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Deerpark and Mount Hope

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Ouwe-dam Kill is Dutch—being Old Dam Brook in English. This brook received its name from the circumstance of the remains of an old mill dam, of the first or one of the first mills in the town, which overflowed a long tract of low land, which after it became in some measure drained off, was termed Old Dam.

Shingle Brook.—This in the Dutch was termed Syngle Kill. The name must have originated from the making of shingles along it in former times.

Grassy Swamp Brook.—This rises in Sullivan county, runs South, through the Southwest corner of the town, and unites with the Mongaup, a few miles West of where that stream enters the Delaware. It has its name from the nature of the locality where it originates, which is a low natural meadow, overgrown with long coarse grass.

Fall Brook.—This stream discharges into the Neversink, and a quarter of a mile before it meets it, falls over the face of the mountain, forming a beautiful cascade. The whole fall within one mile is said to be six hundred feet, as found by Col. Clinton; two hundred of which is in one place and nearly perpendicular. The name is from the fall of the stream.

Big Pond.—This is the largest pond of the town, situate in lots No. 35 and 36 in the fist division of the Minisink Patent, near the Southeast end. This pond with its marsh is about one mile long, and between a quarter and half a mile wide; its length extends Northeast and Southwest.

Little Pond.—This is the name of a smaller pond; the greater part of which is in lot No. 37 of the same division, and extends into expense lot No. 2 of the same division.— Its outlet is a branch of Old Dam Brook, and the outlet of Big Pond is a main branch of Shingle Brook. This pond is between a quarter and half a mile in diameter, and not much longer than its width. The size of the ponds determines their names.

Penhausen's Land or Penhausen’s Land.—This was the name of an Indian chief, who in former times resided near the present residence of Levi Van Etten, Esq., on the rich bottom lands in that neighborhood. In old times, when speaking of a good piece of land, it was common to compare it with Penhausen’s Land.

Seneyaughquan was an Indian name of the place where Major Swartwout in his time resided—now the residence of Col. Peter Swartwout. This name of late years is seldom used. It signifies “a bridge across a brook,” with an addition to designate its place which we do not know.

This bridge was no more than a log or tree, which laid across the brook, on which the Indians crossed it at Swartwout's.

Cuddebackville.—This village is in the Northern part of the town, and on the line of the canal. It has sprung up into being and notoriety within a few years, from its favorable location. The name was from Col. William Cuddeback, who owned the site.

Port Jervis.-—A small village on the canal where it first approaches the Delaware. It is named after Mr. Jervis, who laid out and superintended the construction of the canal. It is just above Carpenter’s Point, and the junction of the Neversink and Delaware.

Westbrookville.—This is another small village of recent origin, and vegetated in the hot bed of the canal. The name was from the Westbrook's, the patrons of the place.

Hones Dale.—This is North of Port Jervis and on the canal which supports it. It was called after Mr. Philip Hone of New York, one of the early friends of the canal, with the addition of the Gothic Dale, meaning vale or valley.

Bolton.—This village is also on the line of the canal, and up the river above Honesdale, where the Shingle Kill enters the Delaware. It has its name from John Bolton, an original member of the canal company. This canal has been the means of immortalizing more men than any other work of the same magnitude on the globe, in ancient or modern times, as far as we know. But no matter: the more the better— for we go strongly for the immortality of the whole race, especially if they deserve it by their good works, as in this instance.

Huguenot.—This is another small place on the canal, North of Port Jervis, and in the central part of the town.— The name is a corruption of Huguenot, and is historical, geographical and reverential. We are happy in writing it in our paper, commend the individual for its bestowment, and for the patriot spirit which erected this public and durable monument to those persecuted Christian emigrants. Those pilgrims deserve more of immortality than is ensured by a mere name.

Carpenter’s Point.—This is a point of land made by the junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers, just South of Port Jervis. The place has been long and extensively known by this name. There is a ferry across the Delaware at this place. The settlement consists of a few houses, not on the point, but on the East side of the Neversink. The name is said to be from an old settler of the name Carpenter, who owned the point and established the ferry.

Shawangunk Mountain.—This is one of the principal bifurcations of the Appalachian chain, and divides Deerpark from Mount Hope and Minisink. The word is Indian, and means “white rocks or mountains." Shawen in the Mohegan language is “white “—also, “salt:” and gunk, “a large rock or pile of rocks.” The term is said to have been applied by the Indians to that part of the mountain which faces to the East, in the town of Shawangunk, Ulster county, where the rocks are white, being the kind out of which the Esopus mill stones are made.

Sokapack.—This is also an Indian name of a place in this town, which we have understood from an old man, Guasaulec, to be also significant of a spring of water.

Lower Neighborhood.—In respect to the first settlers of the lower neighborhood from the line which formerly divided the counties of Orange and Ulster to the Delaware River, we cannot, from any knowledge of our own, or from inquiry, discover that any settlement was made in that neighborhood prior to that by these persons hereinafter mentioned. They were contemporary with the children of the first settlers at Peenpack, and three of them had married daughters of those first settlers. The children of Peter Gumaer, the great grandfather of Peter E. Gumaer, were six in number, and born between the years 1693 and 1708; from which we calculate that the lower neighborhood must have been settled between the years 1710 and 1725. In examining old surveys to discover the dates of tracts of land in that neighborhood anciently surveyed, we have found only one. This survey was made in 1713. We have understood that when this tract was surveyed, the line was, run so as to leave the “Old Dam Kill Mill” outside of the survey: from which it appears the mill was there at the time, and that no occupants were on the tract then surveyed. The tract, however, includes the premises where the mill was, and they must have surveyed so as to deceive the owner. This tract appears to have been three, five, and twentieth parts of a proprietary purchased by John Reading from Richard Heritage. These persons appear to have been land speculators, and did not reside in this vicinity.