FORESTBURGH NY REAL ESTATE
Forestburgh NY Real Estate includes Fowlerville, Hartwood, Merriewold Park, Philwold, St. Josephs and Squirrel Corner. It is the smallest of the 15 towns of Sullivan County bordered by Thompson, Lumberland and Mamakating. The population was 819 at the 2010 census. Early inhabitants in the 1780’s were of Celtic, German and Swedish ancestry. David Handy and his wife were the first known white settlers. His occupation was shinglemaker, due to the abundance of virgin Hemlocks and unusual springs. Mr. Handy died about 1814 and a historical marker in Oakland Valley indicates this.
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FORESTBURGH NY REAL ESTATE
By Act of Legislature in 1837, Forestburgh became a town taken from the lands of Thompson and Mamakating, part of the Hardenburgh patent. William Broadhead was the town’s first Supervisor and came from a distinguished patriotic and political family. He served from 1837-1840 and was twice a member of the Assembly from Sullivan County.
After the American Revolution, tanneries, quarries, fishing, hunting, trapping and lumbering induced settlers.
W.W. Gilman arrived about 1850 and brought trade and population growth to the town as he established a lumber mill, built 32 houses for his employees, boarding houses, a tannery and also a store. Thereafter a railroad was commissioned to serve the area and a post office became necessary. Resorts and summer camps soon emerged.
Forestburgh’s main industries in its early years were tanning, quarrying and lumbering. The mountains on either side of Bushkill Creek contained quarries of flagging, curbing and building stone (also known as bluestone). The largest of these was Paradise Quarry in Oakland Valley. Stone from this quarry was used to construct the Episcopal Church in Monticello. Many of the old sidewalks in New York City were said to have come from this area. The largest tannery was at Gilman’s Station, which was later renamed St. Joseph’s Station. According to French’s Gazette, published in 1858, there were thirty-nine tanneries within the township, producing 100,000 sides of leather annually.
The opening of the Monticello and Port Jervis Railroad in the 1870s stimulated the lumbering, tanning and quarrying industries. The railroad entered Forestburgh at the Town’s northern border and extended through it in a southerly direction along the Bushkill Creek Valley. In addition to assisting the Town’s industrial base, the railroad also brought summer residents from New York City. The population of the Town in 1870 was 916, greater than the present day population of 819.
FORESTBURGH NY REAL ESTATE
The quarrying industry began to decline in the late 1890s with the invention of concrete. The oak and hemlock bark used in tanning became scarce, signaling the end of the tanning industry. It was at this point, however, that the resort industry began to flourish in Forestburgh. Many homes in Oakland Valley began operating as boarding houses during the summer months when city residents came north on the train from New York. The Hartwood Club and Merriewold Park were born, and the Convent of St. Joseph’s was established, along with summer camps for boys and girls and a Catholic boarding school.
By the mid-twentieth century the automobile caused the railroad to cease operation in Forestburgh. This substantially reduced the number of tourists who came to the town by train. Forestburgh slowly evolved into a rural-residential town, with many people commuting to jobs in nearby towns.
The Forestburgh Playhouse began in 1947 from an old farmhouse, and a 100 year old barn, purchased from Walter and Elsie Klebs. The Playhouse will be celebrating its 70th anniversary, and though there were two separate fires through the years, one destroying the large farmhouse and the other a smaller home, it is still in existence with additions to the main barn and a cabaret building added. Franklin Trapp, its present owner, brings many new and old talents each summer and is an added attraction to the community for visitors and residents alike. The Forestburgh Playhouse is the oldest, longest running professional summer stock theatre in New York State. Attractions include mainstage performances, children’s theatre productions, cabarets, a restaurant and bar called the Forestburgh Tavern which hosts concerts, small productions, comedy, and special events.
There is an abundance of turkey, small game deer and bear, making hunting a popular activity with safety measures also stressed. The last rural school closed in 1952, its last teacher being Elizabeth Toomey Woods, due to centralization.