Sources
The Watkins Review 1959
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/52266/watkins_review1959p11.pdf
Schuyler County Comprehensive Plan, 2014
http://www.schuylercounty.us/DocumentCenter/View/2215/Schuyler-County-Comprehensive-Plan-2014
In 1798, John Dow came to the Town of Reading as an early settler. He had previously stayed with the Culver family, and with the followers of Jemima Wilkinson northward in Yates County on Seneca Lake’s western shore. In 1801, the Culvers moved to a farm in Reading, opening a tavern and a store. Both were near the soon-to-be hamlet of Reading Center. The Town formed in 1806 and was named Reading at the suggestion of an early resident from Reading, Pennsylvania. In the following years, the first Reading schoolhouse was built. The only other settlement on record in Reading is the hamlet of Irelandville, named for the family of land speculators who moved there around 1806. Still standing in this settlement is a drover’s tavern erected in 1828.
History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York.
by H. B. Peirce
INITIAL EVENTS.
Judge Dow built the first house, 1798. It stood just east of the present residence of Mrs. Davis. David Culver erected the first framed house, at the corner near the school-house. Eliadia Parker built the first saw-mill at Irelandville. Judge Dow opened the first farm, and harvested the first crops, 1798. David Culver opened the first tavern, in 1801. David Culver, Jr., kept the first store, in 180G ; it stood near the tavern. William Diven was the first postmaster at Reading Centre. Hiram Chapman was the first postmaster in the town; the office was the Reading Post-Office, Irelandville, and was established 1816.
Crooked Lake Review
Irelandville, by Barbara Bell
https://www.crookedlakereview.com/articles/34_66/40july1991/40bell.html
In 1814, Mrs. Judith Ireland, wife of John Ireland, inherited 2,000 acres of land lying between the west shore of Seneca lake and the Old Pre-emption Line westward, uphill and with the north boundary at what is now known as Lovers' Lane. The south line was approximately where the Mud Lake Road runs westward from the Irelandville Corner of Schuyler County Road 28. Mrs. Ireland was one of seven to receive a share from some of the holdings of her father, Jonathan Lawrence.
Lawrence, of New York City, had invested considerable money in two large sections, now in Schuyler County, of the newly-opened "West" after the Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779.
George Washington had ordered General John Sullivan to take troops through the Seneca Lake region to oust, by a scorched earth policy, the remaining Indians who were providing the British with food, scouts, horses and warriors. Even though the Revolutionary War was over, the boundary between British and United States holdings had not been firmly fixed. The action to stop aid to the British was deemed necessary to settle the matter.
Immediately afterwards, land speculators bought quantities of land rights in areas as yet unoccupied by white men. Thus, Jonathan Lawrence "bought into" claims of one James Watson which included what is now called Irelandville. Lawrence invested even more heavily in the region of Kayutah Lake, also in Schuyler County. As so often happened with early land grants, ownership changed. Watson had sold to Melancton Smith in 1786 and, the next year, Lawrence paid 10 shillings per acre. As with most such speculators, Lawrence probably never saw his holdings but left to an agent the business of selling portions and managing permanent holdings.
Many pioneers had heard, thanks to reports of Sullivan's men, about the lush growth of timber, plentiful wild game, and fish so large that no angler need lie about their size. Moreover, to the wilderness without roads through the heavy forests and swamps, the Seneca Valley offered easy access by waterways.
As some of the Seneca Indians returned to their home land, they began to live in log cabins rather than the longhouses of former years. There are accounts of their taking the cook pots of settlers to bring back salt from the area now known as Syracuse. The Indians also shared their knowledge of local salt seeps, and existing orchards of wild apples and plums. There is no record of subsequent strife between the early settlers and returning Indians.
In what became known as Irelandville, there were, by 1806, eleven dwellings, and, what was a necessity for those building new homes, a sawmill. It was run by Elidia Parker. The growing area boasted lime kilns for mortar and plaster, asheries where lye was produced by a leaching process and then sold for soap making, and pits where charcoal was made for forge fuel. There was already at least one resident blacksmith. From a hill above the settlement came bog iron which made a poor quality metal. Nevertheless, utilizing it was, in those times, a financially-viable venture.
Almost everyone made maple sugar and syrup, sometimes in an evaporator which was shared communally. Wild apples were pressed into cider, a common beverage in all homes. An early Gilbert family had a "nut mill" that mashed apples between wooden corrugated rollers turned by a horse or domesticated ox walking 'round and 'round the crushing mill, pulling the sweep, an overhead pole.
In 1822 John Ireland and his brother, William, moved to the "wild west" from New York City to manage their mother's inheritance. The area was already partially settled, some by people merely squatting, and some by persons who had purchased or received a grant of land, such as Revolutionary War veterans, who had been thus paid in lieu of cash for military service.
When the name Irelandville came into use has not been documented but certainly by the time John and William moved in to establish homes and a family farm. Irelandville was the first named settlement in the Town of Reading.
William built a fine home, undoubtedly the largest in the region at the time. He imported brick and marble as well as real glass for windows. It was located almost where today's Castel Grisch café and manor stand. Local "commoners" called William's place, by turns, "Ireland's Castle" and "Ireland's Folly." Research gives one the feeling that William may have "put on airs" and alienated settlers. An old neswpaper clipping reports that the house was finished, furnished and a house-warming date set, when a fire virtually destroyed the whole. The clipping states that the fire was obviously of incendiary origin. William returned to New York City, leaving local operations to John. A home was built for the farm manager, "Old Billy Young." No charges were ever brought in connection with the fire.
John located near the lake front, according to an old atlas. John was the still listed as a local resident in 1857, but, sometime later, apparently went back to the old family home in New York City.
The earliest settlers around Seneca Lake "took to the hills" to avoid marshes and swamps which threatened fever and ague during mosquito season. Thus Irelandville was an establishment long before the first portions of what is now Watkins Glen, Schuyler County's seat, were occupied.
Irelandville is identified, on a crude map in an 1837 gazeteer, as having 70 residences. If so, the "census taker" for that gazeteer must have counted every dwelling in the entire 2,000 acres inherited by Judith Ireland. The same map fails to show Penn Yan, Dundee, or a name for the village now known as Watkins Glen.
Irelandville was on the Bath-Catskill Turnpike, and a drovers' inn had been erected in 1828 on the corner where the stage coaches turned uphill to head toward Bath. It had a post office, called simply Reading, a tannery, two blacksmith shops, two general stores, a wagon shop, a harness maker, among other commercial places, and a school.
Local farmers shipped produce and cattle to the north end of Seneca Lake for larger markets, and, once the canal was opened, earned some income by shipping to more distant markets, and by providing wood for fuel for lake boats. The drovers' tavern, however, had played a major role even earlier as families "pooled" cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and even turkeys, to be driven to Owego where water travel carried items to larger cities for sale.
After the stage routes were established, fine riding or harness horses might be tied behind a stage and taken to Bath, or other stage stops, for sale. The horse was a vital part of the settler's life since it was often necessary, for many years, to make an overnight ride to a mill to sell grain and have wheat or corn ground for family use.
Reading post office, started in 1816, was first kept in a house kitty-corner from the tavern. Its first postmaster was Hiram Chapman. The nearest post office was in Mills Landing or Catherinestown, which today is Montour Falls. The two were not even in the same county until 1854 when Schuyler was formed.
The hamlet of Reading Center acquired its first permanent settler in 1798, and, in a few years, rivaled Irelandville for size, occupancy, and business. Those in Reading Center (spelled then Centre) referred to Irelandville as "Meanerville," one old-timer recalled in an interview. In no time the epithet was returned as "the Centre" was nicknamed "Meaner Still."
The telegraph, which preceded the telephone and electricity in the "backwoods," generally followed the stage roads. The road that runs from Bradford to Bath is still called the Telegraph Road.
In 1876 the Fall Brook Railroad was cut through the hills, parallel to the Irelandville Road, to haul coal from the mines at Blossburg, Pennsylvania, to buyers north of Seneca Lake. This was a project of John Magee in Watkins Glen. His railroad was not always welcomed by land owners along the right of way. One farmer, Charles Potter, argued with Magee about rights across his lands. Magee installed an underpass so that Potter could safely herd cattle to his fields without crossing the track, and easily pull wagons from his fields west of the railroad to his barn which sat against the main road east of the rail line.
Potter built himself a residence in the Greek style like the houses he had seen in the South when he was in the Civil War. His house had a central part with a portico at its front and wings on both sides. A subsequent owner tore down one of the wings, but it was later replaced by Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Freeman who bought part of the original farm in the late 1930s and lived there in the summer time. Mr. Freeman taught in Illinois.
Their house became the center of a project to establish a prototype museum village they began after World War II. They named it "Old Irelandville." The project included moving the old drovers' tavern from its original location on the corner to a site across the road from their house, which had been Potter's home. The drovers' inn now stands on the spot where Potter's barn had stook until it burned many years ago..
The Freemans also purchased a large Greek Revival structure and moved it to their museum village. This building had served as a church and as a town hall. It came from the east side of Seneca Lake where Sampson Naval Base was established. The building was dismantled and each piece marked for reconstructing as a part of "Old Irelandville." It stands now across the road from the Freeman's house. Several other buildings were either erected or converted from existing structures to add to the village.
However, like many a dream, the anticipated income from tourists coming to see "Old Irelandville" failed to match the upkeep costs, and the project ended about 25 years ago. Some of the buildings are still visible along Schuyler County Road 28. There is also an historical marker which the Freemans placed in their front yard. Freeman authored a number of books about antiques such as those that were in his museum. He even established a family publishing business.
Of the buildings of original Irelandville, Hiram Chapman's home, where the post office was once located, is now a private home. A later post office is on duty in Reading Center. The schoolhouse has been converted to use as a private home, as were two of the former general stores. The tavern remains, forlorn and neglected, and, perhaps, haunted from those early years when it was noisy with the tavern business and community meetings. If John or William Ireland's ghosts ever come calling, there is little for them to recognize.
© 1991, Barbara H. Bell
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyschuyl/1949news.htm
Geneva Daily Times, Tuesday, August 31, 1954
At Ordnance Depot
Ancient Baptist Church Being Moved
By Bill de Lancey
An ancient landmark in Seneca County east of Kendaia, the First Baptist Church, is being carefully leveled at its site on the Seneca Ordnance Depot grounds, and will be re-elected northwest of Watkins Glen. It will become part of the restoration of Old Irelandville. G. L. Freeman, Watkins Glen, publisher of books on antiques and Americans, was the successful bidder on the 50 x 40-foot structure and is personally supervising the work. Several husky college and high school youths swarmed over the second floor meeting hall, lowering the huge axe-squared beams. The roof and top story of the 60-foot-high church had already been moved to Watkins.
Pieces Marked
Mr. Freeman re-nailed boards of the front door frame which had become loosened in removing it, and marked all the pieces for future re-assembly. The new owner explained that he lives in the original home of John Ireland, a pioneer land owner. This house is three miles northwest of Watkins and one-half mile off R. 14. Mr. Freeman said his plans are not sufficiently complete to be announced, but that he expects to restore the area near his home into a village of the pioneer period in this region. He considers the Baptist Church a fine example. On the ground a few yards from the edifice lay its four 20-foot, white doric columns. These appear to be in good condition. "The church was started in 1795," Mr. Freeman said. "It stood a few feet east of where it is now. In 1820 it was moved to this site, raised slightly, and the portico added." Inside, on the ground floor, the plaster finish is in good condition. The one remaining original seat, or bench, stands in the hallway.
According to Mrs. Dr. Claude Smith, Geneva, whose family have been associated with the church for generations, the building was given careful consideration by Col. Arthur Dana Elliot when the property became included in the ordnance depot grounds. The Colonel is said to have done as much as he could to put the church in good condition, rather than have it meet the usual fate of tearing down or burning. Improvements included a hardwood floor on the meeting hall, and arrangements to have the old benches copied at a nominal sum if the members wished to make a memorial, Mrs. Smith explained. The latter plan fell through.
Names Noted
The cemeteries on each side of the church have been well maintained and fenced off from the working areas of the depot. Within the older cemetery we noted such names as: Smalley, Townley, Coryell, McGafferty, Wilcox, McWhorter, Scobey, Parker, Denniston, Bartlett, Sayre, Stanley, Baldridge, Watrus, Hotrum, Folwell, Torrey, and Gillette.
During early construction days at the Depot, the building was used variously as police headquarters and as a "break house" where workers could have shelter, tables and a stove while eating their lunches. Mr. Freeman pointed out that most of the pioneer-hewn beams are in good condition, but that a few of them show areas that have rotted. The original church glass was plain, we heard. The later memorial windows, and some other similar mementos of the historic church are said to be in the possession of church members still residing in the neighborhood. Mr. Freeman said, "By next spring I may be able to give you a good many more details on what our plans are for Old Irelandville."