Preface
When for the first time an Old World traveler is permitted to behold an American landscape in Autumn, he is transported at the array of gorgeous hues of which he had formed no conception. Nowhere does Nature take on a brighter livery than in the vicinity of the Shawangunk; and there needs but the rendering of its history into story by a Scott or a Cooper to immortalize the locality. Here, beneath the effulgent rays of the October sun, there burns, not one bush, but thousands, as with fire, yet are not consumed; and here the maple, the sumac, the Virginia creeper, and the expanses of golden-rod and purple asters flood the forests and fields with their matchless coloring.
It requires no great effort of the fancy to picture the bark canoes of the aboriginals still plying upon the bosoms of the many romantic lakes, or swiftly coursing along the beautiful streams that, like sinuous bands of silver, wind among the verdant meadows. One would be pardoned for being deceived into the belief that the smoke from an embowered cottage arose from the embers of an Indian wigwam; and the traveler half expects to meet troops of goblin warriors, as in the Moorish legend, painted and equipped for battle, silently threading the forest over the Indian trails yet clearly traceable through the moutain fastnesses.
Does the reader desire details of the more tragic sort? Then lend your attention while are told tales of midnight marauders, both white and red, who fell upon unsuspecting and unprotected families along the frontier; listen while scenes are depicted of by-gone times, when the silence of night was wont to e broken by the screams of affrighted women and children, as the murderous tomahawk was brandished over its victims, and when scalps reeking with gore were borne away in triumph. Every locality the Shawangunk region has its legend of Indian atrocity, or its story of Revolutionary barbarity; the chain of topics and a careful revision of the text, to expunge whatever may have been of a local and common-place nature.
Several standard local works have been freely quoted, and many of their interesting features embodied in the volume. Of this class we make mention of Stickney's History of Minisink; the Bevier pamphlet, from which is obtained much that is valuable of the Revolutionary history of Ulster; Eager's History of Orange County; Quinlan's Life of Tom Quick, etc. These books are not out of print, and some them command fabulous prices, such is the demand for them. The matter contained in these favorited works may possess a value in the resent dress above that of new facts. We make an especial acknowledgment of the courtesy of E. F. Quinlan, M. D., and also of Hon. George M. Beebe, both of Monticello, N. Y., who kindly consented to our use of the writings of James Eldridge Quinlan, the author of Tom Quick and of the History of Sullivan county. Mr Quinlan possessed within himself the rare combination of indefatigable research and a pure and forcible diction that claimed the attention of the reader; and his efforts are justly regarded as a standard authority on the subjects of which he has treated. Space would fail were we to mention all the favors and facilities afforded us in the works of research. Not the least of the results hoped for the production of this volume is that this romantic and interesting region may, though its instrumentality, come to better known to the outside world. We shall always treasure the reminiscences of a summer spent in climbing the moutains, sailing over the lakes, and tracing out the Indian trails in the forests, in our search for the rare and quaint in the annals of the Shawangunk.
James Eldridge Quinlan, the author of Tom Quick and of the History of Sullivan county. Mr Quinlan possessed within himself the rare combination of indefatigable research and a pure and forcible diction that claimed the attention of the reader; and his efforts are justly regarded as a standard authority on the subjects of which he has treated. Space would fail were we to mention all the favors and facilities afforded us in the works of research. Not the least of the results hoped for the production of this volume is that this romantic and interesting region may, though its instrumentality, come to better known to the outside world. We shall always treasure the reminiscences of a summer spent in climbing the moutains, sailing over the lakes, and tracing out the Indian trails in the forests, in our search for the rare and quaint in the annals of the Shawangunk.Table of Contents