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History of Orange County
Town of Warwick
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Warwick Village.-This is the largest in the town, and the location known by that name as early as 1720. It is pleasantly and romantically situated on the Warwick or Wawayanda creek, which flows gracefully along its eastern suburbs, crossing the road just south of the village. It is in the centre of the town and surrounded by a rich agricultural district, about eleven miles south of Goshen. If it is not injured by the New York and Erie Rail Road, from which it is distant some 10 or 12 miles, it must increase in wealth and population.
The village gave name to the town, and those who originally bestowed it, doubtless, were from Warwickshire, England. The name was from the Earls of Warwick, whose castles and burying grounds are in that city, which is very ancient. In it is a tower, called "Tower,” and it must have been a place of some note during the Roman Conquest. In Latin it is called by the various names of Verovicum, Warvicus and Praesidium.
Amity.--A. small village six miles west of Warwick, near the Jersey line. The name is from the French friendship. The incident which caused the adoption of the name we are not possessed of; but probably there had been some disagreement about the cognomen of the locality, or some other transaction, and Amity was agreed on as the monument of reconciliation. We have been told by some that it was purely fanciful, that it was originally called Pochuck, because in the vicinity of a stream of that name, and that when the inhabitants erected their Presbyterian meeting house, they named it Amity, and thus changed the unpleasant and harsh Indian name. In that sense, the name commemorates the cordiality and friendship with which the church was erected.
Edenville.-This is a small cluster of houses just east of mounts Adam and Eve, three or four miles west from Warwick village. It was formerly called Postville, out of respect for Col. Jacobus Post, whose father first settled the location and owned the lands upon which the village stands. It was subsequently changed to Edenville, through the instrumentality of Doct. Youngs, who resided there. The reason for it, we may not be accurately informed of; but we think we have heard that it was caused by some ill-will on his part towards some of the Post family, and that was the revenge. If any person is injured by the remark we crave pardon, we are in pursuit of nothing but truth and facts. This name was bestowed by the Doctor to express his sense of the beautiful and pleasant situation of the village, as it lies cradled in the lap of Mount Eve, and in allusion to the fruitfulness and rich adornment of the garden of our first parents.
An additional association of ideas may have suggested the name. Mounts Adam and Eve overlook this locality, and it was very natural to restore them to their original habitation. We are told that in former times, these mountain elevations were alive and crawling with rattle and other snakes, and this fact, coupled with their number and proximity, may have had something to do with the first bestowment of the name on those elevations. The name imports praise or censure, according to the meaning of the party; for though it describes a beautiful and fruitful situation, yet there our first parents fell from innocency and entailed a double death upon all their descendents.
New Milford.-This is three miles south west from Warwick village, and formerly called Jockey Hollow, a name very significant of some things. It is said that in old times when the standard of morals was not as etherial and elevated as now, the residents of the locality had the reputation of being pretty sharp in the matters of selling and trading horses, and in driving other bargains, in which their customers considered themselves amply and deeper bitten from time to time. The name was bestowed upon the place by its bleeding and victimized customers. We cannot object to the truthfulness of the appellation, for things ought to be called by their right names.
As the character and pursuits of the inhabitants became changed in process of time, like politicians whose acts have been misrepresented, and feel the ill effects of standing in a false position, they assumed to define theirs, and changed Jockey Hollow for the less descriptive New Milford. The New was added to distinguish it from Milford in Pennsylvania. This act was truly praiseworthy, for a bad name will kill a place as quickly as it will slay a dog.
We think we have read somewhere in English Etymology that the name of Milford originally came from the fact of there being a ford over a stream at or near a mill, and a village having grown up at the locality received the name.- Oxford and Wardsbridge are of this natural and accidental class of etymologies. This village is situated on the outlet of Double Pond, near New Jersey.
Bellvale.-This is three miles east of Warwick village, and has been known by the name for many years. It is on Long-house creek, which at the place furnishes a fine water power. At the location there is is a flour, saw and plaster mill, together with a woolen manufactory. The fall is thirty feet in thirty rods. The spot was first located by Daniel Burt, the father of the Hon. James Burt, in 1760. The name is from the French “bell,” beautiful, and “val,” low ground, and expresses a retired, lonely and beautiful location, and this one is not misnamed.
Florida.-This is a pleasant little village and of considerable antiquity, situated in an open champaign part of the town, about six miles south of Goshen and five west of Warwick, on Quaker Creek, the outlet of Thompson's Pond.- The name is from the Latin "Floridus," covered or red with flowers--”Florida Aetas” the flower of age. This is a pretty name, and a spot covered with flowers is a beautiful object to look on.
We believe the place was known by this name before the war, and received it by the voice of a public meeting. On some occasion and when Judge William Thompson, late of Goshen, was a young man, there was a large meeting at the place, and extensive preparations were made befitting the occasion. Messengers were dispatched beforehand to Newburgh to procure eatables and drinkables, and as we have been informed the provision was ample. In old times the early settlers were not satisfied with a quantity short of an abundance. In the hilarity of the festival they christened the place “Florida,” and drank down the pretty maiden name in flowing bumpers.
Though the streams of this town are not large, yet they very controlable and furnish considerable water power. The eastern portion approximates the Highlands and partakes of its physical character, and as we should expect, contains in part several large and beautiful ponds abounding in delicious fish.
Longhouse Creek.-This rises in New Jersey, runs in a northerly direction till it unites with the outlet of Wickham's Pond, a few miles east of the village of Warwick, and together form Wawayanda or Warwick Creek. At an early period in the settlement of New Jersey there was a Long House built on the margin of this stream, which there took its name from the length of the house.
Wawayanda or Warwick Creek.-This, having received Longhouse Creek, runs in a south westerly direction past Bellvale for some miles into New Jersey, till it falls into Pochuck Creek which it finds approaching New York in a north westerly direction.
Pochuck Creek.-This, having received Warwick Creek in New Jersey, enters New York, and flowing north west, falls into the Walkill in the drowned lands. The name of this stream is said to be Indian and the meaning unknown.
We make a remark on the name Wawayanda, which is also Indian, and said to mean “away over yonder.”
The tradition is that some of the twelve Indians who granted the patent to John Bridges and Co. commonly called the Wawayanda Patent, were standing on some elevated part of Shawangunk mountain to the west of the tract, and being asked by the white men how much land they would grant them, one raised his hand and pointing east said, “wawayanda,” meaning “away over yonder." If this was so, the word is not Indian, but English words spoken in broken Indian. There can be no doubt, as we have previously remarked, that at that time the Indians who granted the patent, could speak many English words from their intercourse with the early settlers in New Jersey, which, with the unlimited extent of the patent, go far to support the truth of the tradition.