An old family burying plot high on a hill on this longtime former farm near Beach Lake, Wayne County, has not been forgotten.
Donated to the Delaware Highlands Conservancy in 2020 by the Van Scott family, this 144-acre site became the Conservancy's permanent headquarters and was repurposed as the Van Scott Nature Reserve. Where once cattle grazed, crops grew and fruit was picked, today the public comes to hike on trails through rolling fields and forest, take in nature programming and the Conservancy administers its conservation easement program.
Through it all, the heritage of this land's forefathers and mothers is reflected in the landscape, the farm buildings and this small graveyard containing several marked graves.
The Conservancy recently received $3,155.50 in grant funding from the Honesdale National Bank Foundation to assist in the restoration and reconstruction of a wooden fence around the cemetery. The old fence was in disrepair and needed replacement.
The funds also helped pay for an interpretive sign that has been posted nearby, detailing the history of the McIntire family and of the Van Scott Nature Reserve property. The Wayne County Historical Society provided genealogical and historical research.
The McIntire family first settled what is now the Conservancy's nature preserve in 1835. The McIntires started the graveyard by the mid-1800s to lay their departed family members to rest. The setting to this day, from this perch under a grand sky, offers clear views of the distant Catskill Mountains and other points.
After 1870, the cemetery was no longer used and instead McIntire family members were buried at the Indian Orchard Cemetery, which is near their church.
The farm remained with the McIntire family until it was sold in 1947 to the Koberlein family, who continued working on the farm.
The Van Scott family purchased the property in 1994 for a vacation residence.
Berlin Township, like much of Wayne County, built a heritage in small family farms in the 19th century in the wake of widespread lumbering of its hills and dales. Settlers in Berlin Township cleared land and built border feces of stone as they plowed the rocky earth.
Route 652 passes less than a mile north of the Van Scott Nature Reserve. It opened with much fanfare as the Honesdale and Delaware Plank Road in 1851, welcoming the growth the new steam railroad with its station in Narrowsburg would bring to the area. Farms prospered with the added avenue of shipment of their products by rail to market, and arrival of fresh air vacationers by train who needed summer boarding.
Visitors will find the cemetery and interpretive sign along the upper Explorer Trail on the Nature Reserve. Trail maps are located at the trailhead kiosks and on the Conservancy’s website at DelawareHighlands.org/vsnr.
The Nature Reserve is open daily from sunrise to sunset, offering 3 miles of walking trails through the woods, wildflower meadows and wetlands. The address is 571 Perkins Pond Road, Beach Lake.
For more information on the Delaware Highlands Conservancy and the Van Scott Nature Reserve, call 570-226-3164/845-583-1010 or visit DelawareHighlands.org.
Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.
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