Local History by Dede Terns-Thorpe - A Little Edgewood History

This Friday night at 6:00 pm, I, with the Tannersville Librarian, Jackie, will be presenting a slide show of hotels and boarding houses along and near Route 214 Lanesville Rod and Gun Club. Jackie, I, and a group of people are working on a town map to include hotels, boarding houses, and points of interest (libraries, schools, churches, and post offices. We ask anyone with historical information, will share that history. 

An area along Route 214, Edgewood,  was dissolved a long time ago. In fact, after becoming a historian a woman mentioned she was born in Edgewood, and it is no longer a hamlet. I spoke to Cairo's NYS highway superintendent, and he was able to install two Edgewood signs in the approximate proper place. 

I found a little history of Edgewood in an Ulster and Delaware Railroad booklet that gives us some information on the area. 

"Edgewood is 1787 feet above the tide. There are a rattling sawmill and chair-stock factory with a few scattering boarding houses. But Nature's setting will engage your attention more profitably. 

Until this point (on the train through the notch) you have been on the eastern slope of the deep valley, with the Stony Clove creek and the old wagon road far below, and cascades, mills, little churches, schools, and cottages at intervals, where a few acres of almost perpendicular meadows have been reclaimed from the relentless grasp of the great craig. The Notch itself is now just ahead, and the valley contracts suddenly as its throat is approached. There is now a climb of 280 feet to reach the summit in the Notch, and the grade can no longer be evaded or trifled with. There is not much over a mile in which to make the ascent, and you feel, hear, and see that it is uphill."

It said the track and the old wagon road battled for space at the bottom of the gorge, but the road had seniority which was respected!              

After turning south onto Route 214, you'll pass Tannersville Junction, soon called Kaaterskill Junction, then to Higgins Hollow, Stony Clove, Edgewood, and finally, Lanesville. 

Edgewood was a busy area. It had many of the earlier sawmills and watermills, and it was home to the busy Fenwick Lumber Company for many years.

Hopefully this introduces you to the busy little hamlet of Edgewood. 

Dede Terns-Thorpe/Hunterhistorian@gmail.com