Sullivan County Historical Society & Museum

10/09/2026

RETROSPECT
by John Conway
October 9, 2026

THE END OF THE SEASON AT FORT DELAWARE

One of the highlights of the 2026 season at Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg, NY was the return of the exhibit featuring the original handmade buckskin jacket worn by founder James W. Burbank in the early years of the Fort’s operation.

Obviously influenced by the Davy Crockett craze that was sweeping the nation in the aftermath of the 1955 Walt Disney television mini-series about the frontier hero, Burbank—and occasionally other Fort Delaware employees at the time—had often appeared on the premises clad in the fringed jacket, matching pants, and a coonskin cap.

While not at all authentic for the colonial era depicted at Fort Delaware, the buckskin get-up appealed to youngsters of the day, and families swarmed to Narrowsburg, their interest fueled in part by the excitement generated by the nation’s fascination with Davy Crockett.

Initially intended by Walt Disney simply as a way to promote his upcoming Disneyland theme park, the Davy Crockett craze evolved into one of the most famous media fads of the 1950s, as in 1955 alone, Americans purchased more than $300 million in Crockett themed merchandise, including bubble gums cards, lunchboxes, drinking glasses and mugs, phonograph records, and, of course, buckskin jackets and coonskin caps.

While Burbank’s cap and trousers have been lost to time, the jacket survived, and was a central piece in the longstanding museum exhibit that helped illustrate the story of Burbank and the Fort’s founding.

But time eventually took its toll on the jacket, as well, and it was in such poor condition by the time The Delaware Company took over operation of Fort Delaware in 2021, it was finally removed from display. Cost estimates for cleaning it and preserving it properly were solicited from museum textile firms throughout the country, but in view of other priorities, the jacket was packed away, with as much care as possible.

Enter Elsie Kopcha and Howard Wasserman. Both Harris residents have been loyal volunteers at Fort Delaware for several years, and in 2025 they made the decision that the museum was lacking something significant without the Burback jacket on display. While “the other Fort Delaware story,” chronicling Burbank’s efforts to turn his vision into reality and the obstacles and influences he dealt with in getting the place opened in 1957, remained an integral part of the narrative at the Fort, the presentation did not seem complete without the jacket as a visual aid.

So largely through the generosity of the two volunteers, The Delaware Company was able to ship the jacket off to Museum Textile Services in Boston for preservation. Subsequently, the jacket has been returned to display this year, and will play a significant role in next year’s activities at the Fort, which will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2027.

In the meantime, visitors will have a final opportunity to view the Burbank jacket—and all of the other outstanding features of Fort Delaware—this coming weekend, which will be the last two days of operation for 2026. Among other things, visitors can participate in authentic colonial era games, learn about the agricultural practices of the Cushetunk residents, visit an authentic 18th century apothecary and hear about treatments and remedies used on the frontier, visit with a woodworker and a blacksmith, and witness musket demonstrations and firings.

It is worth noting that in recognition of the end of another season, the gift shop at Fort Delaware will be offering special discounts on all its merchandise, ranging from books to toys and games to tee shirts and sweatshirts and coonskin caps, including items specific to the commemoration of America’s 250th birthday.

In addition to the discounts in the gift shop, the closing weekend will also feature a number of contests and games, with prizes awarded to children and adults for feats of skill and knowledge.

Fort Delaware is open on Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11 (weather permitting) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but no one is admitted after 4 p.m. The Fort is located on the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway at 6615 Route 97 in Narrowsburg. It has been operated by the Barryville based nonprofit history education group, The Delaware Company since 2021. Visit thedelwarecompany.org for more information.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. His email is [email protected]. Visitors to Fort Delaware this weekend can hear his narration about James W. Burbank, the Fort’s founding father, for the last time in 2026 as the Fort closes for the season at the end of the day on Sunday, October 11.

PHOTO CAPTION: The original handmade buckskin jacket worn by James W. Burbank in the early years of Fort Delaware has been returned to display.

10/06/2026

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
(Rain or Shine)

10/06/2026

The museum in Hurleyville will be closed Wednesday and Thursday October 7 & 8. We are sorry for an inconvenience this may cause.
You can still make dinner reservations for our annual dinner on October 18, at the Rockland House, place an ad in our dinner journal, or purchase raffle tickets by contacting [email protected] .

10/02/2026

Thank you for the article about the Sullivan Historical Society’s annual dinner Sunday October 18. For reservations, journal ads, or raffle tickets contact [email protected] .
The deadline for journal ads is October 10.

RETROSPECT
by John Conway
October 2, 2026

HISTORY MAKERS 2026

It was October 11, 1890, and Mary Smith Lockwood, suffragist and writer, hosted the first meeting of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution at her home in Washington, DC. There were 18 women in attendance at that first meeting, and four men—members of the Sons of the American Revolution, founded a year earlier—who would serve as the new group’s Advisory Board. That was ironic in that the Sons of the American Revolution had voted six months earlier not to allow women to join, which prompted the formation of the DAR.

The group began life with 11 dues paying members, and $33 in the bank.

Fast forward to 2026, and the organization, now based in Washington, DC boasts approximately 190,000 members in 3,000 chapters in the United States, as well as international chapters in countries such as Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Since its inception, the NSDAR has admitted more than one million members.

“As an organization committed to historic preservation, education and patriotism, we know that examining history helps us to better understand our nation’s long struggle to provide equality, justice and humanity for all Americans,” the NSDAR notes on its website. “We recognize that the United States of America was built on the promise of equality for all, and we share an obligation to help our nation fulfill that founding promise.”

Toward that end, the NSDAR describes its three primary objectives thusly: “Historical - to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence:

“Educational - to carry out the injunction of [George} Washington in his farewell address to the American people, ‘to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge, thus developing an enlightened public opinion…’ and
“Patriotic - to cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty.”

One of the current NSDAR chapters is the Beaverkill Chapter in Sullivan County, founded in 1917, and based in Liberty. And this year, the Sullivan County Historical Society is honoring the chapter with its History Maker Award.

The History Maker Award is one of two awards presented by the SCHS at its annual dinner each year, and this year the other, the History Preserver Award, will honor Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History in Narrowsburg. Both awards will be presented at the annual dinner, on Sunday, October 18 at the Rockland House in Roscoe.

In announcing the selection of the Beaverkill Chapter for the award, the SCHS acknowledged the organization’s many contributions in the realm of local history.

“For over a century, patriotic aspects of Sullivan County history have been preserved through the Beaverkill Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution,” the SCHS noted. “Organized in 1917, this women’s organization of dedicated volunteers has worked tirelessly to keep our region’s Revolutionary roots alive by promoting genealogical research for membership lineage to colonial American patriots. Throughout its 110-year history, the Beaverkill Chapter has initiated historic preservation projects such as gravesite restoration and location of burial sites of Revolutionary War veterans. In 1917, the Chapter members fed the National Guardsmen who were detailed to guard the Sullivan County railroad bridges during World War I. Today, the Chapter helps commemorate the yearly ceremonies at the Minisink Battlefield as well as sponsor the Wreaths Across America project.

“Likewise, the Chapter supports local schools through sponsoring community and citizenship awards to our youth. For its commitment and dedication in preserving Sullivan County’s heritage, The Sullivan County Historical Society is pleased to award the Beaverkill Chapter DAR as this year’s SCHS History Maker for the year 2026.”

Two members of the Beaverkill Chapter, Lynn Priebe and Ruth Huggler, are members of the Sullivan County Semiquincentennial Commission, charged with coordinating events to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American War for Independence thru 2033, and the chapter is participating in one of the Commission’s most significant undertakings-- an attempt to locate, clean up, and mark with a special Semiquincentennial marker the graves of Revolutionary War veterans throughout the county. It is believed there are more than 250 of them.

The Sullivan County Historical Society, Inc, was established on September 18, 1886 in order to preserve the history of Sullivan County for the enlightenment of future generations. According to its website, “this preservation is accomplished through the storage of historical records and documents, the acquisition of artifacts illustrative of different periods in the county’s history, and the mounting of both temporary and permanent exhibits.

“The activities of the Society include regular meetings open to the public for the discussion of county history and broader historical questions, the careful preservation of records and artifacts, the maintenance of museum exhibits, the scheduling of educational tours, the encouragement of research, and the assisting of individuals and groups seeking specific information about aspects of county history.”
The SCHS annual dinner begins with a social hour at 2 p.m. Tickets are $60 per person and must be reserved by October 10. Contact SCHS president Suzanne Cecil for more information at [email protected].

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Email him at [email protected].

PHOTO CAPTION: The SCHS dinner this year is Sunday, October 18.

09/18/2026

RETROSPECT
by John Conway
September 18, 2026

THE RED SET: SULLIVAN COUNTY’S LINK

On September 27, 1947, opening arguments were heard in the proceeding that many historians have described as “the largest murder trial in history.”

Officially known as “the United States of America v. Otto Ohlendorf, et al” and commonly referred to as the Einsatzgruppen Trial, it was the ninth of 12 criminal trials now collectively known as the Nuremberg Trials, and although overshadowed by other more prominent prosecutions there, is historically significant because it marked the first time the term “genocide” was ever used in a legal context within a courtroom.

The Nuremberg Trials are among the most studied in history, and this now famous series of military tribunals presided over by the victorious allied powers after World War II, had a distinctly Sullivan County connection.

Many who closely follow Sullivan County history know that veteran Hurleyville attorney Moses Kove, who had previously been best known for representing local hoodlum Jack Drucker in the Walter Sage murder trial in Sullivan County in 1944, made a name for himself at Nuremberg. But few can probably name another Sullivan County native who was an indispensable part of the American legal team there.

Her name was Alma McLay, and when she died in April of 2017 at the age of 97, she was the last surviving member of the United States’ prosecuting team at the trials.

She was born Alma Florence Soller on December 28, 1919, and grew up on a chicken farm just outside Narrowsburg. Her parents, George and Margaret, made and sold donuts, two for a nickel, to supplement the farm income, and became quite well known among Boy Scouts from the nearby Ten Mile River Scout Camps.

David Malatsky, who has created many of the exhibits there, said the Ten Mile River Scout Museum not only has an exhibit honoring the Sollers and their donut farm because of the role it played in so many of the campers’ experience, but went so far as to commission a patch recognizing the couple.

Alma trained as a secretary, and went to work for the Department of Defense in 1941. She had spent two years working for the U.S. Government in Alaska before returning to the Pentagon, where she was summoned by Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, who was heading up an 18-person team to handle the prosecutions at Nuremberg. He had personally selected her, and although she was reluctant at first to commit to the travelling necessary to take part, she eventually agreed to join the team.

In reporting her death, the Los Angeles Times reported that it was Jackson’s “endearing personality” that had won her over.

“McLay later told her son Derek that she recalled asking Jackson about the swing set in his backyard,” the Times reported. “’Do you have grandkids?’ she wondered. No, he said, the swing set was for him. ‘That’s where I do my thinking,’”

McLay became the documentarian for what the Times called, “the world’s first international criminal tribunal.”

She attended the London Conference with Jackson from June through August of 1945, and played a critical behind the scenes role in managing the administrative load as the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union developed the framework for the groundbreaking trials.

McLay then accompanied Jackson to Nuremberg, to document the proceedings, but the most significant part of her work would not actually take place in London or in Germany.

After spending many long hours recording in shorthand the multi-lingual testimonies of the N***s on trial and the raw evidence of their atrocities, McLay was sent back to Washington by Jackson to begin the arduous task of assembling, cross-referencing, and editing the mountain of documentary evidence presented during the trials.

The resulting publication, that became known as the Nuremberg Red Set, gave the world the first complete look at the scope of the Holocaust.

“The facts in this circumstance are so horrific, no one would believe the facts unless they had access to the documents,” Jackson reportedly said.

Following her work with the Pentagon, McLay moved to Rancho Palos Verdes, CA in 1954 with her husband, Stanley, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. She retired from government work in 1984, and died in Torrance, CA in 2017. She was survived by her son, Derek, a daughter, also named Alma, and three grandchildren.

In the story about her death, the Los Angeles Times quoted John Q. Barrett, who at the time was a law professor at St. John’s University in New York, and was writing a biography of Robert H. Jackson. Barrett told the Times that McLay, “a working woman in a male dominated bureaucracy, likely never got the full credit she deserved for her work transcribing the testimony, often in various languages and in shorthand, and collating the evidence.”

While the little grey house that was her parents’ beloved donut farm still stands on Route 97 south of Narrowsburg—albeit having seen better days-- and the Ten Mile River Scout Museum patch ensures George and Margaet Soller will not soon be forgotten, Alma Soller McLay’s most tangible legacy is her monumental work organizing and editing “The Red Set,” a record of atrocities almost too horrific to believe.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Email him at [email protected].

Photo CAPTION: The Soller Donut Farm Patch created by the Ten Mile River Scout Museum. (photo courtesy of the Museum)

09/13/2026

RETROSPECT
by John Conway
September 11, 2026

The Safety of The Mountains

One year after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a survey was conducted in New York City in an attempt to determine the level of fear among city residents of possible future attacks.

The survey concluded that “New Yorkers were very concerned about future terrorist attacks and also concerned about attacks involving biological or nuclear weapons…a significant number reported they would immediately evacuate, regardless of police or public health communications to the contrary.”

The survey, published in the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health in 2003, confirmed what residents of Sullivan County already knew: that in times of strife, be it the 9-11 attacks, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or the COVID-19 pandemic, many of those living in the metropolitan area flee the densely populated city to the perceived safety of “the mountains.”

Perhaps this was never so evident as following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The war in the European theatre fueled anxieties all along the east coast that the vaunted German Luftwaffe might launch a full scale air attack on the United States, and the bombing of Pearl Harbor raised public consciousness that an enemy attack on American soil was suddenly possible. Along with regular blackout drills in virtually every town from Boston to Delaware, including Sullivan County, concerns over an air raid on New York City sent substantial numbers of city residents scurrying for alternate living arrangements, and hundreds relocated to Sullivan County, resulting in a boom in the local housing market.

As early as Christmas, 1941, local realtors were reporting significantly increased interest in available residences in the county. One Liberty real estate broker reported that in the two weeks immediately following the formal Declaration of War, he received more than 100 inquiries “by mail or in person.” Other real estate agents reported a similar increase in activity.

“Possibility of air raids on New York and the metropolitan area, envisioned in plans made for Sullivan County as a potential evacuation area of probable large extent, already has created a demand for housing in the county from metropolitan residents and, while thus far most of them can be satisfied, a shortage by next spring is anticipated by many realtors,” the Liberty Register newspaper reported on the front page of its December 25, 1941 edition.
“Not a few of the requests have come from New York physicians, interested in the feasibility of establishing practices in the county on the theory that an influx of New Yorkers, in the event of an emergency, would overtax available medical facilities.”

Meanwhile, there was an increasing rumbling among homeowners here that the government might resort to conscripting homes to accommodate evacuees from New York City in the event of an air raid there. This practice was fairly common in England in the early years of the war. Extensive surveys were conducted to catalog available residences, and refusal by householders to cooperate with those surveys was deemed a prosecutable offense.

It is difficult to determine how many of those relocating to the County from New York City after Pearl Harbor actually stayed here. Census figures show a 7.5 per cent increase in population here between 1940 and 1950, but that was the same increase as in the previous ten year period, and despite similar movement into Sullivan following 9-11, the population grew by just 4.8 per cent between 2000 and 2010.

Perhaps the most significant impact of both events on the area—and many other areas, as well—was a solidarity of purpose, a likeminded resolve that as Americans we would never forget those tragic events, and that we would do whatever it took to make sure such devastation never happened again.

“On that terrible day, a nation became a neighborhood, all Americans became New Yorkers,” said then New York Governor George Pataki, who earlier this week revealed that he had been diagnosed with a 9-11 related illness.

“The attacks of September 11 were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified,” said former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. “We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic, and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom.”

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. He will be speaking at the 9-11 commemoration at the Monticello Fire Department this evening. Email him at [email protected].

PHOTO CAPTION: Our enemies have made the mistake that America's enemies always make. They saw liberty and thought they saw weakness." - President George W. Bush talking about the 9-11 attacks.

08/28/2026

RETROSPECT
by John Conway
August 28, 2026

SHOOTOUT IN THE BRONX CLAIMS LIBERTY NATIVE

It was Friday afternoon, August 21, 1931 when 34-year old Liberty native Edwin Vincent Churchill, a New York City motorcycle cop, was killed in one of the most notorious shootouts in NYPD history.

Another policeman, a four-year old girl, and three perpetrators were also killed in the incident, and 12 others—mainly innocent bystanders-- were wounded.

Edwin Churchill had been born in Liberty on June 16, 1897, one of the four sons of William and Elizabeth Keough Churchill. He enlisted in the Army in April of 1917, and served for two years during World War I, after which he joined the New York City Police Department, eventually becoming a motorcycle patrolman.

That fateful Friday afternoon, just a few days after returning to work from a two-week vacation spent visiting family in Liberty with his wife and three children, Churchill was on his bike in the vicinity of Third Avenue and 161st Street in the Bronx. Unbeknownst to him, because the NYPD had yet to embrace radio communications, three gangsters who has just held up a payroll and killed the policeman assigned to guard it, were heading his way in a taxi.

The payroll—just over $4,600, belonged to the Mendoza Fur and Dye Works, located on East 133rd Street in the Bronx. Patrolman Walter J. Webb had been assigned to guard the payroll and the plant manager who was picking it up, and was killed by one of the crooks.

Two of the men, later identified as 25-year-old John Brecht and 19-year-old Martin Bachorik, grabbed the payroll and sped off in the plant manager’s car, setting off a 12-block long shootout through commercial districts and residential neighborhoods, that would forever change the way the NYPD would handle pursuits.

According to an article entitled, “Gangsters on the Dyckman Strip: 1931 Shootout Makes National Headlines” on the website MYInwood.com: “After speeding away from the scene of the heist, the two robbers ditched the plant manager’s car at 149th Street and transferred their guns, ammo and stolen payroll satchel into a yellow Monarch taxicab driven by Herbert Hasse to continue their getaway.

“Hasse, a 27-year old father of two, had been driving a cab for less than a year when the armed bandits jumped in his back seat.”

To this day, there is debate as to whether Hasse was an accomplice who was waiting for the gunmen with a second getaway car, or if he was an innocent bystander caught up in the caper. Either way, he was killed in the barrage of gunfire that finally ended the pursuit on Dyckman Street just a short while after the robbery.

The three men in the yellow taxi sped past Churchill and another patrolman, Edward Worrell, who were completely unaware of the robbery. When a motorist, Charles Fackler, drove up and informed the two officers that the men in the speeding taxi had been brandishing weapons, Churchill gave chase on his bike, while Worrell jumped on the running board of Fackler’s car and induced him to join the pursuit.

Churchill was shot multiple times during the ensuing chase, and died on the operating table three hours later.

The Liberty Register newspaper lauded him as a hero, curiously “promoting” him to the rank of Lieutenant in a front page story in its August 27, 1931 edition in which they also incorrectly reported his age.

“Slain Police Lieutenant Was Native of Liberty” the paper’s headline announced.

“Blazing revolvers, which marked a running battle between police and payroll bandits last Friday In New York City snuffed out the lives of two New York city policemen-- one of them a native of Liberty and well known here,” the Register reported. “Lieut. Edwin Churchill, 35, motorcycle policeman, was shot off his motorcycle by the fleeing bandits as they fled from the scene of the robbery ·and the shooting of the first policeman.”

After recounting the incident in the Bronx, the article noted that “His brother, Charles Churchill, is also well known in Liberty. Mrs. Marie Conlon and Miss Anna Kelly are cousins.”

The paper reported that Churchill had been buried two days before.

“City officials gave him the highest praise for his courage and his doggedness in sticking out the fight to the end.”

Edwin Churchill is buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, NY. He was survived by his wife, Florence, and three children, Mary, Florence, and William.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Email him at [email protected].

PHOTO CAPTION: Patrolman Edwin Churchill, NYC motorcycle cop, was killed in the line of duty on August 21, 1931.