To the Editor:

According to local legend, Herman Melville came to Cobleskill, stayed at the Hotel Augustan — now Scholet’s Furniture — and wrote his masterpiece there.

The late Norm Olsen, town historian, thought the legend was true, according to Art Scholet, as quoted in an article about Scholet’s Furniture in the May 29, 2013 Daily Gazette:

“Norman Olsen was the town historian when we bought the place, and he told me how Herman Melville wrote parts of ‘Moby Dick’ while he was here,” said Mr. Scholet.

“He had a room on the second floor some place. I don’t know if it’s true. I’ve never seen it written anywhere, but it’s a colorful piece of history that Norm shared with me.”

I had also heard the story about Melville writing “Moby Dick” at the Hotel Augustan, and always wondered if there was any truth to it.

Then, while researching my 2016 book, “Rambles in Schoharie County,” I stumbled upon a letter in the Jan. 4, 1877 Cobleskill Index that I believe solves the mystery. The letter is addressed to the Rev. W.H.L. Starks, Cobleskill, and is from “Your friend, Eli Perkins,” writing from “On the cars (at large), in Iowa.”

“The Bureau informs me,” writes Perkins, “that I am to lecture in Cobleskill, January 16th , and you ask me if I will surely be present on that occasion. I might say that I will. I always make a point to be present when I lecture …

“President Dickson, of the Albany & Susquehanna R.R. has already furnished me with a bundle of free passes over his road hoping I may be killed on the train, and the good people of Albany say when I get there that they will gladly escort me to Cobleskill rather than have me remain in their town over night …

“I remember visiting Cobleskill many — very many years ago — I should say about 300. Mr. [George] Bellinger [editor and publisher] of the Index was then a fair-haired boy, innocent and blithesome.

“Mr. Bellinger emigrated from Germany, if my memory does not fail me, in 1468, bringing with him a wife and 13 small children.

“The story that Mr. B smuggled over the Index office in his carpet bag to avoid paying duty is untrue…

“If I like Cobleskill this time as well as I did before I shall settle there. I always try and settle in every place where I lecture.”

Eli Perkins made good on his promise to come to Cobleskill and likely stayed at the Hotel Augustan. He gave his lecture in Opera Hall, which was located on the northwest corner of Main and Union streets.

An account of Perkins’s lecture in the Jan. 18, 1877 Cobleskill Index, probably written by George Bellinger, reports, “A large number of persons from here and hereabouts assembled in Opera Hall on Tuesday evening to see and hear ‘Eli Perkins’…

“The disturbance commenced at 7 ½ o’clock, at which time the doors were locked and no person was permitted to go out. The people suffered dreadfully.

“Perkins threatened to repeat his lecture and the citizens at once held a mass meeting, and, inasmuch as they could not get out of the place en masse, on account of the great depth of snow, they solemnly resolved to all commit suicide if the lecturer persisted.”

A little research reveals that, in his day, “Eli Perkins” was a well-known and successful journalist, lecturer, and writer. By 1891, he had published nine books, four of which liberally borrowed from the writings of Mark Twain. Perkins portrayed Twain as a close friend, but actually they only saw each other on social occasions.

So what does “Eli Perkins” have to do with the question of whether “Moby Dick” was written in Cobleskill?

First, let’s look at a few facts.

Moby Dick was published in 1851. So, if Melville wrote it in Cobleskill, it would have been at the National Hotel, the predecessor to the Hotel Augustan. The National Hotel was destroyed in the Big Fire of 1873 and the Hotel Augustan was built upon its site and opened in 1875.

For some facts about Herman Melville, in 2015 I contacted SUNY Cobleskill Professor Erik Hage, then associate professor of Journalism and Communication and now department chairman, and author of the book “The Melville-Hawthorne Connection.”

Professor Hage responded in an email, “Most of Moby Dick was written in 1850 and 1851 in Pittsfield, Mass. A little bit of it was written earlier in New York City (around 4th Ave and 10th Street).  There’s no record of him ever going to Cobleskill in the primary records.”

So, how did the story of Melville writing “Moby Dick” in Cobleskill get started?

I think it was the visit of the then-famous Eli Perkins that sparked the story. You see “Eli Perkins” was his pen name — his real name was Melville. Melville De Lancey Landon.

So perhaps it was the visit of the then-famous Melville De Lancey Landon that spawned the spurious story about Herman Melville — and like in any good tall tale, not only did Herman Melville visit Cobleskill, he wrote his masterpiece here.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Pete Lindemann

Town Historian

Cobleskill