Eddy Plow Works and Battenkill Inspired

In 2013 I wrote a brief blog post about the Eddy Plow Works here in the village of Greenwich. This year, after seeing that blog post, Hannah DeGarmo, who was working on a series of short videos for the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library, contacted me about speaking on camera about the Eddy Plow Works. I agreed & we met on the Easton bank of the Battenkill River near the recently restored, & currently for sale, Eddy Plow building. We basically did my speaking portion in a couple of segments & decided on a filming without a script. I tried to speak in a conversational manner...

I hope you enjoy the video. Currently, all of the Battenkill Inspired videos can be seen at kiosks at Crandall Public Library, & Greenwich Free Library. Or you can view the videos on the Folklife Center's YouTube channel. There are currently 28 shorts, including films on Cliff Oliver, Bob Warren, Susan B. Anthony, & the Gill Room.



"Battenkill Inspired: The Flow of Creativity, Ingenuity, and the River" celebrates art and culture throughout the Battenkill watershed. Videos are released weekly as part of the celebration of the Folklife Center's 25th anniversary and Crandall Library's 125th year. . Filmed, Directed, and Edited by Kevin Rogan, Sara LaPell, Hannah DeGarmo & Todd DeGarmo Opening & closing music composed by Benjamin Phelps Closing image: "River Reflections" by George Van Hook www.georgevanhookartist.com Produced by Todd DeGarmo 2017 based on the exhibit, Battenkill Inspired Folklife Gallery January to June 2015 Funding for this project came from a 2017 Corridor of Commerce Grant from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership Additional support was provided by: New York State Council on the Arts - Folk Arts Program Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust Helen & Michael Casper Fellowship for Internship Support

Linen Thread Donation

I saw some familiar faces at the Battenkill Inspired exhibit a couple of weeks ago, but I also met some new people! One such person was Nancy Hand Higby, a garden designer from Salem. Nancy told me that her great-grandfather worked at the Dunbarton Mill & she had a bit of linen twine. Would the Town be interested in having it? Of course, I said "Yes!" & here it is...

Spool of linen twine from the Dunbarton Mill, Greenwich, NY

Nancy writes, "This spool of linen thread was given to me by my grandmother, Florence Wallace Hand, whose father managed the Dunbarton Mill where the thread was made."

In looking through William T Ruddock's book Linen Threads and Broom Twines... Volume 2- The Directory, I was able to find the man in question. James Wallace was born to Hugh & Elizabeth (nee Hunter) Wallace in Loughbrickland, County Down, Ireland (now Northern Ireland) in 1859. After graduation, Wallace spent 7 years at Dunbar, McMaster & Co. in nearby Gilford. In 1888, he was promoted to General Manager of the Dunbarton Mill in Greenwich, NY & married Jennie Arnold. The couple had one daughter, Florence (Nancy's grandmother). Mr. Wallace also held important positions after leaving the Dunbraton. He was director of the Mahican Pulp & Paper Company, Consolidated Electric, & the Adirondack Trust Company. He died in 1909 due to complications after contracting ptomaine poisoning. His wife, Jennie, died in 1940. (pp.376-8)

Ruddock's 2 volume set about the Dunbarton

For more information on the Dunbarton Mill & the people involved, I highly recommend William T. Ruddock's 2 volume set, Linen Threads and Broom Twines.

Kayaking in Greenwich

I am not one to generally complain about winter. It is my 3rd favorite season, after Spring & Fall, but even I am beginning to feel a bit of the cabin fever. That said, I thought I would share a post with lots of green.

Last summer, my parents, daughter & I decided we wanted to get out the kayaks &paddle around a bit. (OK, we dragged my daughter along.) Luckily we didn't have far to go. We strapped on the 2-person kayak, hopped in the truck & headed a couple of miles down the road to the Battenkill. We put in on Pulp Mill Lane in Clark's Mills (see map below). It was a lovely day.



View Larger Map

Kayaking downstream from the put-in spot along Pulp Mill Lane

Kayaking past the old railroad trestle

Railroad trestle along the riverbank on the Pulp Mill Lane side

The Easton side of the Battenkill

Turn-around spot- Just beyond is a waterfall that powers Easton H&V plant

Passing the put-in spot on Pulp Mill Lane

Another waterfall & an old H&V mill building

Warning sign- especially important this coming spring as the snow melts

There is a small island just below the warning sign.

It is a lovely, calm little spot to kayak. Just be careful. & always respect the water.

Oh, & we saw some swallowtail butterflies drinking water.




Stay tuned: Next time I have some interesting H & V artifacts to share.

Glass Negative Victory! (maybe)

Mom & I went to an event at the Greenwich Free Library last night.

K. Walter Grom, former Siena College Professor of German Language, History & Culture, presented a slide show on "General Philip Schuyler's Grand Vision" (i.e. the canal system). Most of the history presented I was familiar with having worked at the Saratoga National Historical Park in 1998, and Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site  in 2000. I knew that Schuyler was instrumental in the implementation of the canal system in NY, however, due to the sloth of the State Legislature (shocking, I know) the Champlain Canal wasn't started until 13 years after Schuyler's death in 1804.

The Champlain Canal, also known as "Schuyler's Ditch," was started in 1817 and completed in 1823. This brought an immense amount of commerce into this agrarian economy. Various businesses began to flourish, like clay works and the Lowber Lime Kiln. Mr. Grom mentioned potatoes and ice, saying that there were ice houses up & down the canal system.

The slides were particularly interesting because many of them were images of Schuylerville in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. During the slide portion came the surprise. One of his slides was of the Liberty Wallpaper Company building. It was along the canal near current lock 5 just north of Schuylerville. I was so excited to see the facade of one of the images from that stack of glass plate negatives dropped on my proverbial doorstep a few years ago.

Liberty Wallpaper Building? the canal and tow path are to the right

Now to do some research & try to find some information on Liberty Wallpaper!

Explosive documents- POW!

Some of the things if my office are so interesting that I just have to share. I have many completed applications for "A LICENSE To purchase, own, possess, transport or use Explosives" from residents and businesses in the Town of Greenwich from 1945-1974.

These forms came from the NYS Department of Labor. If someone needed to use explosives for business or home use, they would come to the town clerk's office and request an application. The completed application would then have to be signed by the town clerk. The applicant had to state their reasons for requiring the use of explosives. The following lists the main reasons listed and their frequency.

• 65- remove stumps/ rocks from fields
• 15- general contract work
• 15- roadwork
• 12- reloading shells/ hunting
• 7- general use of farm
• 2- splitting wedges for pulp wood
• 1- build a silo
• 1- cellar
• 1- water pipeline for house
• 1- sewer line
• 1- sink oil tanks
• 1- chemical research



Explosives application- Stevens & Thompson Paper Co. 1951

 An example of the Explosives application. The above document is dated  January 10, 1951 and is signed by Town Clerk, Elizabeth Wilson. The Stevens & Thompson Paper Co. needed the licence "for our ground wood operation- splitting wedges on pulp wood". At that time the application fee was 25 cents! One copy went in the town clerk's file, one copy went to the "nearest police authorities", and one went to the sheriff.

Come on down & check 'em out. (The "sinking oil tanks" & "chemical research" are interesting....)

Fascination with commemorative plates

I'm not sure why I am fascinated with commemorative plates. You know the ones I mean. Your grandmother may have had a few displayed on the wall in one of those metal, spring things... Or maybe they were in the back of the china closet. My grandmother had a few that I have inherited. Some I may not keep because I don't really have a connection to them, but others will be bound for display.

The Village of Greenwich Sesquicentennial committee decided to have a commemorative plate made for the 1959 event. It was produced by Kettlesprings Kilns in Alliance, OH. Kettlesprings Kilns began in 1950 to create a plate for Alliance's bicentennial, & grew from there. They still produce commemorative items like plates, mugs, tiles & bells (http://home.earthlink.net/~kettlesprings/products.html).

Greenwich Sesquicentennial plate 1959

Our plate is green, of course, with the sesquicentennial logo in the center. Around the outside are various buildings in the town. Notice the tiny witches between each building.

• White Swan Hotel (1851)
• Upper Dam (1860)
• Stevens & Thompson Mill
• Mowry-Blandy House
• Dorr Park & Van Ness House
• Greenwich Central School (1927)



Typical toile (in my favorite- red)

• temporary home of Susan B. Anthony*

You might think that I like these plates simply because of my interest in local history, but I think it's more than that. There is the sentimentality associated with my grandmother, but there is also the design element. I love toile^, a French fabric, usually linen or canvas with pastoral scenes printed on using one color. My favorite is red, but more often found in blue or black. These plates remind me of toile.

Well, I guess I do know why these plates fascinate me after all!


* I'm assuming this is the house the Anthony's moved to after the Panic of 1837, when they lost their home in Battenville.
^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toile or http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toile

Broom Twine & Shoe Thread

What? You heard right. Broom twine & shoe thread. That can only mean one thing...

You guessed it! Linen. What does linen have to do with Greenwich you may ask? I'll tell you.



From 1879 to 1952 Greenwich was the home to an (almost) continuously run linen mill. The Dunbarton Mill processed flax into study linen thread to be used  for the manufacture of brooms and shoes. Linen makes great thread because of the long, stiff fibers. Cotton has short, soft fibers and replaced linen for use in making clothes because the cotton gin, patented by Eli Whitney in 1794, made cotton cheaper to use. During the Civil War, cotton was in short supply, and linen was in demand. The Greenwich Linen Mill (1869) was built on the banks of the Batten Kill, to capitalize on the increased linen prices. The prices didn't last & by 1879 Dunbar & McMaster were able to open the doors as the Dunbarton Mill.

Some Dunbarton employees with 25 years on the job- 1945




Dunbar & McMaster also operated mills in Gilford, County Down, (Northern) Ireland and Patterson, NJ. Many of their workers came over from Ireland & settled in Greenwich (& NJ) bringing an influx of people to the small village. The Irish that came were Protestant and Catholic. They lived in mill houses which are still in use along Hill and John Streets.



The Old Gilford Mill in Northern Ireland*

In the weeks to come I'll write more about the mill, including a strike, a novel, and a tragedy...


For more information:

Ruddock, William T. Linen Threads and Broom Twines: An Irish and American Album and Directory of the People of the Dunbarton Mill: Greenwich, New York 1879-1952. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc. 1997.

* © Copyright HENRY CLARK and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence- http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/517473



Edited 10/11/12- I removed the mill image previously posted. That mill image was of another Greenwich Mill, not the Dunbarton. Unable to locate a verifiable image of our Dunbarton in the town photograph collection, I opted for a more personal image. Thank you to Bill Ruddock for the clarification.

-Tisha Dolton, Historian

Iroquois Pulp & Paper

I tend to write these blog posts by the seat of my pants. I rarely have an idea of what I am going to write about before I come to work on a Thursday evening. That's probably why some posts are awesome & some are mediocre at best.

Anyway, as I began searching through the beautiful clutter that is this historians office, without a clue what tidbit would present itself to me, I came across the ephemera from the bicentennial, sesquicentennial, and centennial celebrations. As I was carefully thumbing though the items, I found myself leafing through the Village of Greenwich Centennial Program from Summer 1809. On the back cover, I spotted the most amazing image. It took me a moment to realize, truly see what I was staring at.

The image of the Iroquois Pulp and Paper Co. in Thomson startled me. The mill is laid out along the Hudson River. Northumberland is in the foreground siting along the Saratoga County side of the river. When you look closely, you can see the Champlain canal and the island it created. Behind the factory, are the mill houses, and just to the right of the water tower is the large white cupola of the big Victorian. But what is most shocking to me is the openness. The miles and miles of treeless fields. Now it is very wooded and overgrown.

Iroquois Pulp & Paper, manufacturers of hanging papers c.1809

I wonder if I could get a photograph now from a similar vantage point, maybe on Stark's Knob?