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    Around Sylvan Beach
    Around Sylvan Beach
    Around Sylvan Beach
    Ebook176 pages59 minutes

    Around Sylvan Beach

    By Brandy Ann

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    About this ebook

    On the sandy shores and calm waters of Oneida Lake rests Sylvan Beach. For many years, the entire region was simply known as Fish Creek, and it was settled by George Haskins in the early 1800s. When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, the area began to flourish. James D. Spencer arrived in the hamlet of Fish Creek in the 1840s and settled near Wood River and the Oswego Midland Railroad station. In the 1870s, he began to develop the sandy shores along Oneida Lake, and the first visitors to Spencer s Grove arrived in August 1878. Sylvan Beach received its name in the spring of 1886, when the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad built a loop into Spencer s Grove. Sylvan Beach continued to thrive with the addition of the railway station, allowing the shipment of produce and lumber as well as the arrival of large numbers of vacationers. These vintage images chronicle the history of Sylvan Beach and its surrounding communities, illustrating the region s strong link to the vast history of America.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJul 7, 2008
    ISBN9781439620205
    Around Sylvan Beach
    Author

    Brandy Ann

    Brandy Ann is an author, columnist, and freelance reporter for the Queen Central News in Camden. Her love affair with Oneida Lake and the area began with her first footsteps and grew apace with her collection of photographs, postcards, and antique diaries.

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      Book preview

      Around Sylvan Beach - Brandy Ann

      longer.

      INTRODUCTION

      The Erie Canal was one of the early achievements that influenced the development of the area. When completed in 1825 at a cost of $7.15 million, it was the longest canal in the world, built in the least amount of time at the least expense and with less construction experience. It was accomplished to a large extent by men earning around $3 a week; they used shovels and pick axes, working 10 hours a day, six days a week. Benjamin Wright, a chief engineer, earned $36 a week, and his assistant, James Geddes, a surveyor, earned $24. Stretching from the Hudson River in the east all the way to Lake Erie in the west, the canal opened the western territory for settlement and commerce.

      The building of the Erie Canal was just one link in the long chain of events that led to the development of Sylvan Beach. For many years before Sylvan Beach existed, the entire area was simply known as Fish Creek. To be more specific, some sections received nicknames from locals, such as McClanathanville, named for a 600-acre family farm on the shores of Fish Creek.

      Fish Creek was settled by George Haskins in the early 1800s. Later brothers George and William Covell joined him, and the area flourished with the addition of the only railway station available for shipping produce and passenger service. Lumber was transported to the station from as far away as Williamstown in Oswego County and Osceola in Lewis County. During those early years, it was not uncommon to see 15 to 20 wagon teams following one another into the station. As much as two million board feet of lumber a year was transported from Fish Creek by Durham boats and the railroad.

      When Sylvan Beach began to draw vacationers, the Fish Creek railway station played an important role. The station was just a 15-minute walk from the Coney Island of Central New York, or one could take a pleasant two-mile ride down Wood River.

      Up the road, North Bay was a booming town, alive with trade and commerce. In 1871, Sandy Rea’s home in North Bay burned to the ground. He was the town clerk at the time, and his office containing all the town records was in his home. Thus everything was destroyed, and many of the images and historical records of North Bay, Fish Creek, and the other small hamlets that make up the township were lost. However, it is believed North Bay had seven hotels, three stores, two sawmills, a planing mill, a shingle mill, two potteries, a blacksmith shop, a harness shop, a wagon and sleigh shop, three churches, a school, and a post office. Records reveal that as many as 35 canal boats were built in the Bay.

      In 1873, Walton Rogers, a master on the Erie Canal boat Geo. W. Butterfield, obtained two canal boats, the Nettie Irene and the Emma Louisa, named for two of his daughters. Built in North Bay, they were launched into Oneida Lake and then traveled south to Wood River. At

      Jug Point, the junction of Fish Creek and Wood Creek that formed the Wood River, the boats traveled a short distance up Wood Creek to the Higginsville side cut. Also known as the Oneida Lake Canal, the Higginsville side cut opened on September 12, 1835. It was located between Wood Creek and Higginsville and connected Oneida Lake to the Erie Canal. Built by the Oneida Lake Canal Company, formed in 1832, the canal was just six and a half miles long and cost $65,000.

      North Bay dwindled in importance as Sylvan Beach began to grow and flourish. Located side by side, their borders were a fuzzy uncertainty. In 1886, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway built a loop into Sylvan Beach to accommodate large groups of vacationers. The completion of the Barge Canal in 1918 caused more great changes and improvements for Sylvan Beach. The midway of old had to be moved when Wood River was straightened to enter Oneida Lake, and new bridges had to be built.

      Oneida Lake starts at Wood River on the east. Its sandy shores give way to the wide valley, nudging the Tug Hill Plateau on the north that spreads across the fertile land to Oneida River in the west. The shallow, blue lake is a paradise at 369 feet above sea level and 22 miles long. Its serenity is only occasionally disturbed by the sheer fury of a sudden storm. The lake was a convenient avenue to incorporate into the Barge Canal, which included parts of the old Erie Canal. It continues to operate to this day.

      Many events, places, and people working together caused the creation of the only village in Vienna Township, Sylvan Beach.

      One

      THE BEGINNING

      The idea of a canal system across New York State was first presented in 1792. It was not until 1804 that Gouverneur Morris created enthusiasm for a cross-country canal connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Funds were sought from the federal government; however, they were unobtainable. The Erie Canal and all the canal systems in New York State were paid for by the people.

      The history of the Erie Canal is not only fascinating but also a major stepping stone in the development of North Bay and Sylvan Beach as well as the state of New York. The completion of the canal instantly brought prosperity to all the small towns along its route. Syracuse grew from a small hamlet in 1820 to an immense city of 11,000 in 1840. An outcry from other small towns for a waterway connecting them to the Erie Canal resulted in a system

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