Village of Saugerties - Picturesque Ulster (1905)
This is yet another period publication digitized for the CD-based collection “The Essential Saugerties" produced in 2009. As with the 1911 Centennial program and The Pearl, the original is from the personal research materials of Saugerties town historian Audrey Klinkenberg. This is from a section 8-labeled, separately covered publishing, marked with pages 255 to 286, that makes it the final section of the full book where all eight sections were bound together to make Picturesque Ulster. The first three pages are taken from the introduction of the 1968 full book reproduction by Hope Farm Press, written by the famous Woodstock historian Alf Evers. They are added to this digital publication because they best describe this work, a product of a time when photography was an art form and the photographer's subject was a statement of artistic interest.
This is yet another period publication digitized for the CD-based collection “The Essential Saugerties" produced in 2009.
As with the 1911 Centennial program and The Pearl, the original is from the personal research materials of Saugerties town historian Audrey Klinkenberg. This is from a section 8-labeled, separately covered publishing, marked with pages 255 to 286, that makes it the final section of the full book where all eight sections were bound together to make Picturesque Ulster.
The first three pages are taken from the introduction of the 1968 full book reproduction by Hope Farm Press, written by the famous Woodstock historian Alf Evers. They are added to this digital publication because they best describe this work, a product of a time when photography was an art form and the photographer's subject was a statement of artistic interest.
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Published<strong>1905</strong><br />
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
FOREWORD<br />
\Vhat would you give to be tanied batk over seventy ~-ears and to live for a few momentH in 1896<br />
when frotk-toated 'Yilliam McKinley was working hh; waJ- toward the 'White HouHe, when the horse and<br />
not the automobile was king <strong>of</strong> the highways and when the fragrance <strong>of</strong> good fiYe cent cigars and the murmur<br />
<strong>of</strong> famil~' conversation floated on the air on sumnWI' evening:; from the front porches <strong>of</strong> the United<br />
States? You need not g'he vel'y mud-yon need only give the price <strong>of</strong> the book here re-publishpd, For<br />
Richard Lionel De Lisser's Pict1u-esque <strong>Ulster</strong> is mOJ'ethan a book, it is one <strong>of</strong> those rare vehieles which,<br />
with no fuel be~'oJl(l a few pint:; <strong>of</strong> imagiIHltion, are able to pitk people up and carry them safely and<br />
painlessly to destinatioll$ far away in time alld space,<br />
Xothillg else eYel' wJ'itten alJOnt rl:;teJ' County ha:; anything like the tl'an:;porting power <strong>of</strong> P'ichu'·<br />
clSque CllSter, And a gl'eat deal has been \n-itten-it Illay he wOl,th while pausing to take a brief look at<br />
the books al,out T"lster whith preceded De Lissel"s, Even befOl'e there was an <strong>Ulster</strong>-the county was not<br />
born until 1683-it had become possible to visit the region in a primitiYe way, 011 the wings <strong>of</strong> printed<br />
WOl'ds, This J'egion was first known to its Dnteh explOJ'eJ's as Esopus and it was under a variant <strong>of</strong> this<br />
Indian-derived name -that David De Yrie:; refeITed to it in a black letter volume pnblished at Alkmaar<br />
in Hollanrl in 1655, De"J'ies toll! <strong>of</strong> (-ollling-np the Hnrlsoll RiveJ' "to Esoopes, where a neek ,'uns in; theJ'e<br />
the Sa\-agl>shad muth maize-land, ., ," Latel'narrators \n'ot·e <strong>of</strong> the ('onljuest <strong>of</strong> the maize-growers by white<br />
mPll alld the establishment <strong>of</strong> farms and settlements alollg European lines. By 17;)7 "'illiam Smith, the<br />
fiJ·:;t historian <strong>of</strong> the Prodnee <strong>of</strong> New York could pol'tl'ay rl:;ter a:; a prospel'OUS white man's land whose<br />
"Esopus kill winds t111'oughric-h and beautiful lawn:; , , _the tountJ'y i:; most noted l'OJ'Fine Flour, Beer and<br />
a good BJ'eed <strong>of</strong> DI'aught HorseI'. ... "<br />
The olll'ning <strong>of</strong> rlster'~ county seat <strong>of</strong> Kingstoll by BI,itish ty'oops in 1777, the d~-ing out <strong>of</strong> negro<br />
slaver~- when it l,egan to pI'ove unpJ'<strong>of</strong>itablt> to the fHl'meJ'S and tra(lel'i:; who dominated <strong>Ulster</strong> life, the<br />
appt'Hrance <strong>of</strong> steamboat:-; on the Hudson-all tht'se did littll:' to altel' thl:' reading public's image <strong>of</strong> L:':-;ter<br />
as a peaeeful and pro!'perous region wheJ'e farm!' wel-p handed down from father to son and where the<br />
inhabitants <strong>of</strong> tht' eounty':-; stone honsl:':-;continued tll sing ])ntl-h lullahies to theiJ' babie:; and to l'eSOJ,t<br />
to Dntch oaths when handling balky horses. As the nineteenth eentm'y mO\'ed along <strong>Ulster</strong> turned up on<br />
the dr,\' pages <strong>of</strong> many a gazetteer or guide book-but thl:' time for wl'iting an entire book about the county<br />
had not ypt eome. In England such books had long been numerous; the celebration <strong>of</strong> the fiftieth anniversary<br />
<strong>of</strong> American independence in 1826 roused a numbeJ' <strong>of</strong> New Englander:; to add hi:-;tories <strong>of</strong> theil' towns<br />
to the fine eolonial liteJ'atm'e dealing with their J'pgion, Even earlier-this was in 1809-YVashington Irving's<br />
comic: Histnr.'! uf YCIC York had giYen the wOI'ld a somewhat lopsided yiew <strong>of</strong> Dnteh da~-!'in what was<br />
to become the State <strong>of</strong> :Sew York, Other \uitPJ'S lahorerl to Nn'rt>l't lrYing, In {,lsteJ', after 1826, articles<br />
011 Ulstel' subjects weJ'e now and then printed in the l'onllty's npwspapet':;, By 185!1an l~lsteJ' County Historical<br />
Society eame into being-its members pl'epm'etl papel's which were printed as the Society's Proeepdings<br />
hetwet>1l 1860 and 1862 when the Soeiety died as a casualty <strong>of</strong> the Civil 'Val'.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the foundeJ's <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Ulster</strong> County Hi:;tOl'il'al Hociet.\· was .Jonathan "-, Hasbrouek, a earpentpI'<br />
and joiner <strong>of</strong> Stont> Ridge. Hasbrouck was a memher <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> T'lstel"s oldest families-that was why<br />
when he began work on a history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ulster</strong> County abont :I~fiO, he planned to use the "old famiJ~-" approach<br />
then current and to f ature genealogies <strong>of</strong> old familil:'s, Hashrouck wa:; an industrious l'eseal'chel' hut<br />
he could not overcome his lack <strong>of</strong> skill in writing or organizing historical materials, although he struggled<br />
manfully. Aftel' his death the roughly finished fi/'st ten ehapters <strong>of</strong> his book were nsed in the preparation<br />
<strong>of</strong> a kind <strong>of</strong> eounty history which was becoming pr<strong>of</strong>itahle in the wake <strong>of</strong> the enthusiastic celebration <strong>of</strong><br />
the centennial <strong>of</strong> Ameriean independence <strong>of</strong> 1876, This hook-it was N, H, SylYester's History nf Ulstcr<br />
Cn-unty,Yc/(; York, Ph,jladelphia) 1880-was what is known in the trade as a "mug book," It dealt with<br />
history, touched upon topography and geology, it inelnded accounts <strong>of</strong> all the county's towns and hamlets<br />
-as well as portraits and biographil'al sketches <strong>of</strong> all IOta] c-itizens who werp prepm'ed to pay the admission<br />
fee, The book was competently done and has permanent value, To members <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ulster</strong>'s old fami·<br />
lies it has considerable transporting power, But to otheJ's-those whose ancestors are not mentioned-it<br />
seems to stop and loaf at every crossroad and then to amble on like an elderlJ mare,
S,rlvester's history was followed by something ver,Y different and very spedalized. This was Irving<br />
Elting's illuminating study <strong>of</strong> earl~y <strong>Ulster</strong> communit,y structure called D'ut
Even though Picturesqlice <strong>Ulster</strong> was so largely an <strong>Ulster</strong> product-it was even printed in <strong>Ulster</strong> on<br />
<strong>Ulster</strong> paper-it did not sell well to <strong>Ulster</strong> people. Its publishers were new at the game and did not seem<br />
to be able to solve their distribution problems. The book did not sell in the expected quantities to summer<br />
boarders who were being bombarded with much attractive-and free-promotional material on the region<br />
supplied by railroads. Control over <strong>Picturesque</strong> mster passed from its publishers to a group <strong>of</strong> Sauger·<br />
ties men who joined to form The <strong>Picturesque</strong> Publishing Company. It was not until <strong>1905</strong> that this group<br />
managed to publish the eighth and final number <strong>of</strong> P-icturesque <strong>Ulster</strong> which had been begun so hopefully<br />
nine .rears before. An additional series, proposed to deal with southern <strong>Ulster</strong>, never came into<br />
being. For years the plates and unsold copies <strong>of</strong> Pict,/;resque U7ster languished in the cellar <strong>of</strong> a <strong>Saugerties</strong><br />
bank. During the fiJ'st "TorId 'Val' they were disposed <strong>of</strong> to a speculator who sold the plates as<br />
scrap. For a few 'years aftel' that copie;; <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> the parts <strong>of</strong> <strong>Picturesque</strong> U7ster could be bought at a<br />
fraction <strong>of</strong> their original price <strong>of</strong> seventy-five cents per part, in DIstel' variety stores. 'l'hen they dis·<br />
appeared from the market. Hardly had that happened when the public awakened to the value <strong>of</strong> De Lis·<br />
ser's hook, DIstel' people began rummaging in their gal'rets and cupboards for copies <strong>of</strong> the parts which<br />
were soon changing hands briskl.'- at prices which would have astounded theiJ' original publishers.<br />
Once again Pir·tllrcsqllc [,7ster is back in the market at a reasonable price. It had originally been <strong>of</strong>·<br />
fered to the public as a.n up·to·the·minute pictorial and verbal suney <strong>of</strong> <strong>Ulster</strong> County and its charms.<br />
But the coming and going <strong>of</strong> ovel' seventy .'-eal's has changed all that-Pichl/I'csquc <strong>Ulster</strong> is now being<br />
re·publi;;hed as a means <strong>of</strong> conveying passengers to a remote and seductive past. It is time to step aboard<br />
Pic-f'II,rcsqlle U7ster. Good travelling-and a safe return!<br />
Hutchin Hill Road<br />
Shady, N. Y.
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
Original Courtesy Audrey M. Klinkenberg
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