(•^ 
 
 A Visit to the Sliakers--History, 
 
 of the Town--Golumbia 
 
 Hail — Railroad 
 
 Guide, &c. 
 
 J' rii L TS H Ti" I> liV 
 
 ■«> 
 
 i^^ DANIEL GALE, ^vgi 
 
 I'roprietor Coluinbia Hall. 
 


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 X872. 
 
 Jl beg to announce that since I purchased 
 Jll the Columbia Hall property, (September, 
 J*- 1871,) I have been making extensive al- 
 terations and repairs, and for the benefit of 
 those who have visited the Springs, would 
 state that the front of the house was changed 
 in 18*70 from east to south, new piazzas put 
 up, a new Bath House built, complete in all 
 
 V 
 
Columbia H. 
 
 its appointments, refurnished many of the 
 rooms, and put in the house all the requisites 
 to make it a 
 
 ! 
 in every respect. I have at work a Land- | 
 
 scape Gardener, thoroughly educated to his i 
 
 business, beautifying and ornamenting the 
 
 grounds, which now compose about 
 
 With the proverbially healthy locality, nat- 
 ural advantages and improvements, we de- 
 sign making Lebanon Springs one of the 
 
 This Hotel has 
 
 jlmplc ^frommodalion^ for jfoiir |]«n(lre(l fctcst^. 
 Open from June 1st to October 1st. 
 
Columbia Hall. 
 
 Drives, Walks, Bowling, Hunting, Fishing, 
 Billiards, &.c. 
 
 I have erected a new building this j^ear for 
 three of Messrs. Kavanagh & Decker's ''A" 
 No. 1 first-class Billiard Tables, and new 
 Bowling Alleys, and made three fine lawns 
 for Croquet. 
 
 In connection with the Hotel is a good liv- 
 ery, where horses and carriages can be found ; 
 also ample accommodations for private car- 
 riages and horses. 
 
 ISm^t®^ ■ 
 
 Prof. Gikseman's Band, from New York 
 City, will be in attendance throughout the 
 season. 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph Co. have an 
 office in the building. 
 
 A stand is kept in the Hotel, where books, 
 periodicals, and daily papers, may be found. !! 
 
Lebanon Springs. 
 
 9^ 
 
 -I;' 
 
 
 COLUMBIA COUNTY, N. Y, 
 
 
 HIS VILLAGE contains three Hotels. 
 
 Columbia Hall, a large and magnifi- 
 ^cent Hotel, of which Daniel Gale is 
 proprietor, is situated on the slope of the hill 
 about three hundred feet above the valley, 
 and one thousand feet above tide water. — 
 Wyomanock House, a branch of Columbia 
 Hall, W. F. Gale, proprietor, open the year 
 round, directly opposite Columbia Hall. — 
 Fields' Hotel, John G. Fields, proprietor, 
 open the year round, situated in the valley, 
 all of which have good accommodations ; 
 
Lebanon Springs. 
 
 besides three stores, Kendall's Thermometer 
 and Barometer manufactories, Baptist, Epis- 
 copal, Catholic and Presbyterian Churches, 
 but a short distance from the Springs. 
 
 The Scenery, which characterizes this spot, 
 is of almost indescribable beauty, being so 
 diversified by Mountain and Valley Land- 
 scape, as to elicit the most unbounded admi- 
 ration of the beholder. The general remark 
 of travelers has been, that no prospect they 
 had ever seen could bear a comparison with it. 
 
 Its healthfulness, also, is proverbial, con- 
 ducive of which is the pure Mountain air, the 
 Mineral Spring, beautiful drives, Hunting and 
 Fishing, aiid the usual variety of local amuse- 
 ments. 
 
 Before the Revolution the efKcacy f>f the 
 water began to excite great interest, and 
 man}^ families from different cities have be- 
 come so much attached to the place that they 
 have made it their summer home for more 
 than twenty consecutive years. The hill- 
 slopes which guard the valley present eligible 
 sites for cottages. 
 
 Not more than five hours at the most, and 
 the New York passenger will find himself at 
 the depot, a short distance from the " Hall." 
 The completion of the Harlem Extension 
 
X-ebanon Springs. 
 
 Railroad renders it easy of access. There is 
 no change of cars, and a person is in no dan- 
 ger of losing his connections, his friends, or 
 his baggage. Standing on the piazza, we look 
 over the Lebanon Valley, bounded on the east 
 by the Berkshire hills, on the south and west 
 by the West Range. To the northwest the 
 valley reaches away in fertile beauty to the 
 pleasant village of Nassau, on the road to 
 Albany. Maple Hill, to the southeast, rises 
 with an easy slope from the clustering hamlet 
 at our feet, and a mile distant lies the village 
 of New Lebanon. The Wyomanock Creek, 
 (its name of Lidian origin,) flows through the 
 valley, blending its waters with the Kinder- 
 hook on its way to the Hudson. It seems to 
 be " shut in by hills from the rude world" — 
 and a poetic quiet rests over this picture in 
 repose like that which (in our imagination) 
 rested upon the halls of Merrie England. It 
 seems to carry one back to the days of Spen- 
 ser, when nature found true worshippers in 
 verse : or still further back to the Augustan 
 age, when the Campagna was a garden in- 
 stead of a desert, and pastoral poetry was 
 quoted in the palaces of the C^sars. From 
 the days of " Queechy" to the visit of Sir 
 Henry Vincent, a little more than a year ago. 
 
Lebanon Springs. 
 
 every writer has been enthusiastic in speak- 
 ing of this lovely section. Vincent, in his 
 letter, says: "Hills, mountains, valleys, 
 trees, gardens, farm-houses, and farms spread 
 around and above you in ever-varying beauty, 
 reminding one of the hills and valleys of 
 LangoUen in Wales." And you remember in 
 Miss Warner's "Queechy" a fine description 
 of the view from one of the neighboring hills. 
 " They (Fleda and Carleton) had reached a 
 height of the mountain that/cleared them a 
 view, and over the tops of the trees they 
 looked abroad to a very wide extent of coun- 
 try undulating with hill and vale — hill and 
 valley alike far below at their feet. Fair and 
 rich the gently swelling hills, one beyond an- 
 other in the patchwork dress of their many- 
 colored fields — the gay hues of the woodland, 
 softened and melted into a rich autumn glow 
 — and far away beyond even where this glow 
 was softened and lost in the distance, the 
 faint blue line of the Catskills, faint but clear 
 and distinct through the transparent air. And 
 such a sky ! Of such etherealized purity as 
 if made for spirits to travel in, and tempting 
 them to rise and free themselves from the 
 soil ; and stillness — like nature's hand laid 
 upon the soul, bidding it think." Little Fleda 
 
8 Lebar;on Springs. j 
 
 at Moiitepoole takes one far back into the his- ! 
 tory of Lebanon when the old sycamore cast \ 
 a smaller shadow ; when stages and coaches 
 ' connected with tide-water at Albany ; when 
 Irving- was the wasidering Knickerbocker of j 
 the Ilndson, writing at old Kinderhook, at 
 \ the house of his friend Mr. Van Ness, the 
 i history of New York. 
 
 ': It liardly seems possible that in the year | 
 1 IttO a town pan[)er declared that he would 
 I not put a brusk fence about the valley to have j 
 been its owner. The whole valley was an i 
 immense pine forest, some of the trees being 
 twx) hundred feet in height. It is said that a 
 man by the name of Hitchcock, from New 
 Haven, stuck a riding stick into the spring. 
 It has now. gro\Vn into one of tlie finest syca- 
 \\ mores in the wH)rld. 
 
 Montepoole, or "Columbia Hall," has pro- 
 jl gressetl with a steady growth, and now it has 
 almost a half mile of verandas. The Moun- 
 t. tain Bowser, on Prospect Hill, is completed. 
 ( It is located to the west of the Hall, and one 
 j hundred feet above it. It is about half way 
 I to the Pinnacle, which, at the height of three 
 j hundred feet, overlooks the valley. If the 
 beauty of the landscape wdiich from every 
 point meets and focalizes itself in the soul as 
 
Lebanon Springs. 
 
 we stand on this eminence, could be written in 
 words or impressed on electrotype plates, it 
 might be worth while, but not understanding 
 the art of spiritual photography, we can only 
 say, in the words of Goldsmith, " Every 
 breeze breathes health, and every sound is 
 but the echo of tranquility ;" or, in older 
 English, we would lead you 
 
 " To painted flowers, to trees upshooting hye, 
 To dales for shade, to hills for breathing space, 
 To trembling groves, and chrystall running by." 
 
 S^* Persons desiring to apply for rooms by 
 letter or telegraph, will please address the 
 Proprietor, 
 
 Lebanon Springs, Columbia Co., N. Y. 
 
10 The Spring. 
 
 Tl|i Sff^MJNjq 
 
 41 |Coui 
 j'coru 
 
 Thkrmal Spring is enclosed in the 
 rt-yard of the Hotel. It discharges 
 istantly nearly five hundred gallons of 
 Water per minute, of the temperature of IS*' 
 F., and supplies a bathing house within the 
 enclosure. These baths are a luxury to all 
 who partake of them, and are especially rec- 
 ommended by physicians as a specific in many 
 diseases, and have been found as efficacious 
 as the warm medicinal Springs of Germany 
 and Virginia, for the complaints for which 
 they are visited. 
 
 Analysis ot Lebanon Springs Water, by Prof, H, Dussanoe. 
 
 FOUND IN ONE GALLON OF WATER. 
 
 GASES. 
 
 Oxygen, 2 00 cubic inches Carbonic Acid 50 cubic inches. 
 
 Nitrogen,.. .3 50 " Sulphuric Acid,. . .traces. 
 
The Spring. 11 
 
 FIXED MATTERS. 
 
 Sulphuret of Sodium, 0.02 grai is— 1.298 per ct. 
 
 Carbonate of Suda, 2 41 " 15 649 " 
 
 Sulphate of I' itash, 1.04 " 6753 " 
 
 Chi .ride of Sodium 96 " 6.233 " 
 
 Carbonate of Lime, 4 05 " 26 292 " 
 
 Sulphate of Magnesia, 106 " 6.883 " 
 
 Alumina 45 " 2 629 " 
 
 Oxide of Iron, t^ " 6 103 " 
 
 Silicic Acid, 3 25 " 21100 " 
 
 ^^, p„^„ ? Glarine 75 " 4.870 " 
 
 Org.Comp. J Baregine, 9 47 " 2 190 " 
 
 15.40 100.000 
 
 Many eminent physiciaris, acquainted with 
 its properties, iiave recommended its use for 
 the following, viz : Eczema, Flesh Poisoning, 
 Impetigo, many varieties of Erysipelas, Scald 
 Head, Cutaneous Diseases generally. Arthri- 
 tis, Morbid Conditions of the Liver, Consti- 
 pation, Dyspepsia, Chronic and Inflammatory 
 Rheumatism, Bronchia, and Nervous Diseases 
 generaUy. 
 
 A resident Physician of high standing in 
 *the profession, will render his service when 
 desired. 
 
12 Bath House. 
 
 
 
 fHE Bath House is a new brick building, 
 just completed, located in the Court Yard 
 J of the Hotel, 81 feet long by 32 feet wide, 
 with French roof. The ladieg part of the 
 house contains a reception room, nine apart- 
 ments with both hot and natural spring Avater 
 baths, swimming bath, and swimming bath 
 for children. The gentlemen's building con- 
 tains ten apartments, with both hot and natu- 
 ral spring water baths, and a swimming bath 
 30 feet long. All the inside arrangements are 
 modern and of the most approved kind. With 
 the well known invig^orating qualities of the 
 water for bathing, together with having so 
 great a luxury convenient to the hotel, and 
 the benefit visitors receive by bathing in the 
 water, it will amply repay them for taking a 
 trip to Lebanon Springs. 
 
General Directions. 13 
 
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14 Drives. 
 
 HE DRIVES in the neighborhood of the 
 iSprings are unsurpassed by any watering 
 place in the country, whether it be along 
 the beautiful valley roads leading to Nassau, 
 to Queechy Lake, and to William stown, 
 Mass., or surmounting the hills and moun- 
 tains which encompass the place in almost 
 every direction, where new beauties open to 
 the view with every mile. The ride from 
 Lebanon to Pittsfield, over the Taghkanick 
 mountain, is unsurpassed for beauty and mag- 
 nificence, whether by the old post road from 
 Boston to Albany, or by way of the Lebanon 
 and Hancock Shaker villages. At every turn 
 in the ascent, new beauties burst upon the 
 enraptured traveler's view ; and on the sum- 
 mit the country sixty miles in extent presents 
 itself like a map at the feet of the beholder. 
 Here in a clear day the distant Catskills may 
 be seen from the Hildeberghs west of Albany, 
 to the Sugar Loaf far below Catskill village. 
 From many points the Catskill Mountain 
 
Drives. 15 
 
 House can be plainly seen with the naked 
 eye, and stretches of the Hudson River 
 traced, with steamers and sail vessels passing 
 upon its waters. From a point a little dis- 
 tance from the highway, a good view of the 
 upper part of the City of Albany can be seen, 
 and with a good glass the buildings can be 
 easily recognized. Perry's Peak, a station 
 of the U. S. Coast Survey, lies within two 
 hours drive from the hotel, and is frequently 
 visited in the summer. Here an uninter- 
 rupted view can be made across the State of 
 Connecticut to Long Island Sound. Doug- 
 lass and Churchill knobs are also lofty eleva- 
 tions, sometimes visited, yet not so easily 
 surmounted, but a view from their summits 
 amply pays for the labor of their ascent. 
 But the splendid drives in every direction, 
 over good roads with more gentle grades, 
 will satisfy most of those who love diversified 
 and beautiful scenery, and who have not sui- 
 ^cieut poetic ardor to climb the rugged moun- 
 tain in order to see more. 
 
 DISTANCES. 
 
 Queechy Lake, 6 miles. Sliiker Village, 2 miles. 
 
 PiltsfieUl, 7 •' B. V. SlMkei-i, 2 " 
 
 L^nox, 12 '• Summit Berkshire Miiuii- 
 
 Stockbridge, 12, " t:tins, 3 ■' 
 
 Canaan, 7 " Williiimstinvn, 20 " 
 
 New L'-hi.uon, 2 " .Mt. Washiiigt -n, 18 " 
 
 Hancock, 5 " • Ut. Barriugtoii, 21 '' 
 
16 
 
 The Shakers. 
 
 ;;^^|rv| 
 
 HE largest Society in America of that 
 
 i^l religious sect known as the Shakers, 
 is located within two miles of the 
 Springs. They are visited annually by thou- 
 sands of strangers, who take great interest 
 in their peculiar manner of living and wor- 
 ship. Visitors are received into their various 
 workshops and gardens, throughout the week, 
 and are admitted to their church meetings on 
 the Sabbath. 
 
 This Society is the largest in the United 
 States. They number some six hundred per- 
 sons, and have possessions of some six thou- 
 sand acres of land, devoted to farming pur- 
 poses, gardens for seeds and fruits, &c., which 
 are everywhere famed for their quality. 
 
 A visit to this Society alone to attend their 
 
The Shakers, 17 
 
 worship on the Sabbath, and to possess arti- 
 cles of their workmanship, which are unique 
 and useful, amply repays the visitor. 
 
 Sir Henry Vincknt, the English Orator, 
 writes: " Le1# me urge upon divines and 
 scholars, in their rambles through America, 
 to visit the Shaker community at Mount Leb- 
 anon, and if they are disposed to inquire, 
 * How can these things be V vaj answer is, 
 ' Come and see.' " ^ 
 
 Prof. SiLLiMAN says : " The utmost neatness 
 is conspicuous in their fields, gardens, court- 
 yards, out-houses, and in the very road ; not 
 a weed, not a spot of filth, or any nuisance, 
 is suffered to exist. Their wood is cut and 
 piled in the most exact order ; their fences are 
 perfect ; even their st(.)ne walls are con- 
 structed with great regularity, and of mate- 
 rials so very massive, and so well arranged, 
 that unless overthrown by force, they may 
 stand for centuries. Instead of wooden posts 
 for their gates, they have pillars of stone of 
 one solid piece, and everything bears the im- 
 press of labor, vigilance and skill, with such 
 a share of taste as is consistent with the aus- 
 terities of their sect. • Their orchards are 
 beautiful, and probably no part of our coun- 
 try presents finer examples of agricultural 
 
18 The Shakers. 
 
 excellence. Such neatness and order is not 
 seen anywhere on so large a scale, except in 
 Holland; where the very necessities of exis- 
 tence impose order and neatness upon the 
 whole population ; but here it is voluntary. 
 
 Besides agriculture, it is well known that 
 the Shakers occupy themselves much with 
 mechanical employments. The productions 
 of their industry and skill — sieves, brushes,* 
 boxes, flails and other domestic utensils — are 
 everywhere exposed for sale, and are distin- 
 guished by excellence of workmanship. Their 
 garden seeds are celebrated for goodness, and 
 find a ready market. They have many gar- 
 dens, but there is a principal one of several 
 acres, which exhibits superior cultivation. 
 
 Their females are employed in domestic 
 manufactures and housework, and the com- 
 munity is fed and clothed by its own produc- 
 tions. The property is all in common. The 
 avails of the general industry are poured into 
 the treasury of the whole ; individual wants 
 are supplied from a common magazine or 
 store-house, which is kept for each family, 
 and ultimately, the elders invest the gains in 
 lands and buildings, -or sometimes in money, 
 or other personal property, which is held for 
 the good of the Society. It seems somewhat 
 
The Shakers. 19 
 
 paradoxical to speak of a family, where the 
 relation upon which it is founded is unknown. 
 But still, the Shakers are assembled in what 
 they call families, which consist of little col- 
 lections (more or less numerous according to 
 the size of the house) of males and females, 
 who occupy separate apartments, under the 
 same roof, eat at separate tables, but mix oc- 
 casionally for society, labor, or worship. — 
 There is a male and a female head to the fam- 
 ily, who superintend all their concerns — give 
 out their provisions — ^allot their employments, 
 and enforce industry and fidelity. They pro- 
 fess, it is said, to believe that Christ has al- 
 ready appeared the second time on the earth, 
 in the person of their great leader. Mother 
 Ann Lee, and that the saints are now judging 
 .«the world. 
 
 This singular people took their rise in En- 
 gland nearly a century ago, and the settle- 
 ment at New Lebanon is of more than sixty 
 years' standing. They first emigrated to 
 America in the year 1*174, under their spiritual 
 mother, Ann Lee, a niece of the celebrated 
 Gen. Charles Lee, who made a distinguished 
 figure during the American Revolutionary 
 War. The order, neatness, comfort and thrift, 
 which are conspicuous among them, are 
 
20 The Shakers. 
 
 readily accounted for, by their industry, econ- 
 omy, self-denial and devotion to their leaders, 
 and to the common interest, all of which are 
 religious duties among them, and, the very 
 fact that they are, for the most part, not bur- 
 dened with the care of children, leaves them 
 greatly at liberty to follow their occupations 
 without interruption. They walk to the meet- 
 ing-house, in order, two and two, and leave it 
 in the same order. Men enter the left hand 
 door of the meetiyg-house, and women the 
 right hand. In each dwelling-house is a room 
 called the meeting-room, in which they assem- 
 ble for worship every evening. The young 
 believers assemble morning and evening, and, 
 in tlic afternoon of the Sabbath, they all as- 
 semble in one of these rooms, in their dwel- 
 ling-house, to which meeting spectators, or 
 those who do not belong to the Society, are 
 not admitted, except friendly visitors. Their 
 houses are well calculated and convenient. 
 In the great houfee at Lebanon there is over a 
 hundred ; the men live in their several apart- 
 ments on the right, as they enter into the 
 house, and the women on the left, commonly 
 four in a room. They kneel in the morning 
 by the side of the bed, as soon as they arise, 
 and the same before they lie down ; also be- 
 
The Shakers. 21 
 
 fore and after every meal. The brethren and 
 sisters generally eat at the same time at two 
 long tables placed in the kitchen, men at one 
 and women at the other ; during which time 
 they sit on benches, and all are silent. They 
 go to their meals walking in order, one di- 
 rectly after the other ; the head of the famil}^, 
 or elder, takes the lead of the men, and one 
 called elder sister takes the lead of the wo- 
 men. Several women are employed in cook- 
 ing and waiting on the table ; they are com- 
 monly relieved weekly by others. 
 
 It is according to the gift or order, for all 
 to endeavor to keep all things in order ; indo- 
 lence and carelessness, they say, is directly 
 opposite to the gospel and order of God ; 
 cleanliness in every respect is strongly en- 
 forced — it is contrary to order even to spit on 
 the floor. A dirty, careless, slovenly or indo- 
 lent person, they say, cannot travel in the 
 way of God, or be religious. It is contrary 
 to order to talk loud, to shut doors hard, to 
 rap at a door for admittance, or to make a 
 noise in any respect ; even when walking the 
 floor, they must be careful not to make a 
 noise with their feet. They go to bed at nine 
 or ten o'clock, and rise at four or five ; all 
 that are in health go to work about sun-rise, 
 
22 The Shakers. 
 
 in-door mechanics, in the winter, work by 
 candle-light ; each one follows such an em- 
 ployment as the deacon appoints for him. 
 Every man and woman must be employed, 
 and work steadily and moderately. ' When 
 any are sick they have the utmost care and 
 attention paid to them. When a man is sick, 
 if there is a woman among the sisters, who 
 was his wife before he believed, she, if in 
 health, nurses and waits upon him. If any 
 of them transgress the rules and orders of the 
 Church, they are not held in union until they 
 confess their transgression, and that often on 
 their knees before the brethren and sisters. 
 
 Each Church in the different settlements 
 has a house called the office, where all busi- 
 ness is transacted either among themselves or 
 with other people. Each family deposit in 
 the office all that is to be spared for charita- 
 ble purposes, which is distributed by the dea- 
 con to those whom he judges to be proper 
 objects of charity. He never sends the poor 
 and needy empty away." 
 
New Lebanon. 23 
 
 
 
 A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 ) ^ ^W^ S there anything in a name ! New 
 "uVA Lebanon can boast of having an an- 
 ^^c^^cient Hebrew name, which has been 
 always celebrated in the annals of sacred his- 
 tory. Among the states having townships 
 called Lebanon, are Alabama, Connecticut, 
 Illinois, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Vir- 
 ginia ; while New York has two such town- 
 ships. Of the names of early settlers of the 
 Lebanon to which this notice refers, are those 
 of Abbot, Adgate, Bailey, Bradley, Cole, 
 Cornwell, Dean, Doubleday, Everest, Gay, 
 Gilbert, Gillet, Grant, Hatch, Hitchcock, 
 
24 New Lebanon. 
 
 Horton, Jones, King, Murdock, Owen, Pat- 
 terson, — the not unromantic Peter Plum, — 
 Spencer, Tilden, Van Deusen, Wadhams, 
 Warner and Younglove. To this alphabeti- 
 cal list may be added, — though out of its 
 place, — that of Douglass, borne here by a 
 family of Scotch descent, and boasting a long 
 line of noble ancestors. The name of War- 
 ner will always be honorably associated with 
 the fame of the accomplished author of 
 " Queechy." With the name of Gillet is hap- 
 pily associated one who, at '' Wyomanock" 
 and " Sunnyside," is known by a pet house- 
 hold name, which he has nobly gained by be- 
 ing the " good friend" to all with whom he 
 has there met, and b}' kindly assisting those 
 little favored by fortune, to gain a knowledge 
 of books which otherwise they would have 
 been unable to procure. Abner Doubleday 
 was the grandfather of Gen. Abner Double- 
 day, of Fort Sumter fame. He and Jonathan 
 Murdock were of those who constituted the 
 ''forlorn hope'' at the storming of Stoney 
 Point. Moses Younglove was a member of 
 the convention to form a constitution of the 
 State of New York. Many of the descend- 
 ants of the afore-named persons still live 
 among us as respected citizens. 
 
New Lebanon. 25 
 
 The first white man permanently settled in 
 the old town of Canaan, was doubtless named 
 Warner. He came from New England thro' 
 the gap in the mountains at West Stock- 
 bridge. Probably the first white man who 
 ever visited New Lebanon, was Capt. Hitch- 
 cock of the British army, which was stationed 
 at Hartford, Conn., about the time of the close 
 of the French war. Capt. H. being afflicted 
 with some severe and dangerous malady, was 
 recommended to visit the valley and use the 
 waters of the thermal spring in this town. 
 He came with one servant and a company of 
 India^i guides, and was carried from Stock- 
 bridge to the Springs on a litter by an Indian 
 trail, there being no roads in the locality at 
 that time. He found a large basin filled with 
 water, and from appearances around it judged 
 it to be a place of resort for the Indians for 
 bathing purposes. 
 
 This was, perhaps, the first watering place 
 in the United States visited by the ''pale 
 faces" over a hundred years ago. It is often 
 called " Monte Poole." The mercury in the 
 thermometer always standing at 12*^, a tem- 
 perature suitable for bathing' at all times. It 
 is said that one of the early settlers once ri- 
 ding by a spring stopped to water his horse, 
 
26 New Lebanon. 
 
 and sticking his rude whip into the soft earth, 
 rode oiF forgetting it, from which impromptu 
 planting, sprang the gigantic button-wood 
 tree which stands near the spring. Captain 
 Hitchcock camped several days at the spring, 
 and received great relief from the use of its 
 waters. A few years after, he sold his com- 
 mission and returned as a resident to New 
 Lebanon, where he died, leaving a daughter, 
 from whom descehded one of f»ur old and 
 highly esteemed citizens, Nathaniel Nichols. 
 Among later settlers was a Rev. Mr. Ken- 
 dall, who first came here from Canada on 
 the trail of the Indians, to whom he had 
 gone as missionary. He afterwards dwelt in 
 the valley, where his descendants still abide, 
 and carry on extensive business in the manu- 
 facture of barometers and thermometers. 
 
 In this beautiful valley is the great medicine 
 manufactory of Messrs. Tilden, unsurpassed 
 by any in the country. Farther information 
 may be obtained by visiting the establish- 
 ment, where the kindest attention is bestowed 
 upon the visitor. 
 
 A short distance from Messrs. Tilden & Co. 
 is the celebrated Barometer and Thermometer 
 manufactory of Mr. John Kendall, established 
 many years ago. His Barometers and Ther- 
 t—^. ^ ^ 
 
New Lebanon. 27 
 
 mometers are known in every quarter of the 
 globe. A very pleasant hour can be spent 
 here examining the process of manufacturing. 
 About 1*760 a house was erected near the 
 Springs, and was doubtless the first one built 
 in what is now called New Lebanon. This 
 part of the town up to 1780 was considered a 
 part of Massachusetts. Much difficulty ex- 
 isted at an early day between New York and 
 the New England States* in regard to their 
 common boundary line. New York, indeed, 
 originally claimed the Connecticut river as its 
 eastern boundary. The General Court of 
 Massachusetts made grants of land after the 
 settlement of Pittsfield, extending nearly to 
 the road which passes the dwelling of Dr. 
 Bates ; and still fartlier northward, an old 
 road formerly existed and can still be traced 
 through an orchard now owned by the heirs 
 of Naomi Clark, which was once considered 
 to be on the line between the two states. The 
 line was established in lt86, though not with- 
 out a great deal of trouble and a disagreeable 
 law suit. An anecdote was current in early 
 times that a man named Wadhams, (one of 
 the early settlers,) after the Commissioners 
 had fixed the state line, found his dwelling to 
 be about four rods within the State of Massa- 
 
28 Ne-w Lebanon. 
 
 cliusetts. Accordingly a day or two after, he 
 called his neighbors together with their teams I 
 and hitching the latter to the building, he 
 moved it over the line into the State of New 
 I York. This building stood on the ground 
 I now occupied by the house of Elijah Bagg. 
 j The first frame house in the town of Cana- 
 1 an (of which Lebanon was formerly a part, 
 I and was then called King's district, ) was 
 ' erected by Willianj Gay on the hill near the 
 Shaker grist mill. The second was l)uilt by 
 i Selah Abbot, near the Presbyterian Church. 
 ' The first church in the town of Ncv^ f^eba- 
 I non was erected nearly opposite Mott Cem- 
 etery, on land now owned b}^ the Gillets. It 
 was cniistructed of loigs, and its worshippers 
 were of the Presbyterian order. 
 
 New Lebanon claims the honor of having 
 been first in instructing its Delegates in Con- 
 gress to adopt a Declaration of Independence. 
 Mechlenburg, N. C, had pre viousl}^ declared 
 itself absolved I'rom its allegiance to Great 
 Britain. 
 
 A c{jmpany was raised in the town of Ca- 
 naan which was in service during the revolu- 
 tionary war. The descendants of some who 
 served still reside among us as our best citi- 
 zens. Chancellor R.Livingston was appointed 
 
New Lebanon. 29 
 
 delegate fruni this section to the Provincial 
 Congress, and he was one of the committee 
 appointed to prepare the Dechiraticn of Inde- 
 pendence. It was he who supplied Robert 
 Fulton with means for developing the steam- 
 boat. At the time of the battle of Bennington, 
 Vt., April 10, 1*776, two brothers, (ances- 
 tors of Hon. R. F. Gillett,) who happened to 
 be, at the time, working near the top of the 
 "west hill,'' distinctly heard the booming of 
 the cannon, although they were a hundred 
 miles distant from the scene of action. 
 
 The valley of New Lebanon is surrounded 
 on all sides by mountains, which seem to shut 
 out all the world beyond. From some of the 
 summits may be obtained enchanting views of 
 the valley and of the regioji beyond it. From 
 "west hiir' Mount Lebanon Is distinctly visi- 
 ble. Its pleasant village clustered among the 
 hills, forms a sort of city by itself. Here are 
 the head-quarters of Shakerism in the United 
 States. " Gilbert hill " is most frequently 
 visited, where the finest views of the sur- 
 rounding country are sought. From its sum- 
 mit the whole village is distinctly seen, and 
 seems so diminutive that it has been com.pared 
 to "fairy land teeming with life." From one 
 of its southern points, in clear weather, boats 
 
30 New Lebanon. 
 
 have been seen on the Hudson river, and, still 
 beyond, the Catskill mountains, lifting their 
 blue crests against the sky, which any but a 
 close observer would mistake perhaps for 
 clouds hovering about the horizon. Of such 
 a scene the beautiful words of William Morris 
 may be quoted as fitly descriptive : 
 "As down into the vale he gazed 
 And held his breath as if amazed 
 By all its loveliness ; 
 For as the sun its depths did bless, 
 It lighted up from side to side, 
 A close shut valley, nothing wide 
 But ever full of all things fair." 
 
 The historian Bancroft once said with more 
 force than elegance, perhaps : " New Leba- 
 non is the most beautiful valley on the top of 
 the earth." 
 
 The state of the country one hundred and 
 fifty years ago, was strikingly different from 
 its present aspect. Then it was a vast swamp 
 completely covered with large pine trees, 
 rendering it well nigh impassable. The Indi- 
 I ans travelled across the mountain tops, but 
 seldom venturing far into the wilderness of 
 pines. The population fifty years ago was 
 estimated to exceed greatly the present num- 
 ber of inhabitants. At that time the people 
 had begun to remove some of the pine trees 
 from the edge of the forests, and to build 
 
New Lebanon. 31 
 
 nearer the foot of tlie mouutaiiis. After a 
 time tliej left the heights altogether and set- 
 tled in the valley. 
 
 '' Wyomanock Seminary/' the individual 
 enterprise of Miss E. C; Hatch, was estab- 
 lished about 1858, and incorporated in 1865 
 by the legislature of New York. The first 
 small building was greatly enlarged in 1867, 
 and the whole destroyed by fire January 6, 
 1869, since which time the school has found 
 pleasant quarters in the old Tilden mansion, 
 near the church. The beneficial effect of this 
 Institution is seen far and near upon those 
 preparing for, or entering upon, the busy 
 scenes of life. The influence of Miss Hatch 
 has extended over the whole countrj^, and she 
 is highly esteemed for the increasing efforts 
 which she has put forth to promote the well 
 being of those placed under her care. Thro' 
 her kindness and tiiat of our good " Saint 
 Wyomanock/ 'many acknowledge with grate- 
 ful hearts, advantages received from those 
 whose motto is, " Do unto others as you 
 would that others should do unto you." 
 Many also remember the care with which 
 they have been watched over by Miss Hatch 
 when compelled, by sickness, to relinquish 
 school duties for a time. 
 
t 
 
^ LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS