Chichester, New York
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The
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
of Chichester, New York, formerly referred to as Chichesterville, is one of the northernmost communities in the town of Shandaken, being adjacent to the borderline between
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
and Greene counties. The hamlet of Chichester, New York, is not to be confused with the city in
West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. One difference is that, unlike the city of
Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...
, England, the "i" in Chichester, New York, is pronounced like "eye" instead of a vowel sound such as in the word "chip".


History

The hamlet was founded in 1863, by brothers Frank and Lemuel Chichester, whom the town is named after. The Chichester brothers were the sons of Samuel Chichester, the contractor who built the
Catskill Mountain House The Catskill Mountain House, which opened in 1824, was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York, and in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by thre ...
. They were looking for a good location to construct a furniture factory. When they found the right place, the workers at the factory began moving in the area surrounding the factory, therefore founding the company-owned hamlet of Chichester. The
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad (which would later become a branch of the
Ulster and Delaware Railroad The Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) was a railroad located in the state of New York. It was often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains." At its greatest extent, the U&D extended from Kingston Point on the Hudson R ...
) was built through the town in 1881. As was customary in that time, workers were often paid with company scrip which could be redeemed in the factory-owned general store. The factory was later purchased by William O. Schwartzwaelder, who was of German ancestry, and renamed the factory after him. The rest of the hamlet was starting to expand, all of the houses and buildings being built by the factory, as were the other buildings. There was one general store in the town, and sold such merchandise as saddles, animal feed, and hardware. There was also a post office and a schoolhouse in the town, the schoolhouse being a house at present. The furniture factory went out of business decades later in 1939, a few years after the great depression, which devastated the business. The village, at the time comprising 44 houses and buildings, was put up for auction on October 28, 1939. Joseph Day was the auctioneer. The houses and building of hamlet were purchased at the auction, and it has been in the hands of private owners ever since the auction.


Geography

Chichester is within the
Catskill Park The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the United States. It consists of of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster. As of 2005, or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by ...
, and is situated in a mountainous valley. The northern portion of the hamlet borders Greene County, directly south of the hamlet of Lanesville. There are two major creeks that run through the hamlet. These are the Stony Clove Creek, which starts at Notch Lake in
Edgewood Edgewood may refer to: Places Canada *Edgewood, British Columbia South Africa *Edgewood, a University of KwaZulu-Natal campus in Pinetown, South Africa United States Cities and towns *Edgewood, California *Edgewood, Florida *Edgewood, Illinois, a ...
, and
Warner's Creek The Warnaco Group, Inc. was an American textile/clothing corporation which designed, sourced, marketed, licensed, and distributed a wide range of underwear, sportswear, and swimwear worldwide. Its products were sold under several brand names i ...
, which also starts in Edgewood. The two creeks there, however, are called by the locals Stony Clove and Ox Clove.


See also

*
Chichester Railroad Station Chichester station was the Ulster and Delaware Railroad's small station that served the village of Chichester, New York, branch MP 1.6. The old Chichester station was a lot like a small shack with a platform on it that was two miles away from the ...
* New York State Route 214 *
Shandaken, New York Shandaken is a town on the northern border of Ulster County, New York, United States, northwest of Kingston, New York. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 2,866.2020 US Census, Shandaken, Ulster County, New York https://www ...
* Stony Clove Creek *
Ulster and Delaware Railroad The Ulster and Delaware Railroad (U&D) was a railroad located in the state of New York. It was often advertised as "The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains." At its greatest extent, the U&D extended from Kingston Point on the Hudson R ...


References


External links

{{Authority control Hamlets in New York (state) Shandaken, New York Catskills Hamlets in Ulster County, New York