April 30, 2005 Plowing the Soil 1770 – 2005

After two very successful barn and carriage barn tours, the Interlaken Historical Society felt it was time to try a new event, a plowing day with demonstrations and displays. The selected location was the Brook Farm Barn owned by the Hunt family.

The work began months before the actual date. Tractor and plow owners were contacted, some with vintage equipment and some with the most modern or largest in the area. Displays were created, and others were invited to bring items to display. Animals and steam engines were part of the growing idea.

A special edition of the Interlaken Historical Society newsletter was being created. Articles were written, business cards collected and scanned, and pages of information went into the first booklet. In the end, there were 24 pages of information and color photographs.

Cover, Special Edition newsletter
Interlaken Historical Society Collections

Saturday morning arrived, and so did the late Spring weather of cool temperatures and drizzle. The day went on as planned. A guest speaker started the morning, and then everyone moved into the field to watch the plowing. One horse, one plow started across the field, to be joined by larger plows and motorized tractors. 

Marty Schlabach introducing the featured speaker,   April 30, 2005
Interlaken Historical Society photo collection

Mary Willers and Judy Barkee at the Interlaken Historical Society sales table 2005
Interlaken Historical Society photo collection

There would be more Plowing Days in the years to come. The event was moved to September of 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and most recently 2016. The event has grown with more displays, more tractors and plows, and most of all, more people coming to enjoy a day of fellowship and learning. Each event has a theme relating to agriculture: apples and cider, mortice buildings, cheese, dairy animals.

2016 Featured speaker, Dr. Annie Madison DMV talking about dairy animals
Photo by Karen Nelson

2016 Plowing Day, getting to touch one of the animals
Photo by Karen Nelson

Dewitt’s Diary: Wednesday, April 30, 1919

Plowed all day today. Father went to Ithaca.

I went to Trumansburg in the car tonight. Edna is not feeling well.

 Another entry relating to plowing: April 29, 1925 A frost last night. Put four horses on the disc today and father came up and drove them while I dug around the peach trees across the creek above orchard. The trees are blossoming out some.

April 27, 1953 Interlaken Historical Society Program

Dewitt does not often mention going to evening events, although he would report that Edna attended Grange or Rebecca meetings. When he commented on attending a Historical Society event, I had to find out what might have piqued his interest.

Looking back in the Minutes of the Interlaken Historical Society, the following was recorded for that April evening.

At the American Legion Home on Monday evening, April 27, the members of the Historical Society and guests were taken for a trip out west by Mr. John T. Lloyd and Mrs. Harold Wyckoff by means of their colorful collection of pictures and interesting comments.

At the close of the meeting refreshments were served in the basement.

Several more donations of pictures of our earlier village were received with appreciation.

Recent contributions:

John Bainbridge 1900 Modern Tr. Outfit

Miss Nancy Hause Pictures

George Slingerland Pictures Old House

Alfred Rappleye Picture Farmerville Band in front Old American Hotel

Miss Hilda Horton Copy of Free Press August 7, 1886

Mrs. Edna Travis Pictures 

Farmerville Band in front of the American House
Interlaken Historical Society photo #347

Descriptive Detail provided with the above photo.

Dewitt’s Diary Monday April 27, 1953

Temperature 44 Cooler and cloudy. Lawns and grass are growing fast now. Trees are beginning to show some green.

We treated the seed oats and worked around the house.

Several rain showers the afternoon.

Went to Historical S[society] meeting at the Veterans’ building tonight.

April 26, 2003 First Interlaken Historical Society Barn Tour

The April 2003 issue of the Interlaken Historical Society newsletter provided the background on the upcoming tour.

“We have all driven past the enormous barns throughout our township and perhaps wondered their age, architecture, and current use. We have noted in the passing years the decline of the nineteenth century farming structure, and this became our impetus to promote a tour of these remaining buildings before they disappeared.”

With that goal in mind, Sally Hubbard and Bill Gates set out to find barns, their owners, and docents to be on hand to welcome visitors and tell the stories of the barns.

Along the way, they found “stalls, stanchions, and granaries have been changed little from their original design. Foremost, the structures were built to last.”

So what barns were open for that first Barn Tour?  

An English Hillside barn with hand-hewn beams.
Collection of the Interlaken Historical Society

1909 J. T. Wells & Son patented laminated arch free-span barn
with slate roof.
Interlaken Historical Society collection

A circa 1820s English style bank barn, used for cattle, horse boarding and training.
Collection of the Interlaken Historical Society

An early 1820s English type barn with Gamble roof. The thrashing floor, granaries and hay fork are intact. 

Visitors to the barn tours stated at the Farmers' Museum
and had time to look through the museum before going on to the barns.
Interlaken Historical Society Collection.

The last barn on the 2003 tour was a 1995 Amish dairy barn, which was selected for comparison with the older barns.

The 2003 tour was very well received with over 100 people visiting the barns, and in 2004 a second event was held. This tour featured carriage barns and horse drawn vehicles.

Dewitt’s Diary April 26, 1937-38-39-40

Monday April 26, 1937 Edna washed, I plastered on the dining room. Bunny H is going to paper it. Rev. VanWagenen died today. He was only 39 years old.

Tuesday, April 26, 1938 Finished plowing sod for corn, the second field up on the North side. A beautiful day. Edna and Francis went to Neil Gardeners sale today.

Wednesday, April 26, 1939 Rain. Shearing the sheep. Temperature 60 this morning.

Friday, April 26, 1940 Drew out manure around hen house. Went to Wilcox’s sale this afternoon. Plenty of snow up around Townsendville. 

April 22, 2017 Happy 240th Birthday New York State!

A recent article in “The Historian’s Exchange” caught my eye. “New York’s birth in April 1777 was an against-the-odds, rushed, political miracle.”

An interesting thought, and like others which have led to Snippet items, one I had to ponder on and look at to determine what could be included.

In 1777, as we all know from our basic grade school history that the American Revolution was in progress because, after all July 4, 1776, is a date we can usually recall.

So what did New York State look like in 1777? Even before there was a state, ie we were still a colony, the land was divided into counties. Over the years between 1772 and 1817 the counties got smaller in land mass and the county seat moved closer to where we are today. In the forty years between 1777 and 1817 there were five different county names for our area. Recall, that the Town of Covert was taken from Seneca in 1817 to help form Tompkins County.

Year            County                          County Seat

1772           Montgomery                   Fonda

1791           Herkimer                        Herkimer

1794           Onondaga                      Syracuse

1799           Cayuga                           Auburn

1804           Seneca                           Waterloo

1817           Tompkins                       Ithaca

There will be more Snippet from the Past items on the early history and events before 1817, so for now, we will just say, Happy Birthday New York State.

Dewitt’s Diary on New York’s 150^th and 200^th Birthdays

Friday, April 22, 1927

Rain this morning. We built another new gate this morning.

The rain will do a lot of good. Trees are beginning to leaf out.

Colder tonight and snow flurries.

Wednesday, April 22, 1977

Temperature 55. Got up early and worked on oat ground. Loaded the balance of the oats on truck about noon.

Working on ground on field along woods (south).

April 21, 1956 Royal Arch Mason Chapter Constituted

The May 26, 1955 Geneva Times reported on a new organization in Interlaken. The Royal Arch Masons. This group of dedicated members of the Farmerville Chapter of Masons “became interested in learning more about Masonry and organized a Royal Arch Chapter.” [Patterson, page 235]

On June 3, 1955, they initiated their first class, and began the process of growth. This first year the meetings were conducted under dispensation given by the Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons.

On Monday, April 21, 1956, Interlaken Chapter No. 330 was being constituted and dedicated with all the ritual and dignity associated with their accomplishment.

Included in the day’s events were the induction of the High Priest, Mort L. Haring, and his officers, by the Grand High Priest assisted by visiting High Priests from surrounding Chapters. The formal constitution and dedication of the new chapter took place in the evening.

Among the officers that first year in addition to Mort Haring were Frank Seufert, Charles Wickes, Charles Henderson, E. W. Hague, Reginald Willcox, Edward Burr, Emmet D’Arcy, William Willson, Owen Babcock, Francis Bartow, J. B. Turner, Oran Casebeer, Charles Breswitz, Donald Pell, Earl Pell and Ernest Patterson. [Interlaken Review, Friday, April 13, 1956].

Patterson notes that over the years many of these early members went on to serve as District officers, and in 1967 one member, “Daniel Thayer, was awarded a Meritorious Companion Commission by Grand Chapter.”

Ovid also had a Royal Arch Chapter, No. 92, and with changes in Lodges and membership these two joined together as Interlaken No. 92 in 1975.

Dewitt’s Diary Saturday, April 21, 1956

Got up early to prepare for going home from the hospital, [Dewitt had surgery on April 12^th]. Leland and Mom came after me at 1045, home at noon. It seems a very short stay.

Leland and Lem went fishing. Leland caught the first trout of the season 6 ½ pounds, south of Lem’s place.

Viola Emerson has gone to her home in Owego. She was not at the hospital when I left.

Sitting around watching ball game on TV.

Thursday April 21, 1927 Cloudy and trying to rain this morning. They tested by cows for tuberculosis today. All the cows in the state are going to be tested. My cows were all free.

April 20, 1930 First Lamb Born on the Farm

Today’s snippet begins a year earlier on April 23, 1929. Home at 4 o’clock this morning. 91 suckers weighing 18 pounds. W. H. Lyke of Avoca brought my sheep today. 30 Delane yearlings. One has a lamb. They are a nice flock. The weather is cool and a drying wind. Burned brush in orchard this afternoon.

April 25, 1929, Rain all day. I sorted potatoes this morning. My sheep are doing nicely they are a fine lot.

I let them out in the orchard a few minutes yesterday. Went over to Jay Miller’s this evening. Rain some tonight.

April 28, 1929 Fair today. Snow flurries tonight. Cold all day. Hedley and I are plowing. It plows very nice. Edna set a hen on 5 wild goose eggs today. One goose is laying. My sheep are doing fine.

Undated photo in Dewitt's photo album. The label notes Delane and Southcross sheep
Interlaken Historical Society collections, papers of D. C. Bassett

Dewitt’s Diary, Sunday April 20, 1930

Easter Sunday. My first lamb was born this morning. Warmer today.

I shot two wood chucks today.

April 23, 1930

I have had ten young lambs born since Sunday.

April 18, 1916 Wegner Mill Fire

How easy it would be to say, yet another fire at such and such a place, ta da, ta da, ta da…, but in this case, we get to see the fire from two perspectives, the news report, and the family across the street.

Several years ago, the Interlaken Historical Society produced calendars with photos from a range of topics. One month showed the remains from fires in the area. For the January 2007 newsletter, I wrote an article about several of the fires. Two years later the Historical Society was given the letter Mrs. VanArsdale wrote to her son Lyle the morning after the blaze. Rev. and Mrs. Elias VanArsdale lived in the Manse, or parsonage, on the corner of Orchard and Main Street (beside the current post office). The Wegner Mill was located on the south side of Orchard Street.

Mill owner, Dewitt Grove is picking up remains after the fire.
Interlaken Historical Society photo #1611

After a short greeting, Mrs. VanArsdale goes into details about the fire.

Well, my boy you missed some excitement this morning. Mrs. U[sher] came up to stay all night, and we were very nicely sleeping when I heard the worst noise, I wakened and the mill was all one mass of fire.

We got up, dressed and before we dressed it was so hot in our room we couldn’t stand it, the wind was southwest and coming right on us, but fortunately for us it soon changed to northwest.

The windows in the play room are all cracked. My plants on the shelf are scorched to the roots, setting room and bedroom windows cracked and the house badly blistered.

They hung wet carpets up, to save us. I had my bedding, silverware and clothes all tied up in sheets.

You know Papa and Mr. Villemonte started for Classis yesterday on the two [two o’clock train].

The factory is down to the ground, the barn with VanKirk’s auto and Charlie Rice’s autos are gone.

The Stewart’s furniture is about gone, some things in our barn, but not good for much. The Church’s lost part of their bedroom furniture. The home is completely ruined

On the whole, it was a lucky fire, for the wind was very bad, Trumansburg came and Ithaca and they helped wonderfully.

Hancy’s house was afire, and the canning factory barn (Bradley) a number of times.

We served hot coffee and ham sandwiches at five. It is still smoking some, but I guess not dangerous.

No electric lights tonight, although they worked all day trying to get wired straight.

Well, I am glad the old thing has gone, but it was a bad experience. And I don’t care to go through it again.

Papa and Mr. V will have some surprise when they hear about it.

In the same issue of the Interlaken Review is this card of appreciation dated Trumansburg, April 19, 1916 “The members of the congregation of St. Francis Solanus church wishes to thank the Interlaken and Trumansburg fire departments for saving the church property from destruction by fire, and also one company of the Ithaca Fire Department for their good will in coming to help, had anything remained for them to do.

Very sincerely, T. J. Harrington, Pastor.

Once the site was cleared, several new homes were built on that corner. Facing Main Street was the home owned by Anna Slaght in the 1920s, later by Willard and Evelyn Georgia. Around the corner, facing Orchard Street are the homes formerly of Ernest and Grace Hiltbrand, and Edna Johnson (second from the corner). The Larsen’s home would appear to be the rebuilt Longstreet home. Also new on the block was the larger home next to the church parking lot.

Click here to read the Interlaken Review article, and the role the hand pumper played in saving the homes.

One of the new homes built after the fire. Main Street, at one time Anna Slaght lived here,
later Willard and Evelyn Georgia lived in the house.
Photo loaned to the author in 2005 by Howard Slaght, grandson of Anna.

Dewitt’s Diary, Saturday, April 18, 1936

Duane, Pete and I went to Montour Falls and tried the fishing, but no luck.

Snow on the ground and a cold wet day.

Pete and Marion were home from Buffalo over the weekend. 

April 17, 1942 Ora Jenkins Sea Bees WWII experiences

Another in the series of articles written in 1992 for the Interlaken Historical Society Newsletter. Chief Petty Officer Ora Jenkins shares his wartime service.

Chief Jenkins was in the Sea Bees. What? You never heard of the Sea Bees? C.P.O.  (Chief Petty Officer) Jenkins said to look up C.B. in the dictionary. It stands for Construction Battalion. Chief Petty Officer Ora D. Jenkins shares his experiences with us.

Enlistment

On the 17th of April, 1942, I and the United States Navy made a deal, generally called “enlisting in the Navy.” I was living in the state of Kansas, and I enlisted at Salina, Kansas, as a C.P.O. I was given about a week to “square away” my affairs in Lincoln, Kansas where I was living; then reported into the Area Recruiting Station in Kansas City. There I was put to work interviewing men for the C.B.’s (Construction Battalion) since I was recruited as a “C.B.”

Some two or three weeks later there were about thirty-some C.B. recruits--so a draft was formed to report into U.S.N.O.B.-- Training Command, Norfolk, VA.

I was placed in charge of the draft to Norfolk. I had a man “jump ship” in St. Louis, MO, where we changed trains to go on to Norfolk. I turned his name, rating, and serial number in to the Shore Police there in Central R. R. Station. Whatever happened to him, I don't know. I do remember quite vividly the report the Navy “extracted” from me, one of the questions being: Did you try to “prevent” him from going AWOL? I mulled that over in my mind for a while and wrote down that since I had told all hands, when we went to “chow” in the station, that we would muster at the R.R. platform, the time of muster, and to be there! When I called his name at muster, I didn't get an answer. So as far as I was concerned, he had “jumped ship.” The officer in charge of these matters didn't exactly buy that as I had related it. We did, however, reach an agreement on the matter “more to his liking,” at Norfolk, VA.

Boot Training

Boot training to us C.B.'s seemed somewhat weird. When I was given guidelines on interviewing “tradesmen” for the C.B.'s, not word one was ever mentioned about “Boot Training,” back in Kansas City. The average age of the C.B.'s at that time--early in the program--was about 32-34 years of age. I was 34 at enlistment. All the literature provided at the recruiting stations for C.B.'s seemed to be that we would go “someplace” and be issued uniforms and go “someplace” and go to work at our specific trades.

The first impression most of us got was that we were a “bastard outfit,” which at first was true. Normally when a man joins the Navy, he does not have a rate. A recruit has to make his rate as he stays in the Navy. In the C.B.'s, a recruit had to qualify for a rate before he could “join up.”

So, when these grown men--most all of them professional tradesmen, “roughneck” oil field workers included--were told when and where to eat, where to go to get clothing issue, what clothes to wear and how to wear them; and since most of us “new people” outranked the people who were telling us what and where and what time, this caused some “touchy” and amusing incidents. But when the Marines took over to give us our- close order drill----combat training, bayonet training included, along with jungle warfare--things got rather serious and a little vague. (Several books have been written on this one phase of WWII.)

The question in the minds of the C.B.'s was: If we are in the Navy, how come the Marines are giving us this training? And to make matters more irritating, most of the Marines were from 20 to 25 years old! With a few Master Gunnery Sergeants and Warrant Officers who were “old heads,” professional Marines were the supervisors. Anyway, we got through “Boots.” There were however at this point some disillusioned members of the C.B.'s.

Click hereto read the rest of C P O Jenkins’ article.

After his service O.D. Jenkins returned to Interlaken where he had his own business as a plumber and heating contractor.

O.D. Jenkins died October 28, 2002; his wife Blanche died April 21, 2003. They are buried at Lake View Cemetery of Interlaken, lot 617.

Dewitt Diary, April 17, 1942
Temperature about 60 this morning and strong south wind. Husking out some corn this morning. I picked up corn that I had husked out and put it into the crib. Edna helped. Spotty and Dick caught the mice. Very warm and high west and north wind. Cooler tonight. Edna went to Grange.
Lem and Alice are down for the weekend. Pete is coming and bringing Leland late tomorrow. 

April 15, 1928 Fire on Main Street, Again

Yes, here we go again, another fire on Main Street. This time, though, the outcome is different from the earlier fires.

The April 20, 1928 Interlaken Review reported “Interlaken Has Two Fires in One Day.”

The first happened at 12:55 a.m. on the Sunday morning of April 15, 1928, Lynn Stewart woke up from a coughing spell. What he found when he woke up was paper burning in the room. The chimney had overheated and set fire to some papers. He tried to smother the fire, realized he couldn’t and turned in the alarm. As noted, “Not much damage was done.” 

Later that morning a second fire was discovered in the building at the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Blauvelt, who lived above the Review offices, noticed smoke coming from the building, at which point it “had gained considerable headway.”

The Freudenheims, who lived on the second floor, had left some time before to go to Rochester. It appeared that the fire started in the living quarters and traveled down into the store.

“As soon as the men reached the scene, Chief Haskins realized that outside help was necessary to save the business section…and help was asked from Trumansburg, Ovid, Willard and Ithaca, all responding very quickly and all doing gallant service.”

A firemen’s nightmare, to be on scene and find not one length of hose broken, but in this case, “five lengths of hose bursting before a good stream could be put on the fire. By this time the Freudenheim store was a roaring furnace.”

Several other buildings also sustained damages from the fire, or in some cases, water damages. But unlike earlier fires, only one building was damaged to the point it had to be torn down.

Main Street at Railroad Ave, pre-1928
Interlaken Historical Society photo #34

The building on the right, Millinery, was occupied by Frueidenheims in 1928 when it burned. The brick building, Peterson's groceries, would become the fire house.

Two interesting items noted in this fire were the Boy Scouts, and the use of soda and acid.

The Boy Scouts had been “drilled by Chief Haskins in fire work. Each boy came to the fire with a coil of rope. They roped off streets and acted as traffic officers…and helped fill the chemical engine (with water).”

The Lodi Fire Department sent over a supply of soda and acid, for the chemical engine, and it arrived just in time. 

 Chemical fire engines or extinguishers powered by a combination of acid and soda were first used in the 1860s. Bicarbonate of soda was added to the water in the tank and combined with sulphuric acid, which produced a chemical reaction that forced water from the tank into the hose. Chemical engines were used by firehouses until the 1930s, when water tanks with boosters became more common and expensive chemicals were no longer needed. [https://www.kovels.com/collectors-concerns/chemical-fire-engine.html]

The entire Interlaken Review article can be read here.

Dewitt’s Diary April 15, 1928

Light snow flurries. W. E. Peterson and Maxon’s old store were badly damaged by fire today. All the fire engines in the county were there. Ithaca, Trumansburg, Ovid, and Willard. It nearly got beyond control.

We went to the Burg.

April 13, 1819 Covert Returned to Seneca County

Earlier this month I shared the information on the creation of the town of Covert, and its attachment to Tompkins County.

Two years later, on April 13, 1819, the Town of Covert was returned to Seneca County. Chapter CXC of the Laws of 1819, passed by the State Legislature on April 13, 1819, viz: "Be it enacted by the people of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That the town of Covert, now in the county of Tompkins, shall be and the same is hereby annexed to and made a part of the county of Seneca.”

Click here to see full April 7 Snippet

Dewitt’s Diary Sunday April 13, 1919

Cold north wind tonight. I went over to see my sweetheart today. Edna has not been feeling very good this last week.

Bruce Townsend and Orin Severn are back from the Army. Saw both of them in Trumansburg.

April 10, 1956 Wheeler Elementary Building Occupied

The April 12, 1956 Interlaken School District Board meeting minutes have a short paragraph relating to the building project that began in 1953.

The timeline printed in May 1956 as part of the upcoming dedication, notes May 7, 1953, donation of 12 acres of land by William D. Wheeler adjacent to the school site.

Over the next three years Architects would be hired, land cleared, bond issues approved and two major buildings would be added to the Interlaken campus.

It is interesting when reading the official minutes of an organization, such as the school, to find just how little has to be recorded, and how much the board members heard but didn’t have to record.

Such is the case with this building project. Each month the board heard an update on the project, and that is what the minutes note. Not what was said, nor what was happening, unless there was a change order needed. They also approved, and recorded, the bills related to the work.

Sometimes, the work didn’t proceed as hoped. At the beginning of the 1955-56 school year, “Mr. Norton suggested that the opening of school be postponed another week. School to start Monday September 19, 1955.” [September 8, 1955 Board of Education Minutes]

On April 12, 1956, all that changed, occupancy and a need to hire a casher being noted. 

Detail, April 12, 1956 Interlaken Central School Board Meeting Minutes

This was the fourth building project for the school at this site. The first was the 1934-36 project, constructing the main building (cornerstone laying May 6, 1935, a Snippet for next month.) Project number two was the garage in 1942. Project number three was an addition, work dates November 1948 to October 1950.

As the project of a new gymnasium and elementary school progressed the board decided that they should each be named for gentlemen dedicated to the community and education. The elementary building was dedicated to William D. Wheeler, and the gymnasium, to Darwin P. Norton. This was especially fitting as Prof. Norton, as many would call him, was retiring at the end of the school year. 

On Sunday, May 20, 1956, the dedication and celebration of the completed building projects took place.

There have been many more projects since then. Each generation of parents and students have seen changes. Within today’s students there are third and fourth generations of families that have attended school at the Interlaken building, and no doubt the same can be said for the Ovid campus as well.

1960 Interlaken Central School, the new elementary building is on the upper right side.
The D. P. Norton Gymnasium is in front of it.
Interlaken Historical Society photo #2049 

Google Earth looking north, 1956 elementary building is the right side of the white roof area.

Dewitt’s Diary, Tuesday, April 10, 1956
Temperature 28, clear. A beautiful morning. Ground is frozen where it is bare. 
We took the boat down to Sheldrake Point and tried for lake trout. Lake very muddy and high, no fish.
Cleaned out the brooder house this afternoon.

April 9, 1865 Appomattox Court House, The End of the Civil War

This 1865 event in Virginia had ties to many families in the Town of Covert and surrounding area.

For four long years, from the firing on Fort Sumner, South Carolina, April 12, 1861, through the battles, skirmishes, and long winters, two armies fought their way to an April afternoon in a small town in Virginia.

In the end, two generals met, one surrendering, the other accepting that surrender. A nation, torn in two, now looked to rebuild.

On April 16, 1865 Eugene Holton, from Covert, wrote to his sister back home from the camp near Burksville, VA. 

My Dear Sister,

I hasten to reply to your letter of the 7^th which I have just received and finished reading…General Lee’s army was surrendered to the Army of the Potomac on the 9^th of April sometime between 2 & 5 PM.

On the 2^nd of April our Brigade commander was wounded & we carried him to Grant’s railroad…Since that time Bernard McDougal has commanded the Brigade (he used to be an officer in the 75^th) & the army has been following Lee’s until the 9^th in the afternoon. The troops were halted & we [members of the Band] were ordered to the front on the skirmish lines to play.

After Lee surrendered we first played Hail to the Chief, then national airs. We was  [sic] the first Band to play on the occasion, quite an honor.

The “Band” Holton is referring to is the 3d Brigade Band, 5^th Division, 2d Army Corps. The band was under the leadership of Prof John M. Chadwick, and most of the men had been together since their enlistment in Company C, 126^th NY Volunteers.

The Band members were Charles Gilman, Charles Decker, John Ryno, Marc Andrus, Eugene K. Holton, George Babcock, Noyes S. Burlew, Alf Davis, Michael E. Stout, Francis M. Rappleye, Peter W. Rappleye, Charles Powers, George M. Chadwick, John Grant, Richard Lockhard, and Professor John M. Chadwick.

In recounting the events of that historic day, one local source notes, “An aide of General Miles brought the news and the band began to play. The Union batteries were awaiting this very signal and the moment the band began to play, the roar of cannon began as battery after battery joined in celebrating.”

In the years following the Civil War members of the band would recall that honor. April 11, 1896, The Farmer Review carried a lengthy article on “The Old Band.” In addition to telling some of the history prior to the end of the war, the author noted, “Never was wind jammed through horns louder, and greater vim than on this occasion.” In closing the article, he noted, “further honored by being called upon to give a concert at General Meade’s headquarters the same evening.” While the community may have known who “One of The Old Band” was, 120 years later we do not.

Third Brigade Band, taken in May 1863.
Interlaken Historical Society photo collection #311

Band members standing left to right: Prof. John M. Chadwick, leader, Charles Gilman, Charles Decker, John L. Ryno, Marc Andrus, Eugene K. Holton, George Babcock, Noyes S. Burlew, Alf Davis. Front row: Michael e. Stout, Frnacis M. Rapleye, Peter W. Rappleye, Charles Powers, George M. Chadwick, John Grant and Richard Lockhart. The gentleman standing on the far “right had been a cook at General Lee’s Headquarter and deserted. He was ‘adopted’ by the Band,”[Patterson, Between the Lakes, 1976, page 135].

During the Civil War the band would march in the front of troops, therefore several of the horns were shaped to project the sound to the rear, notice Prof. Chadwick’s horn and that of Charles Gilman beside him, when raised the bell would face the men to the rear.

The last of the Band members, John Ryno died in 1939.

Dewitt’s Diary April 9, 1949 and 1950

Saturday, April 9, 1949 Temperature 32 cloudy. Windy from the north. Cool weather lately and too wet to plow. Cleaning up the north yard where we cut evergreen trees some time ago.

Went to Catherine creek with Bunny Haviland this afternoon. No fish. Clear tonight.

Sunday, April 9, 1950 A couple inches of snow for Easter Sunday in Rochester this morning. Temperature 28, sun out most of the time today. Came home at 4 o’clock from Rochester after having dinner with Lem and Alice. Temperature 24 tonight and clear. 

Coming this summer Plan to attend the July 29, 2017 Town of Covert Bicentennial Committee and Interlaken Historical Society sponsored Summer Social. In addition to music, food, games and fellowship you will be able to visit a Civil War company street, learn about the life of soliders and civilians and hear the roar of a 3" Ordinance Riffle (or some would say, a cannon).