Skerry, New York
Encyclopedia
Location
The Hamlet of Skerry is located in Town of BrandonBrandon, New York
Brandon is a town in Franklin County, New York, United States. It is centrally located in the county, southwest of the village of Malone. The town population was 542 at the 2000 census. It was named after Brandon, Vermont by early settlers.-History:...
in Franklin County
Franklin County, New York
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 51,599. It is named in honor of American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin...
, between the Little Salmon River on Franklin County Highway 12(the Skerry Road) and Franklin County Highway 13 (Bangor Skerry Road). Skerry is 7 miles from Malone
Malone (village), New York
-Notable natives:Notable natives include:*William Almon Wheeler served as Vice President of the United States under Rutherford Hayes. Is buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone....
and the nearest community is West Bangor 3.6 miles.
Originally the community developed around a lumber mill and other small businesses. To the north of Skerry are a number of farms. To the south you enter the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
and extensive hardwood and softwood forests that are part of the Deer River State Forests.
History
Skerry developed in the mid to late 19th Century as both to serve the farms to the north and as a small hamlet with a number of small industries.“The only settlement. (in Brandon
Brandon, New York
Brandon is a town in Franklin County, New York, United States. It is centrally located in the county, southwest of the village of Malone. The town population was 542 at the 2000 census. It was named after Brandon, Vermont by early settlers.-History:...
) other than Reynoldston which has even a resemblance to a hamlet is Skerry, at which there are a store, a blacksmith shop and a scattering of houses.”
“Sawmills have been Ira Ewings's, the first built in the town, and owned later by Lyman Weeks; James Skerry's, later owned by Warren Aldrich, and now by L. C. Bowen. “ The Bowen Mill operated for more than thirty years and id described at http://reynoldstonnewyork.com/WebsterBowenMills.aspx by Mrs. Alice Crooks the daughter of L. Cass Bowen in an oral history interview in 1970. The Bowen Mill also had their own logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
camps to support their sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
and employed both mill workers and loggers during its existence. In 1920 The Reynolds Bros. bought the lumber mill and operated in until 1926 when the dam washed out.
Mrs. Katherine V Bowen in a letter provide her Recollections of Life in Skerry,New York CA. 1900. She is a sister of Cass Bowen, and spent her early years in Skerry. The letter can be found at: http://reynoldstonnewyork.com/Skerry.aspx
“It has also had at least two creameries, one of which is at Skerry, and still running. It was built by Gaius A. Lane about 1880, and sold to Fred Lawrence. It was next sold to Norman Wilson, who now owns it.”
“There seems to have been no regular church organization in the town after the collapse of the Baptist society until 1891, when the First Congregational Society of Brandon was incorporated, and a church edifice erected the same year at Skerry.”
“A Holiness church was built near Skerry in 1905. It has a pastor, and enjoys services regularly.” The Holiness Church was very popular during the early part of the 20th Century with regular sunday service and Bible Studies. Between 50 and 100 people attended the services during this time.