Bygone Hudson Valley

Of the many hamlets and neighborhoods that make up the town of the Plattekill, one of the least documented is the former hamlet of Sylva. Sylva was located in the area where today’s New Hurley Road and Forest Road meet Route 32, and at various times in its history was home to a Post Office (June 24, 1886-January 14, 1905), a one room schoolhouse (the Sylva school, also Known as the Caper Hill school) and several small businesses. Aside from a few pictures and records pertaining to the school, there are few known historic images of the hamlet.

So it was a wonderful surprise when former Plattekill resident Gregg Harris recently brought several boxes of family photographs and documents to the Plattekill Historical Society. Volunteers have been sorting and cataloging the documents and found these beautiful images of the Sylva Garage, once owned by Jacob De Pew, an ancestor of Mr. Harris’s. Newspaper searches have helped us determine that the Sylva Garage was owned by Mr. De Pew in the late 1920s, before being sold to a Frank Weckstrom in July of 1929. Thank you to Mr. Harris for helping to preserve the history of our town!