Thank You..to all that attend our yard sale last weekend. A Thank You to the sales crew... Michele Kelly, Carolyn Tine and Don, Barbara Keough, Judy Wilson, and Pam Wexler. Thank you to Jim Monahan for the use of the building and to our tent people..Jen Caloia, Michele Kelly, and any other volunteers. Unfortunately we had to take it down because of the wind, but we just closed early to escape the rain...and we did.
The Museum was open and we had some great visitors even though it was horrible out. Thank You to Doug and Diane Chilson, who helped us by bringing Dougs personal belongings for our display and answered questions! Barb Keough and I toughed it out...so for those who didn't dare visit in the bad weather, Barb and I will hold it open Sunday, June 2 and will be there from 1-3 pm.
Memorial Day next year will be special for Eaton as it is the 30th anniversary of our Bicentennial Day! I am hoping we can get the Parade in Eaton for the Event and we can get some Revolutionary War re-enactors to help us remember what that time was like.
Jim Monahan and his gun crew
I am hoping to do some Blogs about our revolutionary War soldiers from Eaton, as well as the history of our involvement as the first settlement area of Madison County. We can recount information on the bark hut, Col. William Smith and much more! I am also trying to put together a blog for the museum called "Back Street Mary's Place.
Memorial Day this year is missing the parades, flag ceremonies and large gatherings of the past, perhaps that is good. The quiet of town cemeteries will allow us to think on what the service of the men who fought to keep our country the democracy that it is today, and are responsible for the freedoms that we all enjoy. So as our Memorial Day tradition goes, we are here today to honor all our veterans and as our custom... one special veteran. I decided to choose a Revolutionary War Veteran.
There are so many Revolutionary War veterans who first settled Eaton and the vicinity that it would be hard to honor to choose one. From Col. Joshua Leland who served under George Washington and purchased a large land tract that became Eaton, to the man he purchased it from… Col. William Smith, and his wife Abigail Adams Smith (daughter of President Adams). Smith himself having been the adjutant to George Washington, and who settled the area still called Smith’s Valley today.
Other notables include Major Sinclair who purchased the land owned by Col Leland, now with a historical marker for the Dunbar Farm. Sinclair kept a tavern and stable on that property for travelers.
Others include Jonathan Bates who came to Eaton and purchase land just below the Old Town of Eaton Museum, his grave on the side of the road is marked today with a large bronze plaque on a boulder. Bates had served with the well known Patriot Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys.
Others include Benjamin Morse brother of Joseph Morse, Major Elisha Haden, Nicholas Byer who had been a member of Burgoyne’s Hessians, Simeon Chubbuck, grandfather of Emily Chubbuck and many more. To choose one to honor was hard.
So I decided to go back in the history of our military men and choose a known historic name, Myles Standish. Yes, Myles Standish.
Mr. Standish was a direct lineal descendant of his illustrious namesake, Captain Miles Standish of the Mayflower, one of the most distinguished of the colonists who landed upon Plymouth Rock in 1620.
Captain Standish had been hired as the military protection for the early colony, and in true military fashion Miles Jr. was a soldier as well.
Corporal Myles Standish was born in 1748 at Duxbury, Plymouth County Massachusetts, moving to Eaton where he died on July 22, 1818 at the age of 70.
Myles Standish, Naomi Standish, and Daniel Standish were members of the Second Baptist Church of Eaton, and appear in the US Census of Eaton, Madison County.
Myles, was always called Myles by all who knew him, and took up the farm once owned by Adin Brown near Pierceville, living there for many years. Standish was an energetic businessman who invested in the Skaneateles Turnpike, and he built and kept the first old turnpike gate, which stood in the early years opposite the famous Alderbrook gristmill. It is so interesting to see both national and local history meld seamlessly together this way.
So on this unusual Memorial Day let us remember all of the men and women buried in this cemetery and in all cemeteries around the world, all those who fought for our country from the Revolution onward to today including our National Guards men and women fighting our new invisible enemy.
Memorial Day Weekend is on… but the weather has not co-operated really. Many places have been too cold to plant or place flowers on graves.
The celebrations will occur rain or shine, cold or warm…as they should, honoring those veterans who served this country. Our little celebration in Eaton once again will honor the many men who fought in the various wars, but since Eaton is home to many Revolutionary War Veterans… some whom are buried just a short distance from our Old Town of Eaton Museum, it is always a special day.
Each year Jim Monahan and his little band of Revolutionary War volunteer cannon re-enactors honor these early settlers and veterans, men who made our Democracy now called the United States of America,
This year the ceremony will take place after 1pm above the museum near the old Gerrit Smith Building on River Road, this an old burial ground.
The museum will be open as usual from 11 until 3 and Back Street Mary will be on hand to tell visitors all about the soldiers who founded Eaton and the southern Madison County area… some of whom served at Lexington and Concord.
The museum is decked out with new displays for the occasion with, new information that dates the old stone structure to before 1802.
The Ice Cream Social will take place at the museum at 1 pm and… is only a skip and jump from the site, So come down to Eaton and enjoy history on this traditional “History Day”.
This is as usual "Eaton Day" or History Day in Eaton .(.in it 28th year)on Monday, Memorial Day. This year the annual Pie Sale will be postponed a bit, but festivities include new displays at the Old Town of Eaton Museum with Back Street Mary giving tours. The hours are from 11 until 3pm. In the afternoon, there will be an ice-cream social.... and hopes are that the weather will cooperate.
The fun is the new displays... that include an intriguing look back at what the original Cobblers (shoemakers) room would have looked like. A new piece of history, via a diary which proves Sprauge was there making shoes in 1802 is proof of the buildings original use... Tools and stories of the old building abound and Mary will be there to spin them.
Also on hand for the sale will be newly done etchings of the Congregational Church, now the Community Church, as it looked in 1833 when it was built. Plus all of the books and artifacts of that building.
The new school exhibit has for sale copies of the photo taken for the last graduating class of the Brooklyn Street High School in 1934. In the picture are so many of the mothers and fathers of current residents as well as grandparents of their children. So come down ...get a collectable and help support the museum.
There will be refreshments at the museum ...as well as discussion on our upcoming year's exhibits and upcoming Wednesday, Summer Lecture Series, that was such a success last year.
So please come down and support your link to the history of the area. Monday, Memorial Day from 11-3 pm. In the afternoon our Eaton Revolutionary War Re-Enactors will be at the Gerrit Smith Buildings Cemetery Site to fire the traditional Military Salute for all of the Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried there. This is a stirring sight...
Dreary as it has been the past few days, at least it is not
SNOWING!It is May 1however,
and so it is time to get out the information on Eaton Day! Once again our
historical group will be hosting Eaton Day in the Hamlet of Eaton and as always ...invite everyone to come and join us in our history celebration.
This year’s event is scheduled as always for May 29th,
Memorial Day Monday, from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm. It will be the 22nd
time the event has been held to honor Eaton’s rich history.The event also brings the Town of Eaton
together... in actuality it is like an
“Old Hometown Day”!
As always the event will feature the Huge Museum Pie Sale, raffles, rummage sale, and the usual Hot Dogs and Soda with a whole lot of history
thrown in.
The Old Town of Eaton Museum itself will be open from 1 pm until 3
pm, with its rich history on full display, much of it dating from 1797
forward!Yes, Eaton is that old... and
hence why the museum is called the “Old Town of Eaton Museum”.Just a short hop down the road from the
museum is the marker for the first clearing in Madison County dating to 1788.
The group that is putting the event on “Friends of the Old
Town of Eaton Museum,” is excited because it has recently become a federally
recognized charity, something the group has been working for a long time.
If any of the local societies or clubs would like to set up
at the event… please email backstreetmary@yahoo.com.If anyone would like to volunteer to bake or
help sell please email backstreetmary@yahoo.com
as well.
So come out and celebrate a history that started with
Revolutionary Soldiers who came to the wilderness call New York to find homes....and to found communities for their children and the future!
The week has finally ended,
and what a week it was.Last Sunday I was pushed to set up for our event and bake a ton of pies until 2 or 3 in the
morning.Then at dawn it was out to
finish setting up for our traditional Eaton Day event, which is held each Memorial
Day Monday and celebrates Eaton’s history especially... its founding by Revolutionary
War Soldiers and its many other veterans.
The day came together and the
weather cooperated allowing us to enjoy hometown America at its best with
friends, neighbors, and former residents.Thank you to all who came out!
As a special tribute to its
20th Anniversary and Eaton’s 220th year I managed to
finish a new history book that concentrates on the later years after 1850 in
Eaton’s History and a remastered video of the day in 1995… parade and all.To those who would like a copy you can go to
Dougherty’s Pharmacy in Morrisvile and buy a copy or two and support the Old
Town of Eaton Museum that made the day and event possible.
Our basket raffle was a
success and the winners were Sharon Lloyd- cats, Kay Depuy - flowers, Karen Betz-history, and Barb Keough. Barb won
the wine basket (she put all her tickets in it I bet).
Thanks you to the
Goodfriends, Pat Utter, Judy Oplinger, Mike Curtis, Cathy Nagle, and our
special guest Tommy Hoe… You guys were great. Thank you to Jim Monahan for the use of the building and grounds!
Thank you to our history
speakers Harry Riggall and Bob Betz... we are hoping to do special presentations
on Wednesday nights in Eaton in the summer.
For all those who missed the grand finale ....cemetery tour…it was made especially memorable by a huge tree falling
on the Morse graves…but luckily missing every stone. It happened at a most fortuitous time… just
before we toured the area! Whew!
As for me...the following
morning was spent tearing down with Pat and Barb followed by working all week
on ladders and chain saws so today… Sunday…I am resting… and taking this time
to remind you to enjoy the day and remember to stop and smell the peonies… they
are out!
