March 30, 2014
Our sincere thanks to Bob Mazon (4th from left) for his generous gift of digital photos, scans of conventional photos and other items. Bob has covered news and organizational events in the area, as well as photographing the landscape and communities since the 1980s. The Society is just beginning to review and catalog the collection which will be named "The Bob Mazon Collection." As we get a sense of the extent of the items, we will describe it on the website. We believe it will prove to be a valuable resource of local history.

April 28, 2014
On April 11, 2014 Bob Mazon died. Just a few weeks before that Bob had visited the Historical Society to arrange for the generous gift of his collection. We are deeply saddened by his passing and we, along with the whole Mountaintop Community, will miss him. The Historical Society will strive to protect the items he left in our care and to see to it that they become a valued legacy to the community.

Among the Mountain Top Historical Society's Archives is a collection of photographs and other items received as a generous donation from Ms. Wilma Kohler of Hunter and Elmhurst, NY. Among the items are a bible with family records of Aaron Haines, who operated the earliest inn in Haines Falls, a copy of the rare book, An Illustrated Guide to the Catskill Mountains by Samuel E. Rusk, and  over one hundred photographs taken by Rusk, his brother John W. Rusk, and other 19th and early 20th century photographers.

Samuel and John Rusk photographed local landscapes and operated a portrait studio in Haines Falls.   A series of photographs depicting the construction of a portion of what is now Route 23A gives insight into road building techniques in 1907. 

The excellent quality of these late 19th and early 20th century photographs allows the society to enlarge portions of the images and bring out details not noticeable at first glance.

A unique image of John Rusk (above) shows one reason for the high quality of the images – a large format camera that no doubt used large and exceptionally flat glass plate negatives. The photos have survived in pristine condition due to the exceptional care the professional photographers took in the preparation of the images and the manner in which Ms. Kohler cared for the collection.

Society members and volunteers have digitally scanned, cataloged and secured the material.  The donation, now designated as the Wilma Kohler Collection, takes its place with a growing amount of material that the society preserves and will be used in Society publications and for research on Mountain Top families and history.

This quilt, is a gift of Wilma Kohler, and part of the Society's Kohler Collection.

This section of the quilt dated 1846 and crafted by Lucy Hains (note the unusual spelling) is generally referred to as a signature quilt. In this case, Miss Hains, later Lucy Rusk embroidered each name in the same format. In the case of another one of the four historic quilts in our collection the quilter had individuals sign a piece of cloth and they followed the signature as they embroidered it. The lower right corner has Lucy's name. The red patch on the left bears the name of Charles W. Hains owner of the Haines Falls House. to see it in detail, open the image in a new tab or copy the image. You should be able to display it at high resolution.