to which they belonged.  For each township, we identify the township from which they were separated, as well as any townships that were subsequently taken from them.  While there has been some minor adjustment of boundaries between townships within the County, other than those noted below they have not been substantial and we have made no particular effort to address them here.  

Between the Lakes Group has a download available republishing Child's Gazetteer and Business Directory of Sullivan County, NY, for 1872-73. 

We've also republished (and indexed) Quinlan's legendary  History of Sullivan County Quinlan's History of Sullivan County, NY to read about that project!   Finally, as a free download, we offer the Sullivan County chapter of French's Gazetteer of Sullivan County (1860).  You can find it via the "Free research tools" tab in the left margin (and why not check our catalog while you're at it?  We've got a whole lot of Sullivan County material available, with more to come.)

To contact us, just send an e-mail.  Contact us to go to the page at this website for sending us e-mail to start with.   If you can provide lots of information about the name change, great!!  If all you can tell us is that the old name was such-and-such, tell us anyway!

Town of Bethel

The Town of Bethel was formed from the Town of Lumberland on March 27, 1809.  The Town of Cochecton was taken from the Town of Bethel in 1828. (Child, page 106)

What the name was What it became Notes
North White Lake Kauneonga Lake  
Hurd Settlement Hurd School appears on the topographic map circa 1920.  Same place? from Child
Rock Cabin   from Child -- this is a locale in Hurd Settlement.  From Quinlan one gets the impression it is a cave.
Fulton Settlement   from Child and Quinlan -- noted as an early settlement in Bethel.
Smede's Swamp   from Child
Mongaup Mill Mongaup Valley Quinlan notes that the old name was used until 1847.
Coopers Corner   Located east of Mongaup Valley on the topographic map circa 1920
Woodstock Yasgur's Farm, Bethel The historic "Woodstock Festival" of the 1960s did not take place in Woodstock, NY, (a community located in Ulster County) but -- due to legal obstacles in that community -- was moved to Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel.  The village of Woodstock is still where it always was, located off route 28 in Ulster County.

Town of Callicoon

The Town of Callicoon was formed from the Town of Liberty on March 30, 1842.  The Town of Fremont was taken off from the Town of Callicoon on November 14, 1851. (Child, page 118).  Take a look at our "Callicoon Historian" page -- lots of information there, and not just about the Town of Callicoon.

What the name was What it became Notes
Collikoon Callicoon Child identifies this an an historic spelling of Callicoon that appears in many early New York State records.  Note that the Village of Callicoon is not located in the Town of Callicoon.  It is located in the Town of Delaware.  The only village in the Town of Callicoon with Callicoon in its name today is Callicoon Center. (See also the note below on "Beaverkill" in Callicoon!).  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, tells us that Callicoon Depot became Callicoon in 1906, and that an older Callicoon at the same time became Callicoon Center.
Hillside School    
Yawn School   Sad to think that school was THAT boring!  A family name in the area was Yaun -- perhaps that was the real name of the school.  In any event, "Yawn School" is what appears on the US Topographic map.
Weissman School    
Hardenburgh School    
Turnpike School    
Faubel School    
East Hill School    
Thurmansville Callicoon Center per Child, page 121.  Quinlan spells it "Thumansville" and identifies it as the location of a Reformed church.
Wood Settlement   identified as a location in Child.  Quinlan notes it as the location of the first visit by a missionary to Callicoon.
Beaverkill Callicoon Creek Quinlan notes that many streams were referred to as "Beaver Kill" in the early days because there were many streams that beavers had built dams in.  He notes that the Dutch had changed the name to "kollikoonkill" and that this had been the origin of the Callicoon name as well.  Of course, the famed trout stream known as the Beaverkill is not this one at all -- "The Beaverkill" is largely in the Town of Rockland.

Town of Cochecton

The Town of Cochecton was formed from the Town of Bethel on March 25, 1828.  The Town of Delaware was taken off the Town of Cochecton on March 1, 1869.  (Child, page 129)

What the name was What it became Notes
St. Tammany's Flats    
Cushetunk (or Cush-u-un-tunk) Cochecton Child provides the translation: "low ground"
Stevensburgh Cochecton Center per Child
Big Pine Flat   Site of drowning of Oliver Calkin in the Delaware River, per Child
Cochecton Depot    
Old Cochecton Village   Child states that this is where settlement began, about one mile from Cochecton Village at the Erie RR.  
Tylertown   Appears on old topographic maps; no longer seems to be in existence.

Town of Delaware

The Town of Delaware was formed from the Town of Cochecton on March 1, 1869. (Child, page 132).   Take a look at our "Callicoon Historian" page -- lots of information there.

What the name was What it became Notes
Callicoon Depot Callicoon per Child.  Note that Callicoon is NOT in the Town of Callicoon!   John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, tells us that Callicoon Depot became Callicoon in 1906, and that an older Callicoon at the same time became Callicoon Center.
Hurd    
Upper Beechwood School Upper Beechwood  
Lower Beechwood School Lower Beechwood  
Beech Wood Upper or Lower Beechwood (?)  
Pike Pond Kenoza Lake   
     

 

The Town of Fallsburgh

The Town of Fallsburgh was formed from the Town of Thompson and the Town of Neversink on March 8, 1826.  (Child, page 136)

Between the Lakes Group has a CD-ROM available about the Town of Fallsburgh. Click on the CD-ROM to learn more about it.

About the History of the Town of Fallsburgh

What the name was What it became Notes
Alto Lake Echo Lake  
Sandburgh Mountaindale Sandburgh officially became Mountaindale (sometimes Mountain Dale) on December 24, 1880, per Manville Wakefield's To the Mountains by Rail.  John Conway adds the following: "Located in close proximity to the Sandburgh Train in the town of Fallsburgh, near what is now Mountaindale.  Although Sandburgh was a short distance from the center of today's Mountaindale, the two names were at one time interchangeable.  The Sandburgh Trail was once the principal means of ingress and egress for travellers through Sullivan County."
The Falls, also Neversink Falls, also Old Falls Fallsburgh per Quinlan's History, Wakefield's To the Mountains by Rail, others
Fallsburgh Fallsburg modernized spelling, beginning in 1930s but not complete until after 1948 at the earliest.  Both spellings are used in the Fallsburg(h) HS FoCuS yearbook for 1948.  According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, the post office was not officially renamed until 1967, although South Fallsburg's spelling had gone the same route back in 1893.
Lockwood's Mills Fallsburgh per Quinlan's History
Centerville Woodridge According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, the Centreville Station post office opened in 1871, changed its name to Centerville Station, and became Woodridge in 1917.
Centerville Station P.O. Woodridge The earlier designation appears on the map enclosed in Child's Gazetteer (1872) in in the Gazetteer itself.
Miller Settlement Glen Wild per Quinlan
Mitchell's Station Fallsburgh Station per Child.  John Conway elaborates: "This was the railroad name for South Fallsburgh, once one of the busiest stops on the line, serving most of the major resorts in this part of the county."
Fallsburgh Station South Fallsburg (see Mitchell's Station)
Denniston's Ford   This is a crossing of the Neversink near Glen Wild, where it may have been on the earliest migration path into the town, and was the site of an early settlement -- per Quinlan
Sheldrake Loch Sheldrake  
Prince's Hollow   per Quinlan
Hurley Station Hurleyville This designation appears on the map enclosed in Child's Gazetteer (1872).
Luzon Station Hurleyville Luzon Station (or simply Luzon) seems to have been in popular use locally until at least 1914.
Schoonmaker Settlement Loch Sheldrake per Quinlan
Gardnerville   According to the Sullivan County Historical Society "Observer", this village was a short distance east of the Neversink River bridge in Fallsburgh on an 1856 map, and was the site of a hotel.  John Conway notes that at one time it was larger than either Fallsburgh or Woodridge.
Old Falls Fallsburgh  
Lockwood Mills   John Conway notes that "Lockwood Mills got its name from the Lockwood family, which purchased the mill at Neversink Falls, or Old Falls, or Fallsburgh, as it is now called.  Lockwood Mills was a prosperous community mainly due to the influence of the mill and the Neversink River.
Neversink Falls Fallsburgh  
Divines Corners Divine Corners According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, The post office there dropped the "s" to become Divine Corners in 1893.
Denison Hill Road Denniston Hill Road

John Letourneau advises us that in 1999 his road was being refered to as Denison Hill Road on signs and on the county maps.  He petitioned the town to change the name back to it's original spelling. It took a few years before the maps and signs were changed back to the original spelling: Denniston Hill Road, and another few years to get the spelling correction into the GPS system. However, he reports that now everything has been corrected to the original name. He suggests that the abbreviated spelling occurred because the original may have been too long to fit on a standard sized road sign decades ago.  Thanks for the update!

Town of Forestburgh

The Town of Forestburgh was formed from the Town of Thompson and the Town of Mamakating on May 2, 1837.  (Child, page 142)

What the name was What it became Notes
Gillman's Station (sometimes Gilman Station or Gillman Station P.O.)) Philwold(?)  Merriewold(?)  St. Joseph's Station(?) per Child.  This was a stop on the Monticello & Port Jervis R. R. 
Barnum's Station   per Child (on the map it is identified as "Banum's Station").  Likewise a stop on the Monticello & Port Jervis R. R.
Forest Glen ?  
Hartwood ?  
Oakland   Quinlan speaks of the "Oakland neighborhood" of Forestburgh as having been populated before the Revolution,  It was also the site of a purported oil strike in 1866 -- it proved to be unsuccessful.
Handytown   Site about 1 1/4 miles south of "Trotter's" on the Bushkill Creek, settled by one David Handy, who died in 1814 after living in the wilderness with his family for an indeterminate period.  Quinlan also notes it as the site of a remarkable spring.
Draketown   Quinlan identifies this as a part of Forestburgh settled by several Drake families from New Jersey.  John Conway adds the year of 1793.  He also notes that a descendant, Ira R. Drake, served as Forestburgh Supervisor from 1840 - 1842.
Forestburgh Corners   Per Quinlan, site of an early mill built by Jesse Dickinson for William A. Stokes of Philadelphia.
Stewartsburgh, also Mongaup Flats   Per Quinlan.
Fowlersville   Located slightly north of Forestburgh on the topographic map circa 1920

Town of Fremont

The Town of Fremont was formed from the Town of Callicoon on November 1, 1851.  (Child, page 148).   Take a look at our "Callicoon Historian" page -- lots of information there.

What the name was What it became Notes
Windfall School    
Douglass Village, also Douglass City, also simply Douglas Long Eddy per Child.  See the note below on Basket Station.  According to John Conway, it was incorporated in 1867.  We offer as a download a booklet about the history of Douglas.   It is found on our "Callicoon Historian" page.
Milesville Mileses per Child
Basket Station Long Eddy per Child, this was an alternate name to Douglass Village prior to general acceptance of the Long Eddy name after the Post Office was named Long Eddy.
Hankins, or Hankins Depot  Fremont Per Quinlan
 Basket-Switch   Per Quinlan, the designation by which Erie RR people knew the northwest corner of Fremont.
Shehocton Hancock Per Quinlan, this location is actually over the county line.
Round Lake Lake Florence Old name per original topographic map.
Fremont Centre Fremont Center According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, the post office at this location originally used the "Centre" spelling.

Town of Highland

The Town of Highland was formed from the Town of Lumberland on December 17, 1853.  (Child, page 150)

What the name was What it became Notes
Narrow Falls   per Quinlan and Child. SCHS "Observer" notes it is about a mile above the mouth of the Lackawaxen river, and was the site of the town's first settlement.
Half Way Brook (or Halfway Brook or Halfway Brook Village) Eldred  Per the SCHS "Observer" was named Eldred by the first postmaster, C. P. Eldred, who named the place in honor of his father, James Eldred.  Per Louise Smith, the name was shortened at the behest of the Post Office in the interest of shorter names.  (see www.halfwaybrook.com for more on this).
Grassy Swamp   per Quinlan
Round Pond Lake DeVenoge Old name per original topographic map. 
Laurel or Mountain Laurel Yulan Per the SCHS "Observer" the inhabitants wanted to use the "Laurel" name but were denied by the Post Office department as it was felt that there were already too many post offices named Laurel.  "Yulan" is said to be the Japanese word for laurel, however.

Town of Liberty

The Town of Liberty was formed from the Town of Lumberland on March 13, 1807.  The Town of Callicoon was taken off and a part of the Town of Thompson added in 1842.  A portion of the Town of Rockland was annexed on May 1, 1849.  (Child, page 158)

Between the Lakes Group has two CD-ROMs available about the Town of Liberty, and a number of downloads as well.  Click on the CD-ROM to learn more about all of them.

Memories of Liberty

What the name was What it became Notes
Blue Mountain, also Blue Mountain Settlement Revonah Mountain Child identifies this as the initial settlement in the Town of Liberty.
Robertsonville White Sulphur Springs Originally settled in 1800and named for Bradley Robertson, according to John Conway.  Name was changed in 1890, per Delbert E. VanEtten, Town Historian.

Sometimes referred to as "Robinsonville" q.v.

Robinsonville White Sulphur Springs Probably an error in Child -- identified as being on the road from Youngsville to Liberty; almost certainly should have been Robertsonville, q.v.  However, the error is also present in Gertrude A. Barber's 1929 transcription of the Ferndale Free Methodist Church records; thus we surmise that Robinsonville was used interchangeably with Robertsonville. 
Liberty Falls Ferndale Changed circa 1900 at the behest of the O&W Railroad due to confusion in mail addresses.
Hortonville Liberty Falls, then Ferndale (see above) Hortonville was an early name for Liberty Falls, in honor of an early settler named Horton, according to Child.
Red Brick; also Red Brick P.O. (Post Office closed in June, 1874,  according to John Conway, Sullivan County Historian,) Former Post Office in general vicinity of Mountain Drive-in Theater and Hilltop Restaurant (both also closed) on Route 52.  It is unknown if the outcroppings of red shale in that area contributed to the name, but is is clearly a good possibility.  John Conway suggests another one: that it took its name from a brick factory at that location, since closed.
Brodhead Pond; also Broad Head Pond Revonah Lake The Broad Head Pond designation appears on the map enclosed in Child's Gazetteer (1872).  "Brodhead" or "Broadhead" is a family name applied to the pond in question.  There's no historic basis for the "Broad Head" (two separate words) designation. The "Revonah" designation was in place by the time of the Liberty Centennial (1907) as shown by use of the term in the Centennial booklet.  William Cogswell tells us that the pond was owned by one A.J.D. Wedemeyer, a wealthy German who lived in the United States.  In the 1880s he re-named Brodhead Pond to Revonah Lake, in honor of his birthplace, Hanover, Germany.  (See also the notes on Wedemeyer Place below).
Wedemeyer Place Lincoln Place Thanks to Bill Cogswell for this information.  A.J.D. Wedemeyer has an elegant house on this street in Liberty village (in addition to owning much of the top of Revonah mountain -- see the note on Brodhead Pond above).  Wedemeyer, a German national by birth, is said to have pro-German sympathies, and at the time of World War I the local populace got up a petition to have name of Wedemeyer Place changed.  Among the names suggested were Victory Street, Pershing Place, and Lincoln Place.  Lincoln Place won out.  Interestingly, the residents did not notice --or remember -- that Revonah had been named by Wedemeyer around thirty years earlier in honor of Hanover, Germany (Revonah is simply Hanover spelled backwards, not a native American name).  Sullivan County Historian John Conway corroborates this account, and notes that among other local accomplishments, Wedemeyer was the builder of the Music Hall, the structure that preceded the Green Building (until the fire of 1913) at the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets in Liberty.
Stevensville, also Stevensville Pond Swan Lake Changed in 1927, per Delbert E. VanEtten, Town Historian
Cooley   This is just a rural intersection today, but according to John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, it was once the home of the smallest post office in New York State, scarcely larger than an outhouse. 
Lake Ophelia (drained before World War II due to silting up - it was never more than around four feet deep) Originally one of a series of ponds on the Mongaup; the dam for this one was located near the overpass of Route 52 over Route 17 (which is soon to have a new name, too, as it joins the Interstate Highway System).

Here's something interesting, reported by Paul Miller:  Check Google Maps.  Just outside Liberty village, between Barton Road and the Upper Ferndale Road, is .... wait for this.....Lake Ophelia!  Almost as though the name had to remain in existence even though the place has changed.  Does anyone know the original name of this "new" Lake Ophelia?  Let us know!

Pinney's Lake Grossinger's Lake  
Fox Mountain School    
Midway School Building may still be present, on Midway Road between White Sulphur Springs and Youngsville Betty DeWitt Coleman notes that the Lesser Lodge, a "Borscht Circuit" resort of some prominence, was just east of the old school.  Susan Bielefeld relates that when her father removed the shingles from an old building he had purchased, on the layer beneath was painted "The Midway School" and "Bergman".  She believes that the school building may have been used for staff housing for the resort, which also may have been known as "Kramer's".  Alexis Bergman Snyder has expended considerable effort in tracking this building, which was once part of a resort belonging to her family.
Dahlia School Located "near the top" of the road from White Sulphur Springs to Livingston Manor.   Betty DeWitt Coleman notes that the School was formerly taught by Walter Lewis, and was across the road from the house of the Mills sisters, who also housed the Post Office.  The school has been remodeled.  This area was known as "Egypt" (see that location for more).  "Dahlia" also seems to have been the name of a locality, viz. Barber's transcription of the records of the Free Methodist Church of Ferndale.
Egypt   Located in the NW corner of the town.   Identified by Delbert E. VanEtten, Town Historian.  Child offers an anecdote about the source of the name, which may be facetious and is definitely not complimentary.  Betty DeWitt reports having heard of a "Little Egypt". Patricia Benton Parks notes that there was a school district named Little Egypt.  The school house still stands at the corner of Dahlia Road and Elk Point Road. 

Frederick Parks provides the following:  Egypt was named after the first death in Liberty. Know only today as "baby" Parks. The area at the top of Dahlia Hill was originally termed Little Egypt, from answers given as to where they were going, people replied " To go see Little Egypt" They were going to visit the babies grave.

Becky Benton Hill Road Elk Point Road Per Patricia Benton Parks
Skeetersburg   Located in the NW corner of the Town, per Child. Patricia Benton Parks notes that Skeetersburg Road was renamed in the 1970s to Golub Hill Road.
Pleasant Valley and/or  Dingle Daisy   Suggested, perhaps facetiously, as improvements to Skeetersburg for the name of that locale, but never adopted.  Per Child.  All seem to refer to the area in the NW corner of the Town of Liberty also once known as Egypt.
Chestnut Ridge School    
Beech Ridge School    
Liberty Street Main Street (?) Based on Child identifying the location of several businesses that are known to have been located on present-day Main Street as being located on Liberty Street, it seems likely that at least in the early 1870s Main Street was called Liberty Street. The present Liberty Street must have been named subsequently. 
Clements Street Edgar Street Bill Cogswell furnishes the information that this street name change has happened.  Dawne Bullock Norris had ascertained that the name change was due to the 911 system, to avoid confusion with Clements Lake.  Jim Rampe furnishes the information that "Edgar" was chosen as the replacement name due to an Edgar Clements who lived on that street.
Infirmary Road Sunset Lake Road Changed as a courtesy to the residents of the County adult home located on the road; the new name was evidently perceived to sound more cheerful.  Info per Dawne Bullock Norris.
Dowtonville (or Doubtenville) Glen Cove per Child, located 1 mile SE of Liberty.  Alternative spelling per Delbert E. VanEtten, Town Historian. 
Glen Cove   Child identifies Glen Cove as "a hamlet about one mile south-east of Liberty".  This is presumably somewhere near the junction of present-day Route 52 and old Route 17 -- what old-timers might call the area of the (vanished) Triangle Diner.
Old Reservoir Liberty Park Before it became the Liberty Park and swimming hole, the artificial pond off Buckley Street above the High School served as a village water supply reservoir.  It was recently empty, as shown on our Liberty page, but may have been refilled.  As of 2011, the dam is scheduled for demolition due to damage during a recent storm.
Old Route 17/Ferndale Road Sullivan Avenue Dawne Bullock Norris and Jo Ann Katz contribute this name change for the section of road running from the site of the former Triangle Diner, southeast, passing under the Quickway, to Ferndale village.
White Bridge   Originally the name attached to a white cement bridge taking old route 17 across the NYO&W tracks at the north end of the village of Liberty.  The site of many serious automobile accidents, the bridge was replaced with a gray steel bridge, but the name remained, and now applies to the general area.
(for Strong Settlement and Strongtown, see the Town of Thompson)    
Marcy Heights  

John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, provided us with this one.  Marcy Heights, a former neighborhood of the Town of Liberty since absorbed by the Village of Liberty, was located along Cold Spring Road, north of the Liberty Cemetery and east of Dwyer Avenue.  The name was current in the first third of the 20th century, and represented a real estate venture begun as early as 1902 by W. L. Marcy, a resident of Mount Vernon, New York.

Marcy carved the area up into lots and sold them to individuals for development during this period.  The area tended to settle from south to north, with the area around Mager Avenue, Kelly Avenue, and California Avenue settling in the 1950s.  At the time the settlement began, there was no public water supply to the area, but by the later years, an agreement between Mr. Kelly, after whom Kelly Avenue was named, and Joe Griebel, superintendent of water supply for Liberty, provided for running water to lots in this area at Kelly's expense when they were developed.

Loomis Loomis Originally a tuberculosis sanitarium, with its own post office, the sanitarium closed in the early 1940s and the post office closed in 1943.  Subsequently the area has become a residential neighborhood in the Town of Liberty.

Town of Lumberland

The Town of Lumberland was formed from the Town of Mamakating on March 16, 1798.  The Town of Liberty was separated from it on March 13, 1807.  The Town of Bethel was separated March 27, 1809.  The Town of Highland and Town of Tusten were separated on December 17, 1853.  (Child, page 167)

What the name was What it became Notes
South Lebanon Glen Spey (?) per Child
Haggai's Pond    
Lebanon Mohican Lake (?) per Child
Decker's Dock   per Child
Lebanon Lake Mohican Lake (?)  
Dutch Settlement   present on original topographic map; no longer on the maps.
Kilgour Pond Eddy According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, in 1871 and 1872, the town and post office were known as Kilgour because of the Kilgour bluestone quarries located there.

Town of Mamakating

Child (page 169) describes the Town of Mamakating as follows:  "...erected into a precinct by the General Assembly, Dec. 17, 1743, and embraced Deer park and a part of Mount Hope in Orange county, and all of Sullivan county not embraced in the old town of Rochester.  It was continued as a precinct until organized as a town, March 7, 1788.  It was reduced to its present limits by the erection of Deerpark, (Orange County) and Lumberland in 1798, Thompson in 18903, and a part of Forestburgh in 1837."  (Be sure to also visit our page on Wurtsboro and the Town of Mamakating)

What the name was What it became Notes
Brownville  Haven (east on the D&H canal from  Westbrookville, and near present-day Wurtsboro) per Child and the Sullivan County Historical Society "Observer". 
Graham's Barren   per Child, a locale along the D&H Canal.
Bashasville (also Bashu's Land and Bessie's Land) Westbrookville per Quinlan (likewise in Child, except that the spelling in Child is "Bashshusville").  John Conway supplies the following background: "Bashu was an Indian squaw who drowned in the stream flowing near the hamlet, thus giving the Basha Kill its name.  Westbrookville was named in honor of Dirck VanKeuren Westbrook.  This name came into being in the mid-1800s."
Bloomingburgh Bloomingburg Modernization of spelling; took place in 1891 according to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian,
Mamacottin Mamakating Child identifies Mamacottin as the original name of Bashas Kill, and the source of the current Mamakating name.
Mamakating Hollow Wurtsboro per Child
Sullivan   per Child.  From context, appears to be near Wurtsboro, the site of the Wurtsboro Upper Leather Tannery.  Possibly the name of a main street in Wurtsboro circa 1872.
Rome Wurtsboro Child explains that Rome was renamed Wurtsboro in honor of the President of the D&H Canal Co. after that canal was built. 
Beatysburgh Summitville Information from correspondence with Nate Berg.  The name "Summitville" came from the fact that it was the highest point in the D&H Canal -- downhill from there to both the Hudson and Delaware ends.
Mudhook Summitville
Mine Road (also Old Mine Road).  Later, Kings Highway Route 209 Sullivan County Historical Society "Observer".
Searsville Burlingham per John Conway, in a column in the Middletown Times Herald-Record some years ago, "Searsville was named after a well-known gentleman of the 1700s.  It had previously been known as Burlingham after Walter Burling, and at some point after Quinlan's History of Sullivan County was published in 1873 it reverted back to that name."
Wurtsborough Wurtsboro According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, this name change became official in 1886 -- at least for the local post office.

Town of Neversink

The Town of Neversink was formed from the Town of Rochester, Ulster County, on March 16, 1798.  The Town of Rockland was taken off March 29, 1809, and a part of the Town of Fallsburgh on March 9, 1826.  (Child, page 189)

Between the Lakes Group has a CD-ROM available about Neversink.  Click on the CD-ROM to learn more about it.  Also, note our download of a turn of the 20th century publication about the Grahamsville Fair.

Old Neversink

What the name was What it became Notes
Cat's Paw (settlement upstream of Neversink Flats) ? per Quinlan
Bittersweet (submerged by Neversink reservoir) Middletown Times-Herald Record (9/15/03) identifies Bittersweet as a hamlet eliminated by Neversink reservoir, in addition to Neversink Flats.  Joe Cain (1/2005) places Bittersweet on the west side of the river and north of the bridge on the road to Liberty. Thus it would be between Aden and Cooley and northeast of Bradley.  Frank Shannon concurs, placing Bittersweet "up on the old river toward Aden."
Dewittsville   identified by Child as "a hamlet on the north line, in Denning, Ulster County"
Nauvoo ? per Quinlan.  May be an allusion to origin of several Mormon pioneers in Neversink township rather than a specific neighborhood or location in the township.
Neversink Flats Neversink Neversink Flats seems to have been an alternative name for the old village of Neversink rather than a formal designation.
Neversink (submerged by reservoir, but a new hamlet of Neversink was established east of the reservoir on Route 55)  
Aden    
Leroy's Corners    
Chestnut Creek Unionville, then Grahamsville  
Unionville absorbed by Grahamsville  
Currys Curry Curry dropped the final s in 1894, according to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian.  .  One occasionally also sees the location referred to as Curry's Corners, although we have no information that this was ever its legal name.
Eureka (submerged by waters of Merriman Dam/Rondout Reservoir)  
Willowcanoe P.O. Willowemoc The Willowcanoe designation appears on the map enclosed in Child's Gazetteer (1872).  We have not seen any other references to it by this name; possibly it was an artificial name created to detect people copying the map from the Gazetteer.  It is noted on the errata page in Child.
Hog Rock   Child identifies Hog Rock as being near the north line and named for a sheltering rock used by swine that were permitted to run at large to fatten on beechnuts that were plentiful in the area.
Claraville Claryville An informant we know only as Caelie advises us that Claryville was not always called Claryville.  She tells us that it was named after the wife of the man who used to own the land in Claryville, and that it was called Claraville at that time -- in the 1850s and probably until later.  Thanks, Caelie!!
Halls Mills Hall Mills According to  John Conway, Sullivan County Historian, back in 1893, the Halls Mills post office (which is long gone now) changed its name to drop the s in Halls.  However, that has not changed local usage; the Halls Mills covered bridge retains the original spelling. (see www.coveredbridgesite.com for photos of the bridge today).

Town of Rockland

The Town of Rockland was formed from the Town of Neversink on March 29, 1809, and a portion was annexed by the Town of Liberty on May 1, 1849.  (Child, page 196-A).  We offer some downloads about the Town of Rockland -- see our Sullivan County page.

What the name was What it became Notes
Purvis Deckertown, now Livingston Manor (the north end of the village) Various sources, particularly Harold VanAken on the Livingston Manor e-group.
Agloe   A "paper town" on Route 206 set up to catch copyright violators of road maps.  There's a short article on Wikipedia with most of the story.
Ireland School, also Irish Settlement Little Ireland per Fred Fries on Livingston Manor e-group
Anderson, also Anderson P.O.   Anderson P.O. was created between Willowemoc and Cooley, according to Evelyn Boyles, quoting "Beaverkill Valley: a Journey through Time" on the Livingston Manor e-group.
Union Church   May refer to the DeBruce Union Church, cited in Child
Emmonsville Grooville Various sources, including an 1898 O&W road map of the county, show this village on a road running from Parkston.
Westfield Flats (sometimes simply Westfield) Roscoe Said to have been renamed in the late 1800s in honor of the politician Roscoe Conklin  -- who is also said never to have set foot in the village named for him!
Lower Westfield   Same as Westfield Flats??
Upper Westfield Purvis

Deckertown

Livingston Manor

All per Harold VanAken
Appley's Switch Hazel, the site of a wood acid plant and post office approximately four miles north of Livingston Manor Locality between Upper Westfield (present-day Livingston Manor) and Westfield Flats (present-day Roscoe)
Buckeddyville Hazel, the site of a wood acid plant and post office approximately four miles north of Livingston Manor Locality between Upper Westfield (present-day Livingston Manor) and Westfield Flats (present-day Roscoe)
Big Flats, also Big Beaverkill Flat Roscoe Identified by Child as the site of the first white settlement in the Town of Rockland
Shin Creek, Shin Creek P.O. Lew Beach The stream is still called Shin Creek.  According to Child, the locality of Shin Creek was located at the junction of the Beaver Kill and Shin Creek.
Woolseyville Parkston  
Mills Place Parkston Per LivingstonManor Yahoogroup, "Mills Place" was a term in use circa 1900.  It may be a reference to the Millspaugh Mill there at that time.
Hell Hole Location slightly east of Roscoe on the O&W where the last spike was driven.  
Morsston, Morsston Depot, Old Morsston Livingston Manor (the area south of the present day village).  Morsston Depot was the present location of the village. The Morsston name lives on in the name of an exit from Route 17, although two signs at that exit spell it "Morsston" and "Morrston".  The historically correct spelling is "Morsston", after Medad T. Morss (of Woodbourne), founder of the community (however, Morss was a varietal spelling of "Morse"). (Several sources, including Harold VanAken and Fred Fries on the Livingston Manor e-group)
Frick Pond (drained when dam burst) Once located SE of Hodge Pond, fed principally by the stream that drains Hodge Pond; shown on older topographic maps.
Mussman's Turn   Location south of Livingston Manor on old Route 17 that was notable for accidents, per Fred Fries on the Livingston Manor e-group.  
Hunter Road (also, Old Hunter Road) Old Rockland Road, and Neversink-Westfield Road Early trail into the Town of Rockland, little of which remains today in the Town of Rockland.  Built by John Hunter to avoid need for frequent fording of streams.  Subsequent names are of portions of it.  Info from Fred Fries on the Livingston Manor e-group.
Kile Settlement   Lost settlement founded by Joseph Kile, near present-day fish hatchery, on the Old Hunter Road.  Kile Settlement School was east of the Kile Settlement, toward Brown Settlement (principally known today due to Brown Settlement Road).
Jacktown    
Shaw Place   Identified in Child as a place where an early settler "crossed" after crossing the Neversink and before crossing the Beaver Kill.
Jocelyn   A hamlet near Craig-e-Clare on Amber Lake, shown on the topographic map circa 1920
Craig-e-Clare (still present?) John Conway describes this "castle" overlooking the Beaverkill in an article in the Middletown Times Herald-Record dated May 16, 2003.
Knapp Pond Maple Lake Old name per topographic map circa 1920

Town of Thompson

The Town of Thompson was formed from the Town of Mamakating on March 19, 1803.  March 9, 1826 a portion was taken off for the Town of Fallsburgh; May 2, 1837 a portion for the Town of Forestburgh; in 1842 a portion for the Town of Liberty. (Child pages 196-D - 196-E).  We are offering several downloads about this township.  See the Monticello page for more information.

What the name was What it became Notes
Albion Mills Thompsonville per Quinlan
Tannersdale   per Quinlan
Barrens, the   per Quinlan
South Settlement   per Quinlan
Sackettborough vanished per Quinlan
Gales   Former post office, located on the Newburgh & Cochecton Turnpike on the Town of Mamakating line, per Child
Strong Settlement

and

Strongtown

Harris per Child, who places it near the Liberty town line.

We are indebted to Michael Helme for the following material about the Strongtown/Harris area:

First, the Strongtown and Strong Settlement are pretty much the same name. According to Quinlan.  From p. 633 of History of Sullivan County:

"Nearly every locality of this town [Thompson] was once known as a settlement.  These settlements have been severally mentioned in this chapter except Strong Settlement, which received its name from Adina Strong, who came from Southburg, Connecticut, in the spring of 1809, with his three sons, Nehemiah, Truman and Sheldon.  The father died in the winter of 1824-5.  The sons continued to reside in the neighborhood for many years.  A man named John Bedford was added to the settlement in 1826, and subsequently Whitman Carr and others."

Somewhere I've got a copy of an article from the Sullivan County Historical Society's "Observer" on Strongtown, and the main gist was that it spread over part of the Town of Thompson (some, but not all, of Harris) and part of the Town of Liberty (some, but not all, of Ferndale). 

Old Harris and New Harris (and Upper Harris and Lower Harris)  

Michael Helme also provided the following:

Some of the old-timers use the names "Old Harris" and "New Harris". "Old Harris refers to the part of Harris near the old sawmill, which was the center of town in 1907 when Harris was founded. Besides the sawmill there was a huge barn for the horses to haul lumber around, and a blacksmith shop, a general store, and the first post office was there. Later, when the automobile replaced the horse and the sawmill went out of operation, the new center of town was clustered around Old 17, where there was a car repair shop and so forth. Maybe it was in the 1920s or 1930s that "New Harris" replaced "Old Harris" as the center of town.

"Upper Harris" is about the same as "New Harris", and "Lower Harris" is about the same as Old Harris.

I suspect that Upper Harris and New Harris were definitely considered part of Strongtown, but I think Old Harris and Lower Harris were not part of Strongtown. But, Mongaup Center and Strongtown overlapped there in Upper Harris.

Mongaup Center (sometimes spelled "Centre") Harris

Per Michael Helme: 

Pre-Harris times reference to the community around the central branch of the Mongaup River. I've seen this name referenced in 3 or 4 places:

1. The Prince family that lived in the Harris area from 1820 sometimes referred to their home as being in Mongaup Center. They built and operated a sawmill on the Mongaup, near where the Mongaup crosses what is now Harris Road.

2. The Methodist-Episcopal Church at Harris was sometimes called the Strongtown Church, and sometimes called the Mongaup Center Church.

3. The one-room schoolhouse that was later called the Harris school was formerly called the Mongaup Center schoolhouse. (In contrast, the Strongtown one-room schoolhouse was in Ferndale, near what is now where Queen Mary Mountain Road meets Old 17.)

Kile's Bridge   Michael Helme provides the following:

Finally, the bridge at the end of Big Woods Road (in the big woods), used to be called "Kile's Bridge" because of the Kile family that owned the land up there. All the kids around know of it as a great swimming hole, and a 90-some year old friend once told me a great story of going up there to swim as a young girl. So I suspect many generations of children have known about that swimming hole.

Pleasant Lake Kiamesha Lake per Child
Clearwater Lake
Miller Settlement Glen Wild per Child
Sacket Pond Sackett Lake (probably)  
West Settlement   According to Child, located 3 miles west of Monticello.  Quinlan places it on the migration route to Bethel.
Apple Gordon Road Tony A. Dworetsky Road In the Harris/Bushville area.  Crystal Bianucci contributed this recent road name-change.  The road is in the vicinity of the Catskill Regional Medical Center.
Lords Reservoir Wanaksink Lake Old name per original topographic map.
McKee Reservoir Lake Louise Marie Old name per original topographic map.
Bailey Lake Autumn Lake Thanks to Paul Miller for this one:  The body of water in question is located off Fraser Road in Kiamesha.  We have to admit that the new name is more, well, poetic than the old name, but we'd like to know the history of this name change.

Town of Tusten

The Town of Tusten was formed from the Town of Lumberland on December 17, 1853.  (Child, page 196-P)

What the name was What it became Notes
Beaver Brook Beaver Brook Corners(?) Noted by John Boyne.  He reports that "Beaver Brook" is shown as the place of death on his grandfather's death certificate (1913) but that transshipment of the remains was handled by an undertaker in Port Jervis.  Quinlan notes climate readings collected in Beaver Brook in his "Climate" chapter.
Swamp Mills Neweiden Per the SCHS "Observer" Swamp Mills was the original name of the post office, but the residents desired a more suitable name.  "Laurel Glen" was rejected by the Post Office department.  Neweiden is the combination of the names of two local families:  Newman and Weiden.  The village was in the central part of the Town of Tusten.  The Post Office was discontinued on November 15, 1917.
Homan's Eddy Big Eddy per Quinlan.  Per the SCHS "Observer" the village was renamed after Mr. Homan left the area.  "Big Eddy" is the name the raftsmen used. 
Big Eddy Narrowsburgh per Quinlan and SCHS "Observer"
Narrowsburgh Narrowsburg Modernized spelling
Delaware Bridge Tusten Station per Child, this was the location where the Erie RR crossed the Delaware, the site of a Post Office that had been discontinued by 1872.  See also SCHS "Observer" which notes that the community has now been essentially abandoned.
Dutch Settlement   per Child
Irish Settlement   per Child
Blumenthal Lava Per the SCHS "Observer" the "Blumenthal" name was the one desired by the residents, but was refused by the Post Office department as being too similar to Bloomingburg.

 

We continue to add more place names as we learn about them.  We would also like to add more information about those we already have listed.  Please tell us about place names in Sullivan County that YOU know about that have changed their names or even vanished.   

This isn't limited to lost communities or communities that have been renamed.  Even streets that have had their names change over time are fair game for this, because you never know when someone will want to know about it!  

If you would like your entries credited to you, we're glad to do it.  Please let us know when you submit them.

Contact us with your ideas, questions, or even just your thoughts about this project!  How to contact us to go to the contact page!!

"Ghost Towns" is the name of a website we're happy to recommend.  These folks have made a specialty of just those throughout the US.  If you're interested in places whose names have changed, you'll likely enjoy the material on their website.  It's  definitely worth a look.  Ghost Towns USA to visit it!

Sullivan County, NY to return to the main Sullivan County page

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