•^ %* >*> v * «. V" ^ v '"% .\\ jf:i/..-'y^ -fi V* 5lg> _ 'V %^ •V - , %. >•oqn v** •t-v V 5 /' ^ V * : '*+f ' ^ V ''. \ V • JV % .' -- A ft. </V ^ ,-^v V V? ^ ^ e * *• *fe o* •I -7*, \° ° ^ •%. , ->>:^>< ^y, v ,;i y v**v : ^% : ^ #% &\ /% Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/picturesquemonro01evan PICTURESQUE MONROE COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. EixuB^jSLOiisra- f=jos.p?.tic'U"LjSs.e5.l-s- STROUDSBURG, EAST STROUDSBURG, HIGHLAND DELL, DELAWARE WATER GAP, SHAWNEE, MINSI, ANALOMINK, PARKSIDE, MARSHALL'S CREEK, COOLBAUGH AND BUSHKILL, WITH HISTORICAL. SKETCH BY IDE.. J. LjOlISTTZL. •\ fAU6rAueaoiwnH^o'3Ci 897 ^-C Compiled and Published )^ -nyy \Vkt!* Stroudsburg. Pa. 3 £97. NOTE. The illustrations shown herewith are from photographs taken specially for this work and are the exclusive property of the publisher. Any infringement of their use will be dealt with according to law. Copyright, 1897, by Morris Evans. The Times Publishing Company. stroudsburg, pa., printers. The Moss Engraving Company, puck building, NEW YORK. - / \0£~IC? PREFACE. It is trusted that the following pages, filled with prose we are, nevertheless, animated by the hope that what little and art, will in some small measure serve to answer the we give ma}' kindle a desire in the minds of our readers for question, which the curious or interested person would nat- more, and thus induce them to come and see the originals urally ask, namely, "what is the advantage of a residence, for themselves, which, in that case, will speak far better long or short, in Monroe county." We have done things than we have been able to say. what we could in that direction, but painfully realize how If in our attempted dalliance with the popular queen, inadequate are the means to that end. called Science, we shall receive her smile, it, no doubt, will In preparing the foregoing matter we have been, in no be grateful to our pride ; but, if otherwise, we shall still be small degree, harrassed, more or less, by a fear of saying content in the conviction that she at most, in such matters, little of being too precise, or too general does not speak in a well-known tongue, and is but little too much, or too ; ; too loose in statement, or too rigidly historic. It has been our more than a sort of priestess, or sibyl, whose utterances re- uniform aim to make our matter interesting, if not instructive, quire a special interpreter, such as yet, has not been vouch- and as true to fact as possible, with the means at hand ; to safed to us. glean such facts and incidents as may be worth treasuring, at With this explanation, or, if you please, apology, we least by those concerned in them directly or remotely. launch our Sketch Book enterprise on its unsailed sea, not Art is too limited in its scope to illustrate our subject- altogether without hope, trusting that the adverse winds of matter as fully as originally were our aim and design. But criticism will deal gently and kindly with our little Bark. /?»5J Af-y- Monroe County Court House. HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. By DR. J. LANTZ. would be highly interesting to know accurately the settler in the limits of this county. He was born in France. IT early history of Stroudsburg and vicinit}-. Who the In early life he was a Roman Catholic priest, but, after a primitive settlers were is not known, nor can it be, with short period, eschewed Romanism, and became a pro- any degree of certainty. Scientists tell us that after the nounced Huguenot, (a French Protestant of the Calvanistic Glacial Period had passed, and the earth became suitable to type). The edict of Nantes, approved by King Henry the the support of human life, that there is abundance of proof Fourth, of France, Ma}' 2, 1598, granted religious liberty that the most primitive inhabitants of the globe were once and equality to all his subjects. This edict was repealed here, and that these were followed by a more civilized race, October 18, 1685. On account, perhaps, of the religious and these by the Mound Builders, and that these remained persecution following his change of religion, and the strong until the Indians came and crowded them back to the far and bitter agitation for the repeal of the edict, long years west, which eventually swallowed them in history untold, before it was accomplished, Mr. Depuy took up his resi- except by a few stray relics, from the character of which dence in Holland, where he married a Miss Roseyand sub- their age of succession, and degree of civilization, are in- sequently sailed to this country from Artois, France, ar- ferred. And as the Indian crowded out his predecessor, riving in New York in October, 1662, with his wife and and set up a new race, so is he now experiencing the process three children. He settled in Ulster county, N. Y. In of being crowded from the face of the earth, which was from 1725-27 he purchased land of the Indians and removed once his undisputed home, through the natural working of with his family to Minisink Valley. This valley extends the unerring law of Divine succession. from the Delaware Water Gap, including both sides of the The First Settler.—Local history, by Mr. L. W. Brod- river, to Port Jervis, N. Y., and beyond. This Indian pur- head, makes Nicholas Depuy the first authenticated white chase embraced 3,000 acres on the river, about three miles above the Gap, including the islands in the river and the tant. They were temporary occupants of the land. When Shawnee region. This is said to be the oldest documentary the}- ceased to work the mines they left, leaving no settle- authenticated settlement by the whites on the Pennsylvania ment behind. side of Delaware river, on land now included in Monroe Our venerable and respected townsman, Robert R. county. Depuy, was born in the ancestral mansion at Shawnee, About sixty-eight years before Mr. Depuy made his November 13, 1S14, and is a direct descendant of the origi- purchase, the Dutch from Esopes (now Kingston, N. Y. ), nal settler, and fifth in descent to own the ancestral home. worked copper, lead or silver mines on the New Jersey side Dansbury was a name originally applied to the region of the river, nearly opposite the' Depuy purchase. But they embraced in the two boroughs, and retained that name until prosecuted their business as miners, carried their product 1769, when Stroudsburg was founded. to Esopes, N. Y., over a made road, nearly ioo miles dis- This County was brought into existence by an act of the Assembly entitled "An act erecting parts of Northamp- ton and Pike counties into a separate county to be called Monroe." This act was approved by Gov. Joseph Ritner, April 1, 1836. The Selection of the County Seat was left for the voters to determine. As contestants for that honor Stroudsburg, Del. Water Gap and Kellersville entered the field. To settle that question an election was held July 2, 1836, which resulted in a draw, neither place receiving a majority vote. This place received 800, the Gap 80 and Kellersville 750 votes. A second election was held on the 26th of the same month, when this place and the Gap joined forces and cast 1 132 votes for Stroudsburg, while 1062 votes were cast for Kellersville. Stroudsburg winning the prize by 70 major- ity. The question aroused great interest. The winners were greatlj' rejoiced, while the losers were deeply cha- The Stroud Minsion. grined. Mutual accusations of fraud were freely made. Aii allusion in after years to the manner of voting and THE FOUNDER OF STROUDSBURG. counting the ballots cast on that occasion, usualty excited a broad smile on the faces of those who knew just how it 8TROUDSBURG is located on land originally owned by was done. It was generally conceded at the time, that while Lynford Lardner, Daniel Brodhead, Peter LaBar and one side cast all the honest and illegal votes it could, the others, who are the ancestors of those bearing those names other side did precisely the same thing, exceeding the other in both here and in different parts of the United States. Peter was the ancestor of the noted George LaBar, who lived to be one hundred and eleven years old. Lardner sold his property to Derrick VanVleit, and Jacob Stroud subse- quently became the purchaser of it. The region em bracing this place and East Stroudsburg was at first known as Dansbury, and retained that name until 1 769, when Strouds- burg was founded by Col. Jacob Stroud. He was born at Amwell, Hunterdon Co., N. J., January 15, 1735. His father was born in Great Britain, and came to this country with his parents when but five years old. His grandfather had incurred the displeasure of King Charles the First in voting as a member of Parliament to abridge the king's de- mands. The parents of the founder placed him under the care of Nicholas Depuy, the owner of a large landed estate at Shawnee, a few miles above the Del. Water Gap, to learn Main Street in J 865. farming. Mr. Depuy was the first authenticated settler in that particular by j ust 70 votes. That was the only difference. the territory embraced in Monroe county. When the The Court House not being completed in season, the founder became of age in 1756, he and three of his brothers first court in this county was held in the upper rooms of enlisted in the Colonial English army for the period of five the old Edward H.