Delving into the lake to cool and into history to learn
DELANSON — OK, it is summertime now. It was dry, it was sunny, it was humid, and it was hot! Well into the 90s even up here in the mountains.
The OMOTM arrived at Gibby’s Diner on time on June 24, which for us is whenever we get there. Waking up these days is not a problem as the sun starts to come through the east-facing windows around 5:15 a.m. Maybe a little earlier if you live on the east side of the mountaintop, or a little later if you are on the farm down in the valley.
Regardless, it was a beautiful morning and the fact it was exactly six months until Christmas Eve did not enter a single OF’s mind, except mine, as I have to write the date for each column. In the interest of full disclosure, that thought left my mind even before I finished typing it.
I am sure all the summer camps are now fully open, the docks are in, and the boats are securely tied up. The inner tubes have been patched and now hold air as do all the floats, big and little.
Along with the hot weather’s arrival, this signals a corresponding rise in the water temperature on all the lakes and ponds throughout the Hilltowns. Gone are the frigid water temps.
We, the OMOTM, no longer have to rely on watching to see if the little kids are in swimming as an indication of acceptable water temperatures. It’s a well-known fact that those kids do not let a little thing like cold water get in the way of a good time in the water! During the last couple of days, even the dogs were spending more time in the water than out of it.
Remember when we could look at our kids’ lips and, if they were blue and they were shaking all over, we could then tell them to get out of the water and warm up for a while. If we used our grown-up parent’s tone of voice, they would reluctantly get out of the water for a minute or two.
Now, as the OMOTM, we look at our own fingertips and if, after an hour or more of floating around, they are wrinkly and sort of puckered up, we start to think of climbing on a rubber float, drying out a little while enjoying an ice tea or some other beverage that is as “Cold as the Rocky Mountains” as we watch those same little kids expend more energy than they can possibly contain in those bodies.
They absolutely never run out of energy! Unless you ask them to mow the lawn or something.
Dietz Massacre
Not only did the talk around the tables deal with the fine weather but, as usual, it also touched upon many completely different subjects, including Indian raids during the Revolutionary War times in the local Hilltowns and the Schoharie Valley.
One of these OFs told of a massacre known locally as the Deitz Family Massacre just south of today’s town of Berne along the Switzkill Road.
Much of what I quote here is from an article published in The Altamont Enterprise in 1965 and from additional information supplied by The Enterprise with regards to the attack on, and murder of, the Dietz family and supporting background information of the times.
The Schoharie Valley was an important source of grain and farm produce and was a major supplier of these products to George Washington and the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. As such, it was often called the breadbasket of the war. Or at least one of them. The British knew all about the Schoharie Valley and its ability to supply food to George Washington and his army.
To quote from my old friend Mr. Google, “Beaver Dam is a historical area within the town of Berne in Albany County, New York. It was originally known as Beaver Dam due to the presence of a large beaver dam near the confluence of the Switzkill and Foxenkill creeks. The area later became part of the Town of Berne when it was formed in 1795.”
The late Mr. A. B. Gregg, long-time Guilderland town historian, wrote an article published in The Altamont Enterprise in the 1960s, that tells of the Dietz Family Massacre in 1781. “During the Revolutionary War, the Beaver Dam saw little action. The major threat would have been from the west where the British and their Indian allies repeatedly attacked the communities along the Mohawk Valley.”
The article goes on to tell the story that on Sept. 1, 1781, the Dietz farm was attacked by Indians led by a British soldier. Captain Dietz was taken captive and forced to witness the murder of his parents, his wife and four children, and a Scottish servant girl, while his farm was burned.
The reason for choosing the Dietz family as the target for the massacre was obvious: It was to terrorize the local populace. If the family of the captain of the local militia was not safe, no one was safe.
I took a drive today through the area and found a marker near the spot where this happened, put there by the Daughters of the American Revolution. It can’t be much more than five or six miles, as the crow flies, from my home in East Berne.
Hard to believe that such a terrible thing happened right here in our backyard. That area is where you want to take a “Sunday drive,” because it is beautiful and peaceful. Right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Again, it is amazing the conversations that go on and the knowledge that is present at an OMOTM breakfast, and I only get to overhear some of it.
Those present at Gibby’s Diner were: Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Michael Kruzinski, Wm Lichliter, George Washburn, Pete Whitbeck, Frank Dees, Ted Feurer, Wayne Gaul, Russ Pokorny, Warren Willsey, Frank A. Fuss, Jim Austin, Robert Schanz, Roger Shafer, Paster Jay Francis, Ken Parks, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Glenn Patterson, Lou Schenck, Marty Herzog, John Jaz, Dick Dexter, Gerry Cross, John Dab, Paul Guiton, Elwood Vanderbilt, Alan DeFazio, Bob Donnelly, Dave Hodgetts, and me.