Welcome to Historic Margaretville!

Welcome to Historic Margaretville!. . , This stream-crossed valley beneath 3,200-foot Pakatakan Mountain has been attracting travelers since the Lenni Lenape found good hunting and fishing here hundreds of years ago. The first European settlers arrived in the region in 1763, and a small community began to grow around a water-powered mill established on the man-made Binnekill ("small stream") in 1784. Originally known as Middletown Center, the village was renamed in honor of a descendant of Robert Livingston, holder of the half-million-acre Hardenburgh Patent which encompassed this area. , The village served as a trading and social hub for farm families who made a living from the land, producing milk and cauliflower,and harvesting timber and bluestone. The Ulster and Delaware, and Delaware and Northern Railroads brought tourists to stay at hotels and boarding houses., Margaretville's fortunes have ebbed and flowed with its waterways, which periodically inundate the valley. The East Branch of the Delaware River was dammed in the early 1950s to create the Pepacton Reservoir, part of New York City's vast water supply system. This meant heartache for 1,000 people who were forced to relocate from four communities and dozens of farms. Yet Margaretville takes pride in being at the center of a 1,600-square-mile Watershed that supplies clean water to half the State's population., Photos Counterclockwise from Upper Right: , Each August from 1889 to 1916, the Margaretville Fair drew thousands of country folks for three days of agricultural and home arts competition, as well as entertainment, like horse racing. , , The community was named for another Margaret, but visitor Margaret O'Connell was thrilled pose with the Village's welcome sign in the mid-1950s. Photo courtesy Peg Ellsworth, Main Street, Margaretville was a happening place on a Saturday in the 1940s, with stores restaurants, a hotel and a movie theater. Postcard from the collection of Lynda Stratton, The East Branch runs through the center of Margaretville, and captures the heart everyone who paddles, fishes or pauses to enjoy its four-season beauty., Niles Fairbairn, famed for his hunting and fishing exploits in the 1920s and 30s, epitomized the Catskill mountainman for generations of outdoor lovers., Provided by the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown , www.mtownhistory.org