Learning about, sharing, and preserving our history
What is there about Gilboa that attracts residents, tourists, and international researchers?
Historically, Gilboa and Conesville have 3 major attractions that are highlighted in both permanent and rotating museum displays as well as our popular programs:
- Gilboa Forest: The first broad exploration of this petrified forest by a professional geologist was made in the 1920s by Winifred Goldring, and since that time, scientists have found Gilboa Fossils throughout the world (Venezuela, Ireland, and Eastern Europe). The Gilboa Museum has a permanent exhibit on Gilboa Fossils, and rotating exhibits on the evolution of scientific theory, new discoveries about these ancient relics, and fossil games for children.
- The Village of Old Gilboa: The center of Gilboa in 1916 was a large hamlet with over 100 homes, large business and industrial centers, and adjacent to 3 square miles of rich Schoharie valley farmland. Within a decade, this cultural center had been documented, photographed, and culturally archived before it was razed and the valley filled with water. Just as Vesuvius created a timeless Pompeii for a study of ancient life, Gilboa today provides insights into turn-of-the-century life in rural America.
- New York City’s Schoharie Reservoir: In 1916, the Gilboa valley became the projected site for the northernmost reservoir in the New York City water supply. This reservoir is one of the smallest in the City’s west-of-the-Hudson operations, and yet collects its water from one of its largest watersheds. The combination of early public works, environmental importance to the city, the changing construction technology, and its compact area makes it an ideal microcosm for historical and educational research.
Navigating the pages of the Gilboa Historical Society
The narrower column to the right of your computer’s browser (at the end of the window of your phone or pad) has three scroll-down windows:
- Current activities within the society and neighborhood.
- Links to our society’s web pages (unlinked pages are shown but under construction)
- Information about the Gilboa Historical Society
- Paleo- and current history of the Gilboa Fossils
- Local history of the Gilboa valley and village
- The construction and functioning of the Schoharie Reservoir.
- Membership information
NEWS AT HISTORICAL VIEWS
New issue of Tri-County Historical Views is at the printer, and will be mailed gratis to current members of the Gilboa Historical Society! You should be receiving your copy probably in the first week of November.
New website: www.catskilltricounty.org covering the organization from its start to current events.
New PODCASTS on John Davenport Clarke: farmer, forester, and congressman; Mrs. Van Winkle, not as a “scold” but with a new slant on life; Native American pottery from New York’s indigenous people; and a history of Eugene P. Bicknell and his 19th century discovery of a special Catskills bird.
The drop-down windows below are for our current activities; links to our web sites; and contact information on becoming a member.
We ARE open!
To keep in touch, send us your email address!
Looking forward:
- SPECIAL TOURS can be set up by calling (607) 652-2665, (607) 588-9413, or (607) 588-6267
- THE MUSEUM IS OPEN 12–4:30 pm weekends from Memorial Day through Columbus Day.
- For INDOOR events, please wear masks, and use social distance between strangers.
- OUTDOOR events have no Covid-related limitations.
GENERAL MEETINGS are on the 3rd Wednesday of each month through December. A short business meeting starts at 6:00; ends at 6:30; and the guest speaker starts at 6:45.
Communications between us is key to your enjoyment and our success. To maximize this, please share your personal data on this patron information form. The pandemic has stressed usual channels, but we rely more than ever on email —please share these addresses and we will not abuse that privilege.
Member benefits
- complimentary issues of Catskill Tri-County Historical Views (May & November)
- All GHS Newsletters and mailings.
- Gift shop discounts of 10% on all sales.
Basis of annual membership
Our annual membership is based on an anniversary date established when we process your check. A renewal would simply add 12 months to the projected expiration date, while lapsed memberships are seen as new ones without penalty.
We ARE open!
To keep in touch, send us your email address!
Looking Forward:
- SPECIAL TOURS can be set up by calling (607) 652-2665, (607) 588-9413, or (607) 588-6267
- THE MUSEUM IS OPEN 12–4:30 pm weekends from Memorial Day through Columbus Day.
- For INDOOR events, please wear masks, and use social distance between strangers.
- OUTDOOR events have no Covid-related limitations.
GENERAL MEETINGS are on the 3rd Wednesday of each month through December. A short business meeting starts at 6:00; ends at 6:30; and the guest speaker starts at 6:45.
- November 17—
November 17—Edward Zane Carroll Judson, who wrote under the name Ned Buntline, spent the first few- and the last-15 years of his life in Stamford, NY. He was a collection of paradoxes:
high-toned literary critic/dime novelist
Temperance lecturer/heavy drinker
family man/bigamist
naval hero/army deserter
died at 63/hanged at 23
Whatever one knows about him, the opposite is also true. Three areas of his life, however, were consistent within the swirling chaos of his energy: he loved the outdoors, he loved women (and they seemed to love him back), and he wrote, day in and day out, in the woods, in jail, wherever he happened to be.
Author T. M. Bradshaw will present a talk based on her book Ned Buntline: So Much Larger Than Life at the Gilboa Historical Society meeting on November 17, held at the Gilboa Museum. The talk will follow the society’s business meeting that starts at 6 p.m.
The Gilboa Museum is at 122 Stryker Road, Gilboa, NY, 12076. For more information phone (607) 652-2665 or (607) 437-7132 or (607) 588-6894. - November 21, Holiday Bazaar 11:00–4:00: museum, and possibly with the basement as well.
- December 15, Santa Claus is our guest tonight, hosting our annual Bottle Auction & holiday gift baskets raffle starting at 7:45 (GHS Business Meeting 6:00–6:30; Refreshments ’till 6:45; and Santa will start at 6:45)
Unlinked pages are under construction.
GHS Facebook page
Gilboa Fossils, a site of the Gilboa Historical Society
A full featured long playing video of the Gilboa Museum by Kristen Wyckoff.
Gilboa Historical Society
GHS Home Page
GHS History
GHS Founders
GHS Support
Our First Decade
Cultural & Natural History
Our Tri-County Community
GHS in the 2020s
GHS Activities
GHS Facilities
Who We Are, our organization
Board of Directors
By-Laws of the Society
Committees of the GHS
Map to the GHS Complex
GHS Endowment
Our Publications
GHS Quarterlies
Tri-County Historical Views
Podcasts on Historical Views
Gilboa geography in 1915
Valley and Village
Gilboa Valley
Gilboa Village
Retail stores
Retail services
Residences and small farms
Iron bridge area west of creek
Iron bridge area east of creek
Church Hill
Gilboa property database (photos and information on properties searchable by individual, family, or neighborhood) under construction.
Schoharie Reservoir, 1904–
Plans leading to Gilboa Reservoir
Why Gilboa?
Construction Infrastructure
Materials
Stream Control
Shandaken Tunnel
Intake House
Scrubbing the Valley
Dam and berm
Maintenance 1927–2000
Board of Water Supply resources
Communications between you and the GHS is key to your enjoyment and our success. Underlying this linkage is a secure, local database that stores only as much of your information as you are comfortable with sharing. If you want to keep in touch with us only via email and are not comfortable sharing more information, please send us your email address on this form.
Our annual membership is based on an anniversary date established when we process your check. A renewal would simply add 12 months to the projected expiration date, while lapsed memberships are seen as new ones without penalty for the lapse.
Member benefits
- complimentary issues of Catskill Tri-County Historical Views (May & November)
- All GHS Newsletters and mailings.
- Gift shop discounts on all sales.