During our teen years Barber's Beach was the place to go. There was a nice, big beach. Up in the front was a luncheonette where you could get real good malteds and milk shakes, the type that were really shook up! The BLT was popular. In the back were pin ball games you could play for a nickel. Al Hibler sang Please Release Me on the juke box, Pat Boone was popular. Many times we went down to Mongaup or Smallwood to the beaches there. Over in Kauneonga was another beach. The beaches were very popular.
If you got your hair cut, it was Grace who cut it. She had a room at the back of her house over in White Lake by the telephone company. There was a line of cosmetics for her customers. Mom has it written down in our baby books about us getting our hair cut. She even has an envelope of my hair from when I was about eight years old. There was another woman in Smallwood who cut hair at one time, I do not remember her being there until we were a little older. Mom says her name was Mary. I know she lived on the other side of Smallwood, we would walk over there to get our hair cut. I remember my hair being put up in rag curls too. Yes, you rolled your hair with rags.
Most of the girls in White Lake went to work at the telephone company if they wanted to. Most did. Leona Lilly, Pearl Coleman were some of the operators who worked there. At the end of training they would have a party for everyone. Many of us would go on to work for the telephone company in Monticello after graduating from high school. Leona Lilly trained me and Gladys Fulton. She took us to Di Leos for dinner one day. Only a few people worked in the winter, but in summer it was a busy, busy place, there were extra operators, plus all the students working. We worked all sorts of shifts, so it was a real busy place. I can remember working late in the summer, running home in the dark if no one could come pick me up.
How can we forget these two things!!
When you wanted to know for sure if the schools would be closed, you listened to WVOS. For local happenings you tuned in, school and church functions were mentioned, along with the local news. WVOS was part of our lives.
The first time I remember television was at Richie La Polts. Others may have already had TV, but in our little neighborhood they must have had it first. The neighborhood kids would go over there in the afternoons to watch Hopalong Cassidy. Mom says dad wanted to buy a television, she did not. He finally said his girls were not going to have to go to the neighbors to watch television any longer. He was buying a television. I can remember them buying it, you had to get the antenna just right.
..Coming soon..
..THE WHITE LAKE TIMES..
I will add a page for this paper with a few articles and information about the owners.
..REPUBLICAN WATCHMAN.......
For years while we were growing up The Republican Watchman was the local paper. Each town had a columnist who wrote about the local happenings. The paper came out a few times a week. Kit Haynes wrote the Smallwood column, Etta Wagner wrote for the Kauneonga Lake area. In later years the Middletown Record came along. Before that we usually read The New York Daily News.
Andy Brucher is the one in the back on the right side.
The big celebration was held in Narrowsburg. Mom says other places use to have fireworks at times, I do recall going to both Monticello and Liberty, it seems to some school field to see fireworks.
In Narrowsburg all sorts of games and food were set up. A dinner was served in a building there on the grounds. A big parade was held with people coming from all over. At night, of course, were the much anticipated fire works. These were really great at Narrowsburg. Especially when you watched them from the upper road. The fireworks were shot off down in the valley. You could really see them. I think this must be the best I have ever seen of fireworks. In Wilmington where I now live you either go to the lake or down to the river. We did see one great display down on the river one year. In Kingsport, Tennessee, you could see them down in the valley too. Many times even if you could not get there for the rest you went at night to see the fireworks. Everyone you knew was there.
Locals have always referred to Shultz Road as the side road. Sister Donna says at one time it was called The Dirt Road, until she mentioned this, I had forgotten about it. Off of it, about halfway down is a path everyone used to cut through, you came out by Ralph Van Werts. At one time there was a water pump there, everyone would stop for a drink of good, cold water after rummaging through the woods. The path is still there in 1998. So, you know it was used a lot
Off this path was another path, this led back to where the stream that ran through got bigger, it was just beautiful and so peaceful. We use to go back there to play a lot. Donna and Linda La Polt even had dishes they left back there to play with. The sound of the water was so nice.
If you kept going you came out to the blueberry field. There were a few ways to go. We picked berries there and on another part of Shultz road. A house is there now. Between Mrs Earlys and the path on both sides of the road was mostly trees and blueberry bushes on the one side.
Along here too was what we called the cliff. To us this looked like something from out of a western movie, we were not allowed to go up there. The cliff went back to what we simply called the field. This was across from George La Polt's. We played baseball in the field. Sometimes we got brave and went back into the woods there, it seems as if once we were lucky enough to find our way back to the cliff. On further up the road was another place where we thought there was a cave. It was probably just a crack in the stone. We loved to explore.
We were always going somewhere, especially on Sundays. We would get in cousin Diana's little English Ford, take the first rght, second left, who knew or cared where we were. We had fun. We went to Liberty and the Liberty Diner, to Port and the Port Jervis Diner. Many, many times we went to Middletown for pizza. I recall two places down there we went to for pizza. We must have visited every pizza parlor within one hundred miles. There were a few over in Jeffersonville, one up on the hill overlooking the river. Recently my sister met someone who mentioned Hunters up in Parksville. Now, this has only been twenty years or so. We loved to go and listen to the juke box, dance and have a good time. They all had the best pizza.
We went to Fallsburg and Liberty to the movies, in later years we went to Callicoon at times. We would go to Katz's Bakery in Liberty, nothing has ever compared to it, though I laugh and say surprisingly I find the very best donut in La Habra, California right down the street from my daughters. You have all sorts of donuts, all homemade. All sorts of donut shops. Donuts are really popular out there.
Monticello had the Halloween Parade. I do not think you could even buy costumes then. You made them at home. Being a hobo or ghost was popular. My Aunt Sell dressed me and my cousins as a bride, groom and bride's maid one year, another time she made nun outfits for Marge Driscoll and me. We loved to go trick or treat. We were given pretty good treats.
....Burial place of Mr and Mrs Smallwood over by Minnie Falls in Smallwood.
We went to Newburg to take the ferry across to Beacon, West Point became a favorite pace to visit, and, I still say one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. We drove over towards Callicoon to visit Saint Josephs Seminary. The grounds were so pretty, there was a path you walked on with a little lake, a gift shop was there too. In summer were the county fairs. Most of us went to the Orange County Fair down in Middletown. It was a big event. There were all sorts of rides, games, food, shows. The racetrack was right there. Many went over to Pennsylvania to one of the fairs there. We can not remember which one this was. I went to see The Beach Boys the first time I saw them. I met Mike Love, even got his autograph, he was very nice.
For hot fudge sundaes you went to Jeffersonville to Teds. No one has come close to them yet. These were real hot fudge sundaes. Not just ice cream with chocolate syrup poured over them. The fudge was real thick, then there was whipped cream and a cherry on top.
We would take a ride over the Hawks Nest down into Port Jervis to see the trains. It was so pretty to come into Port at night, down that hill. You went to Port to shop at times, the popular High Point Park is on the other side of Port Jervis. We went through Port too on the way to New Jersey. Just last Friday I went to a dance in Wilmington, this man and I got to talking, he use to drive a truck all over. We were talking about how pretty Port Jervis is.
I've had people living in North Carolina ask me if Flo-Jean, a restaurant, is still there.
Then we would go to a custard stand over the bridge from Port in Pennsylvania. We visited it a lot. Uncle George Mattison went to Homers for dinner every Friday night in later years. We go there now, on my last trip we ended up there twice, once by mistake, of course.
Recently while in Port Jervis I had gone outside before my sister and cousin Judy, I kept seeing all these flags. I counted them. When my sister and Judy came out I sat them down, like a live Waldo picture told them to see how many flags they could find. There were seven. One high up on a hill, some you were almost unable to see. Thanks Port..!!..
....Mrs Lynn, teacher from White Lake.
There is a marker on the property where this all happened. When we have gone up, there is generally someone visiting the site. The Town of Bethel declined to have the 25 year re-union concert. A small concert was held there anyway. Saugerties was the official sight of the re-union, it was very packed, shown on television. Eveyone knew about it.
A lot of the time our playhouse was used for a clubhouse. I sent for this information about a bicycle safety club. We would have meetings, roast marshmallows and hot dogs, all the kids would bring something.
One other thing we remembered was a big circus coming to White Lake, it was over in front of Barbers in the big parking lot. When things like this came to town a lot of people showed up.
....Marge Smith with her prized bike. Was it green or blue? Mrs Early's house can just be seen in the background, the closer up building is Norton's stone garage. It was so pretty, everyone kept their place so nice.
There were Tupperware parties, at one time the local women cut feathers to make money, the junk man came around door to door. Milk was delivered to your door by Oscar Elfenbaum. We remember going to a place we called *Green Mountain, up way in the back of Smallwood, there were big rocks there we climbed through. At times we had boy and girl scout troops. We recall a fashion show at the Duggan School.
Another popular place to visit was Catskill Game Park, we went there while we were in grade school, family trips were made there too. The Gingerbread Castle over beyond Port Jervis in New Jersey was real nice. There were large goldfish in little ponds, we remember too the large lollypops you could buy there.
We went shopping in Newburgh, in the early years we went into town, later there was a shopping center outside of town we went to. Sterling Forrest Gardens was another popular place to visit. And, of course, who can forget The Red Apple Rest? This was down around Suffern, always crowded, with good food. So much to choose from. Recently I found a government map. It sure looks like what we called Green Mountain, was actually Green Hill!
Mom put all of my pretty cards in a scrap book. A few years ago she gave this to me. It had the pictures from first grade too.
Many people would go over to Paramus, New Jersey to shop in the malls there. We use to ride over towards Callicoon, stop along the road somewhere, go down into a steep area by a river, it was real pretty. I believe they fished down there. In White Lake in later years there was the racetrack. They tried to get me to drive in one of the Powder Puff races. Richie La Polt raced. Sam Levenson, a comedien of the times, put on a show behind the new school, this was in a big tent. We are not sure if this was part of the Firemen's Festival or not.
We were always tapping the trees in winter so we could make maple syrup. None of us remember accomplishing this. We did try, one time we built a huge fire at Richie La Polt's in the back yard. I think we decided if we all brought our sap, put it together, we could boil it down and get some syrup. Did we even get a spoon of it? Donna remembers doing this at our house too.
There were square dances, though we do not remember where these were held. We did go over to Fosterdale to the Grange Hall to square dances. When The Town of Bethel built a new garage we are sure a dance was held there.
Did you know? Miss Reingold of 1955 was Madelyn Darrow? Miss America of 1956 was Sharon Kay Ritchie of Colorado?
...Rebers, over in Barryville...
YOUNG FOLKS LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE FUTURE BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE MUCH OF A PAST.
OLD FOLKS LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE PAST BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE MUCH OF A FUTURE.
I am glad everyone likes this page so much, especially since the pictures were added in. Do you have pictures to add??
...Continued...
Back to ..part one...
Back to .....MyRoots...