My great great grandfather, Deacon Golden (D.G.) Young was part of a group of cheese makers in the mid-1800s who made the famous “Herkimer County Cheese”. Having patented a cheese-making knife that separated the curd, D.G. traveled throughout New England and as far west as Ohio to promote his knives, as well as make cheese on Twin Pines Farm. In the lithograph in my book, The Well, the cheese house is visible in the background behind the farmhouse.
Read MoreWhen most people think of maple syrup, they think of Vermont or Canada. Yet New York State has plenty of woods, known as sugarbushes, providing syrup and producers who are eager to introduce their crop to those who think that all brown syrup they buy in a plastic jug is the real thing.
The Huxtable family has been making maple syrup off their sugarbush on Twin Pines Farm for almost 150 years, when my great, great grandfather, D. G. Young began to make syrup in the maple woods behind the farmhouse. Dave Huxtable, my 80 year old uncle who recently passed away, ran the business for many years. Today, Pat and Karen (Huxtable) Hooker manage the family enterprise.
Read MoreMillers Mills community maintains the authenticity of a 19th century ice harvest by using old hand tools to saw, separate, and load the ice blocks on to horse-drawn sleighs. The only exception is the antique gas-powered machine used to score the ice the day before. This ensures that the blocks are relatively uniform in size. Families from all over New York drive, snowmobile, and even skate their way to the concisely cut checkerboard of ice on Unadilla Lake in Herkimer County, New York for what many call an absolute wintertime necessity.
Read MoreA collection of Twin Pines Farm photos and historical documents.
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