Former Joseph Retallick Residence (Circa 1890)
Marshville Road runs off of the section of Route 10 between Canajoharie and Sharon Springs. I've been down the road to Marshville (and ultimately Freysbush) several times and am always taken aback by this large house and the ironwork arch at each of the three driveways into this place. It definitely catches your eye. I was curious what the story was behind this old place.
A 1906 map indicates that this was once the home of Joseph Retallick, Sr.
According to Frothingham's classic History of Montgomery County (1892), this place was once the home of Joseph Retallick -- born in Cornwall, England in 1831 and arriving in the U.S. with his parents in 1832. He grew up near Albany in West Troy, took up canaling as a means of livelihood and bought his own boat at age twenty.
Retallick owned three boats by the time he moved to Canajoharie in 1862. Eventually, he bought an 115 acre farm with the house pictured above as his residence. Frothingham says that the Retallick home was considered one of the most beautiful homes in town. Retallick became one of the largest hops growers in Montgomery County.
Local property tax records say that the Retallick mansion was built in 1890.
Be sure to check a 1970 photo of the mansion from the excellent Fulton-Montgomery Photographic Archives. Things looked much better in 1970 before someone added those oversized front stairs.
By the way, the property is now a hunting and fishing club called Marshville Wings.
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Uploaded on Dec 13, 2009
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George A. Dockstader Family Plot (1855)
@ Argusville, New York.
I've developed a fondness for clearly identified cemeteries. That's often not the case with old rural ones.
This nameplate, from a subsection of Argusville Cemetery, is a bit rusty and crusty, but it still qualifies for my collection.
As for George, he buried his young wife, Jane Elizabeth Loucks Dockstader, there. I think that George is buried elsewhere.
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Uploaded on Dec 9, 2009
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Old Manny Inn Historical Marker
@ Amsterdam, New York.
At one time, Route 5 through Amsterdam was a happening place. Called the Mohawk Turnpike, Route 5 was the main drag from Albany to Schenectady to Amsterdam to Fort Johnson to Tribes Hill to Fonda and points further west. Downtown in each city was centered around Route 5. These were the days long before the New York State Thruway existed.
Sadly, Route 5 through Amsterdam isn't exactly scenic anymore. it's pretty rundown. Coming from Schenectady, the first thing you encounter as you enter Amsterdam is the used car lot in the photo above. As the historic markers points out, though, the Manny Inn once stood on this site.
According to the Montgomery County historian:
The Old Manny Roadhouse, owned by Gabriel Manny Jr., was located on the North side of East Main Street. The tavern and stage house, on the Mohawk Turnpike, served travelers far and wide between 1795 and 1840. The Mohawk Turnpike was intended for traffic transporting goods to and from Albany westward. The Manny Roadhouse provided people, and their animals, food and shelter along their travels.
If you go here, "look inside" the book and do a quick search inside the book on the word "manny," you can see the Old Manny Inn at the bottom of page 13.
By the way, there's another historical marker related to the Manny family just North of Amsterdam.
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Uploaded on Dec 3, 2009
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First School in the Town of Glen (Montgomery County) Historical Marker
@ Auriesville, New York.
If you take a "back way" into the (major) truck stop located at Fultonville, NY, you might notice the sign (above) on a steeply sloping hill below a guard rail. I'll assume that the school was somewhere flatter nearby, otherwise the kids would be sliding out of their desks!
Abraham David Quackenbush (1730 - 1812) was a soldier in the Tryon County Militia (the Patriots who wanted England to get out of the U.S.) during the American Revolution.
The story of the three Quackenboss (or Quackenbush or van Quackenbosch) brothers who emigrated from Holland to New York can be read here.
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Uploaded on Dec 3, 2009
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One More Time...the Deep Wall Cracks
@ Tribes Hill, New York.
While the other walls of this old stone church looks fine -- except for the tree growing out from under the presumably basementless structure -- the side wall in the photo above is another issue. Those cracks look pretty deep and wide up close. The lower part of the wall doesn't look so hot either.
I read somewhere that the stones were quarried locally, as I assume, were the stones for the local portion of the Erie Canal...way back when.
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Uploaded on Nov 30, 2009
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