A BIG CHUCK ROAD TRIP: The Forgotten Dead of Minisink and ‘The King of the Wests’ Home

In my previous post about a road trip my wife and I took recently from Oneonta into the Poconos we met the Hancock hero "Honest Eddie Murphy"  (see the previous road trip post).

After we left Hancock we headed south on NY 97 to just north of Berryville.  Here we came upon signs for The Battle of Minisink Historical Site.  In   June of 1779 American militiamen were marshaled to fight Chief Joseph Brant and the British on a rough, stony outcropping known as Minisink Ford.  The Americans were slaughtered in hand to hand combat that was brutal and led to a complete wipe out of the American force.

The defeat by an overwhelming enemy force proved to be so embarrassing to the new American Army that the corpses of the 50 fallen soldiers lay on the battlefield for 43 years until their widows were allowed on the grounds to retrieve the bones of their loved ones.  After, the remains were interred in a mass grave in Goshen, NY.  The ceremony was attended by over 15,000 people.

I had never heard of this Upstate Revolutionary War site but here we were, right at the entrance to the battlefield.  My wife and I drove up and walked around.  It was dark even though it was noon.  The woods were still and eerie and there were many plaques and displays erected by the Park Service to tell of that bloody day more than 230-years ago.  It was sad and a little bit creepy as we were the only ones here that day, deep in the woods north of Port Jervis.  We left hastily making a pledge to read more about this tragic place from the comfort of our own home.

At the exit of the park we saw a sign for Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania which was just over a bridge ahead of us.  Mind you this was not any ordinary bridge.  It is the John Roebling Bridge and it is also a National Historic Site.  It was completed as an aqueduct by Roebling in 1847 who would build the Brooklyn Bridge just twenty years later.  It is the oldest wire suspension bridge in the U.S.

The bridge takes you directly over the Delaware River to the home and grave site of Zane Grey (see photo), the prolific western author known as the "King of the West."  His home is now a museum and is huge and sprawling and the lawn goes right down to the babbling river.  His grave is in the little cemetery 500-feet from his home.  Made me curious as to why a guy so associated with the western frontier ended up living right across the river from Upstate New York.  Well, the reason the museum guide told us is simple...he liked the fishing up here!

Not a bad afternoon of Day One on our trip from to the Poconos.  From Oneonta to Hancock and the uplifting story of "Honest Eddie" Murphy to the Minisink Battlefield which is sad and eerie and to the  Zane Grey Home and Museum (less than a mile away) which  is beautiful and fascinating.  And all in our first afternoon.

From here we head deeper into the Poconos.  Stop back again for another chapter in my "Big Chuck Road Trip" soon.  Oh, and if you go and visit the famous Roebling Bridge remember....it is one lane, so watch out for oncoming vehicles (see video below).