The Neversink Valley Museum Wednesday Night History Talks with Bill Merchant ” The History of the DuPuy Canal House”

History Talk on the DuPuy Canal House History of the Canal House 1797 – Simeon DePuy, one of the most prominent citizens of High Falls, NY opened the Stone House Tavern.
1825 – Work on the Delaware-Hudson Canal began, a project destined to link towns from Rondout-on-the-Hudson to Honesdale, PA. Simeon DePuy, by then an experienced restaurateur, profitted well during this time catering to hungry and thirsty Canal workers.
1826 – The D & H Canal opened ushering in a new era of cargo transport that operated for over 70 years. Simeon DePuy’s eatery was the site of Lock 16. His business flourished as the canalmen, called the “roughest, toughest, fightingest” bunch of the profession, refueled at the tavern-on-the-water.
1870 – The D & H Canal entered a prosperous decade, which would be its last successful era.
1872 – 1,000,000 tons of anthracite coal were weighed through the locks at Eddyville. It was coal that gave the Canal its start. Ironically, it was coal that would force its closing. Since the Canal could not operate during the winter, America welcomed in the Great Railroad. Trains were able to move the coal quicker, cheaper, and in all seasons of the year. High Falls, a thriving community with five stores, five saloons, and two butcher shops, began to lose its luster.
1899 – The D & H Canal Company sold the Canal with all of its “franchises, rights and privileges” to Samuel D. Coykendall for $10,000. But within a few years, the Canal closed for good, with the “Ulster Queen” the last boat to make a scheduled run. The Canal, once the Interstate Highway of the 19th Century, became merely an unused, overgrown ditch.

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