A couple of forgotten places near Millsburg

Camp Deer Trail in the township of Greenville (just up the hill from Millsburg) had a need for someone to mow the lawns, paint the equipment, ready the row boats and keep the dock in reasonable repair. As a fourteen or fifteen year old kid with a bicycle, many days were spent working with Joe. The daily activities discussed and decided by the camp matriarch Pat.

By the time I was hired by Pat, the camp had been closed for at least ten years. Pat was reluctant to accept the closure of Camp Deer Trail and each spring the cabins were swept out, the dining hall stocked and the recreation hall spruced up for another season. There is not much of a historical trail about this summer camp. Some local folks remember the campers arriving at the beginning each summer session, stopping to get a drink of water at Wells Tavern.

One of the projects Pat requested just before the liquidation auction was a new sign for the end of the driveway. After forty years the sign is now done and hanging on the deck of the house in Millsburg.

Millsburg Road abruptly begins where Rome School Road ends. This junction is not at an intersection, rather at the bridge over the creek at the end of the driveway. The creek happens to be the town line where Millsburg residents may reside in either Minisink or Waywayanda.

Rome Schoolhouse was on the Minisink side of the creek. Now gone, there is no longer a trace of the one room school house. The approximate location is now a garden shed tucked into the edge of the woods.

 

In the late 1960's the Interstate Highway System was being constructed. Just up the hill Millsburg Road intersects with US Route 6. At this intersection there was a classic diner serving the truck drivers, bus drivers, local politicians and tourists heading to the Poconos.

 

Frequently while working at Camp Deer Trail the mid-day break would include a quick trip to the Greenville Diner for lunch.

The new highway, Interstate 84, by-passed the diner. Today the empty lot is overgrown and has never been redeveloped.

According to information found on Al Gore's amazing internet, the former Greenville Diner did business on US Rt 6 a little east of Port Jervis.  This diner replaced a Tierney, that was later used as a kitchen.  The Tierney even survived into the 90s.  Unfortunately, when this diner was saved and moved to Ohio, the Tierney did not survive.  Today, this Silk City diner does business in Sabina, Ohio. See link Kim's Classic Diner

 

 

Partially restored by Al Sloan in Alpena, Michigan. Formerly located in Greenville, NY where it replaced an older Tierney that was then used as the diner's kitchen. After moved to Alpena, owners demolished the Tierney. 
Moved to Sabina in the early 2000s.
See Link Diversified Diners