|
|
Bacon Hill |
|
Bacon Hill is a pleasant place,
Bacon Hill is a small, picturesque hamlet located in the southeast corner of the Town of Northumberland, in Saratoga County, New York. The Town of Northumberland was formed from the Town of Saratoga March 15, 1798. It included at that time the present towns of Moreau, Wilton, and parts of Corinth and Hadley. The Hudson River forms the eastern boundary The first known inhabitants of Bacon Hill were the Mohican Indians. The area became a Mohawk settlement after a battle between the two tribes resulted in victory for the Mohawks. The presence of the Indians and later the warring British discouraged settlement until after the Revolutionary War. Pioneer families included James Brisbin, the Vanderwerkers, Lothrop Pope, James Cramer, the Vandenburg brothers - Wynant, John and Cornelius and their brother-in-law Peter Winney, Reed Lewis, Evert Waldron, John Burt and others. Ebenezer Bacon came from Connecticut in 1794 and settled at Fiddletown, later called Pope’s Corners, and still later renamed Bacon Hill, in his honor. Bacon built the first frame tavern and store in Fiddletown. When the Town of Northumberland was formed in 1798, Fiddletown was already a thriving business center. Soon a glove factory, beaver hat factory, tannery, cooper’s shop, cobbler, carriage shop and cider mill all located in the hamlet as did doctors, carpenters and a tailor. In 1807 a blacksmith shop was opened by Lothrop Pope and the name was changed to Pope’s Corners. As many as thirty teams at a time stopped at Bacon Hill, indicating a large business. The Dutch Reformed Church in the center of Bacon Hill was organized in 1820. By 1833 the church had a congregation of 170, led by noted preacher Malachi Moody. The church, still active today, stands as a monument to the rich heritage of this farming community. The productive soils of Bacon Hill have attracted farmers for generations. Today, as in the past, agriculture remains the town’s largest industry. Although the number of farms has decreased, those remaining are equipped to compete in today’s global economy. More Bacon Hill history from an article in The Saratogian newspaper about 50 years ago. "In 1794 Ebenezer Bacon came here from Connecticut and Albany records show he bought the property of Lathrop Pope. He built a tavern and had the first store in Bacon Hill. But it wasn’t until long after Ebenezer Bacon died that the place was named Bacon Hill after him. Reed Lewis came in 1800 and married Bacon’s daughter who used to have a millinery store at her home. Bacon Hill did a thriving business until the Champlain Canal opened up and business switched to Northumberland and Schuylerville. We read of as many as 30 teams stopping at one time in Bacon Hill. Peter Fake was another old timer. He built the large tavern where Carl Pett now lives and his son John R. Fake ran it. Here was held the general elections and in those days town folk came for miles around on foot or by lumber wagons to exercise their right to vote. John Fake, a descendant of Peter, still lives in the house. The front part of the present Fake home was a part of the tavern moved across the road and if you look carefully across the front up under the eaves you will see the letters, Bacon Hill House. A little south of Bacon’s place was a glove factory. North of the tavern was a tannery and east of the tannery, across the road, was a cooper shop. There were blacksmith shops aplenty. A man named Smith had one where later Mr. and Mrs. Myron converted the old shop over into a cozy home,. Another, in the McCarty family for years, is still standing at the Francis Hack place. John Moore, a Civil war veteran, had another. He was a stage driver, carrying passengers and mail. In the olden times Bacon Hill had a band that used to play on the village green. Another blacksmith shop stood near John Harris’ where the school house now stands. This one was for shoeing oxen. At that time there was quite a settlement across from present Fort Miller, called West Fort Miller. It had a grist mill to which, before there were any roads, people came down the path on horseback carrying bags of grain on their horses to be ground. There was also a store here and around 30 houses. A beaver hat shop stood across from the church on the ground where Orrin Williams is now building a home. A shoe shop run by John Mathis, was on the other street. Here, if men could afford it, they would have two pair of leather boots, one heavy for everyday wear and the other known as Their Fine Boots of calfskin for dress up, while the women had calf skin shoes lacing up the front. Malachi Moody was quite a character in himself, a very religious man who helped conduct services in the school house and church. He was noted for his powerful voice and could be heard all over Bacon Hill singing while at work in his shop. Early physicians were Dr. Collins, Dr Jesse Billings, Dr. Crandall and Dr. Moore. Nearly all the oldest residents are buried in a beautiful cemetery which is well kept since its incorporation. After the canal opened the farmers grew potatoes extensively. Often one farmer alone would load a boat with potatoes at the dock at Northumberland. William S. Deyoe was quite a business man here having many farms, all well worked, and a saw mill. Winters he used the mules from the canal. At present a church organized in 1820 as the Dutch Reformed Church of Northumberland thrives. Within the last few years over $20,000 has been expended on it, raising it up, putting it on a new foundation and installing a new heating system. In the basement is a modern dining room and well equipped kitchen. A new organ was bought, the grounds improved and a new outside coat of paint. All various societies connected with the church are very active. The congregation is represented by about 45 families with a membership of 100 or more." (transcribed from an undated article in The Saratogian, probably during the 1950’s.) Historic Tour of Welcome Stock Farm in Bacon Hill Bacon Hill in early history was the home of the Mohican Indians and later the Mohawk Indians, who built two large Indian villages here, one on the land now owned by the Foote’s and the other where Larry and Kevin Peck farm. The Mohawks used to fish and hunt and were the first to introduce agriculture here. After the battles of Saratoga, thousands of former soldiers set up small subsistence farms in Saratoga County and further west. This area was heavily forested. The first settlers girdled trees so that the trees would die, the leaves would fall off and the sunlight would reach the forest floor for the first time, since these virgin forests had grown undisturbed for centuries. The first year the farmer would till the soil between the dead trees and grow corn, buckwheat and wheat. Then, as time permitted, after building crude log cabins, the farmer would fell the trees and either dig out or burn the tree stumps in place. The huge logs were either floated down the Hudson to New York City or piled and burned for the potash in the ashes, which was shipped to New York City to be used for making steel. For the first few years good crops could be grown from the residual fertility of the built up organic matter in the forest floor. Soon, however, without added fertilizer, crops didn’t do as well. The only option was to clear more land and use the previously cleared cropland as pasture for the few animals that the farmer had accumulated by that time. The one thing this county had was more land. As the years passed, the farm grew in size, the number and variety of animals increased and more crops were produced which could be sold for much needed cash income. Excess milk from the dairy cows could be made into butter and sold locally, while the by-product, buttermilk, made excellent feed for pigs, which could be fattened and slaughtered. The hams and bellies could be preserved by smoking in a homebuilt smokehouse and again sold locally. A small flock of chickens produced enough eggs for the family with additional eggs to sell, and an occasional chicken dinner. Sheep supplied meat and wool for the family’s use and for added income. Wool was sheared in the spring and spun and woven into fabric. Excess wool was sold. Often it was stored for months, or even years, until the price increased. A market for lambs for Easter meals developed in the cities, providing another opportunity for cash income. In 1836 Henry Wagman Peck moved from a farm in the Town of Saratoga to the farm on West River Road operated in 2000 by William Peck and his sons. This farm was purchased from Wyatt Harris. The Harris family came from England and settled in Northumberland about the time of the American Revolution. The Harris family conducted a tavern here for many years on the site of the present Peck home. Boards from the original tavern tables are in the basement of the Peck homestead today. Henry Wagman Peck with his wife, Melinda Vanderwerker, and children, George Henry Peck, Mary Ann Peck and Reed Peck, operated a large and successful farm on this site. In 1855 they had 300 acres of improved land and 85 acres of unimproved land. The cash value of the farm was $15,400. They plowed 64 acres in 1854, and had 60 acres in pasture and 50 acres in meadow, from which they harvested 80 tons of hay. They raised 37 acres of oats, yielding 250 bushels; 1.25 acres of spring wheat, with 20 bushels harvested; 12 acres of buckwheat, which yielded 85 bushels; 9 acres of corn, for 200 bushels; and 5 acres of potatoes which resulted in 500 bushels of potatoes, most of which were sold in NYC. The livestock in 1855 included 5 calves, 8 heifers, 2 working oxen, 9 milk cows, 5 horses, 11 swine under 6 months and 4 swine over 6 months, and 128 sheep. They made 900 pounds of butter, 50 pounds of cheese, realized 400 pounds of wool and wove 15 years of cloth. In 1864 they harvested 40 bushels of apples from 20 trees, collected 30 pounds of honey and 10 pounds of beeswax and raised 1600 pounds potatoes. They butchered 6 pigs and made 2400 pounds of pork. They sheared 275 sheep, yielding 1000 pounds of wool. Dogs killed seven sheep in 1864. George Henry Peck was the second generation of Peck’s to farm here. His son, Henry Cramer Peck, followed him. At the turn of the century Welcome Stock farm milked 18 cows. In 1901 Henry Cramer Peck built a sheep shed to house feeder lambs purchased for resale. In 1907 he built a stanchion barn for the dairy cattle. Both are part of the present dairy complex. When fourth generation farmer Willard Henry Peck took over in 1932, the farm had grown to 150 acres with 20 registered Guernsey cows, a poultry operation, an apple orchard and a potato crop. Willard was known for his expertise in raising high quality Guernsey cattle. He also built a box on his car, to convert it to a pickup truck, and peddled the farm’s products on a weekly route. The first tractor was purchased in the 1940’s. Bill Peck, the present owner, purchased the farm from his father in 1964. He built the 100 cow free-stall barn and milking parlor in 1969 and with his two sons, Neil and Bill, added the new free-stall operation in 1998. Much progress occurred on farms throughout the 19th century, both in techniques and mechanization. Soon many laborious tasks heretofore only performed by hand were mechanized with the invention and common use of a plethora of machines like the cream separator, reaper and binder, mowing machine and eventually the threshing machine. The period of steam power was brief, perhaps 20 to 30 years, before gasoline tractors were developed to the point that they were reliable and economical sources of power to plant, harvest and process crops on farms. The development of refrigeration meant perishable products could be shipped larger distances which led to more specialization on farms. Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the 20th century, the production of milk become the predominant agricultural enterprise on New York Sate farms. It was an ideal way to utilize the large amount of grass growing on the steep, wet and uneven terrain of much of the state. In fact, much of the less productive land that was cleared but did not lend itself to mechanical harvest in the 20th century went out of production and gradually returned to forest from whence it had come. Dairy farming also gained prominence with the invention of mechanical on-farm cooling of milk and labor-saving ways to harvest, store and feed hay crops as well as use the corn crop for silage in a rapidly harvested way with less man power. New York State’s farm population peaked around 1900. As farm youth fled the farm for easier and more lucrative jobs in town, the number of farms also declined. The gradual mechanization of farms also meant the size of each farm was increasing. This leads us to today when we have a very few large farms, highly mechanized, employing trained and competent personnel to operate expensive, sophisticated and very productive machinery. The main farm product in Saratoga County is milk, which goes directly from the cows to a refrigerated tank which cools the milk rapidly to below 40 degrees F. From there it is pumped into a tank truck and taken to a dairy processing plant where it will be put into cartons or jugs and placed on store shelves or made into butter, ice cream or powdered milk to be stored and used at a later date. This evolution in New York State farms means that you, the consumer, always have available good, safe, wholesome dairy products at an affordable price. |
|
|
 |
