A Country Store: New Year's Eve Party

           

      The letdown after Christmas was modified by anticipation of the New Years Eve Party at the Wilgus store in High Woods.  Henry Wilgus had run a small general store in High Woods since 1922.  Year-by-year, he had increased the size of the store until there were gas pumps, a small garage for working on vehicles, and, at end of Prohibition, he sold beer. [i]

He built a dance hall with a carefully crafted maple floor.  Henry loved parties and hosted dancing on most Saturdays throughout the summer and fall featuring Percy Hill’s Orchestra for square sets.  In the winter, it proved too costly to heat the entire area, so the dance floor with its surrounding tables and chairs was closed off for the season.  New Year’s Eve was the sole exception.  The dance hall was opened, and two large stoves[ii] were lit warming the rooms to an acceptable temperature.   The maple dance floor was polished with kerosene and corn meal until the wood shone and the dimples caused by ladies dancing in high heels were diminished. 

  A wonderland of colorful balloons and twisted crepe paper ribbons was anticipated, so hundreds of long and round balloons were ordered.   The regulars[iii] would fill them with their lung-power and with help from the compressed air hose that operated the beer kegs. Children old enough to tie the balloon ends on their own were welcome to participate; otherwise they were warned to stay out of the way.          

Henry had acquired some thirty tables and a hundred or more kitchen and dining room chairs as he came across them in his journeys around Saugerties.  He painted them all a cheerful shade of Chinese Red, so, in a way, they matched.   The tables and chairs were wiped clean and put in order. 

There would be food available: hot dogs, sausages and sauerkraut boiled on the large black eight-burner kitchen stove[iv] and dished up on Bond Bread white rolls[v] and accompanied by coffee, soda and ice cream.[vi] Kegs of beer were kept in one of the two, always-cool cellars under the store.  The store was built on bedrock, and a spring ran in the cellar, keeping it at an even temperature all year round. This cellar was nick named “the cave”.   A clever system of pipes brought the beer from the keg in the cave to the kitchen area of the store.

            Henry was everywhere encouraging the volunteer decorators and keeping folks from drinking beer before noon.  Around 3 PM, he retired to the house to “take a sleep” as long as his daughter, May, or store clerk, Ernie Short, covered activities.   Eyes closed, face peacefully composed and faintly snoring, he nodded off in his extra-large easy chair.  He would wake automatically in an hour, but the short interlude of rest got him through his usual fourteen-hour workdays.

            Meanwhile, activity in the kitchen continued.  Glass beer pitchers had to be washed.  Ice cream dishes and the six-ounce beer glasses were washed separately since milk residue caused streaks and also diminished the head on a tumbler of beer.  It was a sight to behold:  sparkling beakers awaiting pitchers of suds to be shared by the Eve’s celebrants set upon cheerful Chinese Red tables; clusters of multicolored balloons both long and round held to the walls and ceiling with thumbtacks; red and green crepe paper ribbons in twisted swirls forming a canopy across the dance floor and the beautiful red and yellow Wurlitzer juke box all alight in the corner.

            People put on their best party clothes for New Year’s Eve. Men wore sports coats and ties, washed and combed their hair and smooth shaved their cheeks followed by a good splash of Old Spice or Bay Rum.  Women chose their outfits with great care.  There were stockings with seams that had to be straight, high heels some with open toes, upswept hair, wool jersey dresses highlighted with dazzling brooches and clip-on earrings, and a signature of Shalimar, Chanel Number Five or even Tabu.

            The joint started jumping around eight.  Cars were parked all across the back lawn and up and down Dutch Town Road.  People streamed into the little dance hall, pushed tables together in long lines, ordered beer and soda (some for the kids, some to mix with the whiskey many men carried in flasks in their jacket pockets).  “Yes, We Have No Bananas” blasted out of the jukebox, and the first brave couples fox-trotted around the floor.  There were local High Woods neighbors, Saugerties people and a healthy dose of fun-loving artists; some lived in High Woods[vii], some in Woodstock.[viii].

            At last, the first call for square sets would begin.  If Percy Hill was late, Henry played records.  His sound system consisted of two medium ceiling mounted speakers attached to a record player located in the store area.  There was also a microphone, and Henry would announce the dance.  “Let’s have three sets for ‘Paddle Your Own Canoe’[ix]”, and he urged people by name until the floor was filled with couples.  There was always one straggly set of confused but high-spirited dancers.  Children were often allowed in that set. 

            Excitement filled the hall as the New Year countdown approached.  At midnight, there was plenty of kissing among the adults.   Kids[x] tended to avoid the kissing and concentrated on throwing streamers and breaking balloons as the Auld Lang Syne record played.  It was beautiful mayhem, loud and raunchy with the mixed smell of perfume, beer and cigarettes[xi] and the spellbinding sight of affectionate adults.

            After the excitement died down a bit, Henry’s grandchildren, nieces and nephews were ordered to go to sleep in the upstairs bedrooms of the house. They waited silently in their exile for the sounds of the music and laughter to filter up, consoled only by the thought of the rewards waiting for them in the morning. There would always be money lying among the debris of the party because during the jumping and partner swinging, the laughter and song, while paying for pitchers of beer and hotdogs, people would drop pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. The lost change would be immediately forgotten in the midst of the celebration.  Under the fallen crepe paper were enough treasures for a year’s worth of candy and many rides at next summer’s Dutchess County Fair. 

When we heard the band play Good night ladies, we knew that the party was over.

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[i] These are the brands of beer that were on sale in the High Woods Store:  Schaefer, Rheingold, Knickerbocker, Ballentine Beer and Ale, Miller highlife in the clear bottle the rest had brown bottles, Schlitz.  Everything was in glass bottles which, when empty, had to be sorted into the correct containers.

[ii] Kerosene stoves

[iii] These are the names of people who may have been in the store the day before New Year’s Eve and who probably would have attended the New Year’s Eve party:  Chick and Flossie Snyder, Lillian Gunderud, Old Mr. Wrolsen who really looked like a Viking with his big mustache, Sophie and August Hansen, Billy and Bobby Dunn, Pat Wolven and Maggie, Tud and Bert and Invol (Ingie) Leighton Myers, Virginia Whitely and Aubrey, Bob Johnson, Bill and Elizabeth Ryan, Mr. Mac, Chris Rafferty and his brother. 

[iv] The kitchen had a large, eight burner gas stove. 

[v] The store sold Bond Bread.  The meat came from Forest’s Foremost. The Ice Cream was Sealtest

[vi] Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla were the flavors available in cones or dishes.

[vii] Harvey Fite, Barbara Fite, Tom and Elizabeth Penning, Bill Ryan.

[viii] Marianne Mecklem, Petra Cabot,

[ix] PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE

Chorus:  If I had a girl and she wouldn’t dance

                I’ll tell you what I’d do

                I’d hire a boat and set her afloat

                And paddle my own canoe

Dance:  The first two ladies cross over and by the gentlemen stand

                The second two ladies cross over and then all join hands

                Bow to the corner lady and honor your partners all

                Swing the corner lady and promenade the hall

Another dance I remember, but can’t identify the tune

Ladies in the middle back to back

Gents go around the outside track

Meet your partner pass her by

Swing the next girl on the fly

[x] Kids could have included Norman Boggs III, Diana Boggs, Christopher Evers, Georgette Cutler, Sarah Petito, The Hinchey Boys, Tad and John Richards, Pixie and Sallie Mecklem, Meed (AKA Gretchen) Wetterau.  Werner Polack, the Ryan kids.

[xi] There was a cigarette machine.  Camels, Pall Mall, Lucky Strike, Fatima and Kools in the regular size were available.  There were no king sized cigarettes.

A Country Store: Henry's Fishing Boat, The Klang.

Henry made several versions of his flat-bottomed fishing boat during his years as a fisherman.[i]  Henry was an experienced sailor having worked on boats in 1911 and later served in the Pacific in the Merchant Marine during WWII. 

The vessel was always named “The Klang”[ii], a name inspired by his service as a merchant mariner during WWII in the Pacific. In letters written home during his wartime service, he almost always included a message to his young grandson, Norman, about fish he had seen and how much he looked forward to fishing when he returned home. 

 He had acquired plans for a plank boat at a New York boat show in the 1930’s.   It was constructed in his garage on sawhorses with clamps holding everything together. First, he water swelled the boards to make them bend.  When the boat was formed, the cracks were packed with Oakum.[iii]

            The Klang was unusual because it had a very large back seat. The substantial back seat had a locker underneath that Henry would fill with damp newspaper for bait storage. Also, the two forward seats both had oarlocks, so two could row at the same time resulting in a very speedy vessel. However, two rowing at the same time in different rhythms was a problem, which is why, as a child, I was never allowed to row.

                        Henry practiced a kind of bass fishing called structure fishing.  In short, it involves following changes in the bottom of a lake such as submerged logs or building foundations.  The bass tend to feed along such structures, so simply waiting with a baited hook in and around the formation leads to a good catch.  Sources[iv] tell me that this kind of bass fishing is not mentioned much before the 1970’s, so Henry was ahead of his time.  Perhaps he knew it by instinct, but more likely, he heard it from an old-timer. 

            Henry enjoyed fishing around the coves of the Ashokan Reservoir, and often parked his boat near the Esopus entry.  He enjoyed fishing with compatible pals and tried his grandchildren, but they did not all make the grade.  I was one who was off the fishing team pretty early on, but my cousin, Sarah Petito, and brother, Norman Boggs were often invited.  Other than grandchildren, Henry favored lovely women as fishing companions.  In his scrapbooks, he tends to refer to these companions in glowing but careful terms.  After all, several of them were married ladies.

            Henry’s daughter, May, had the words “Gone Fishin” inscribed on his tombstone.  She knew if fishing could be his eternal break from work, it would be a good one.  I thought of Saint Peter, and knew Henry would fit right in.  Some years later, when visiting the cemetery, I met one of Henry’s lady fishing companions[v] looking at his stone.  It was not many months later that I heard she had passed away.  I’m sure there is room in The Klang for a large fishing party.  Row on, all, but synchronize, please, so as not to upset the universe.

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[i] Henry was an experienced sailor having worked on boats in 1911 and later served in the Merchant Marine in WWII.  He served in the Pacific, which is probably why the boat was The Klang.

[ii] (from Wikipedia)  Klang formerly known as Kelang, is the royal city and former capital of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. It is located within the Klang District in Klang Valley. It is located about 32 km to the west of Kuala Lumpur and 6 km east of Port Klang. It was the civil capital of Selangor in an earlier era prior to the emergence of Kuala Lumpur and the current capital, Shah Alam. Port Klang, which is located in the Klang District, is the 13th busiest transshipment port and the 16th busiest container port in the world.

Majlis Perbandaran Klang (MPK), the local municipal council of Klang, exercises jurisdiction for a majority of the Klang District while the city council of Shah Alam, the state capital, exercises some jurisdiction over other parts of the district (known as Shah Alam selatan).

[iii] (From an advertisement) Made with bentonite, an inorganic compound that expands over 10 times its volume when wet, this is the best oakum available. It is clean from knots and yarns, is long stranded and has no lumps or ends of sacking. 5 lb. box. Twisted jute packing. 5 lbs. yields 30 lengths of 2-1/2 ft. each. Further improved with golden oils. Does not split.

[iv] This comes from a conversation with my brother, Norman Towar Boggs III, who went fishing with Henry, his grandfather, many times and, later, became an enthusiastic fly fisherman.

[v] J.W.

A Country Store: Henry Cooks

PUNCH

SHAD

Shad is very bony.  Henry’s cooking method was to cook the shad very slowly for about six hours at a fairly low temperature, perhaps 200 degrees.  The bones dissolve completely and a silky texture results.  The fish is cooked whole in a bath of hot water, spiced with crab boil seasoning, salt, pepper and onions.  The water should not cover the fish and should be replaced as it cooks away.

BREAKFAST

Henry always ate two soft-boiled eggs spooned over torn up white Bond bread with a bit of butter, salt and pepper.  He thought coffee was bad, so he always drank a grain beverage called Postum.[i]  When my brother and I stayed overnight, we ate the same thing, and it always tasted good the way grandpa made it.

SHORTY BERZAL’S MUSHROOMS

Shorty was a friend of Henry’s.  Among other things, he owned and ran the mushroom caves in Saugerties, and would often drop by with a basket of mushrooms.  Henry sautéed them in butter, made a roux with flour and added water or broth, salt and pepper and Bell’s Poultry Seasoning.  A delicious bowl of mushrooms in sauce resulted.[ii]

Shorty Berzal sitting in Henry's easy chair next to the radio.

Snapping Turtle From time to time, people would bring Henry a snapping turtle. They were often quite large.  I once saw one slaughtered, and the sight remains stored in my memory.  They would get the turtle to bite a thick stick, pull out the head and neck and chop.  The head would open and close its mouth for hours afterwards.  Dr. Bob Milora was there the day I saw the turtle readied for the pot.  He removed the heart, and it kept beating in a saline solution for quite a   He dissected the turtle and got the meat ready.  It was cooked slowly on the stove for hours, probably about half a day.  After that, it was removed, cut into smaller pieces and cooked with the usual stewing veggies: onion celery, carrots, and whatever herbs were in Henry’s garden.  In a pinch, there was always Bells Poultry Seasoning.  Serve with boiled potatoes. Berzal and a turtle  Brunswick Stew There was plenty of laughter and commentary about the ingredients, but Henry’s version was basically boiled chicken.  He did not use squirrels.  Although Henry embraced the rural lifestyle, and he had married into a family that hunted deer, he was still basically a guy from urban New Jersey.  Two whole chickens Cover with water and boil until done When almost done, add carrots, cabbage A can of corn and celery. Always use Bell’s Poultry Seasoning. Salt Take out chicken and carve into pieces Place cooked vegetables around the pieces. Serve with boiled potatoes Butter, salt and pepper Tell everybody there is squirrel in the stew

Here is another version of Turtle Soup and  Jefferson Stew by my brother, Norman Towar Boggs III:

Here is what I recall of the turtle butchering:  (People brought

him some very large turtles.  I think one weighed 50 lbs.  They

would show up with one in the floor of the back seat or in the

trunk.)

Put live into an old white enamel clothes washing machine tub and

pour scalding water over the animal...to kill salmonella.  turtles

are great carriers of salmonella.

Then remove turtle....get it to bite ice tongs and pull the head

from the shell, chop off the head (no small task),  and put it on

the low roof of the store.  Entertainment was provided by poking

the head with a stick to show that it could still bite.  The bit

response lasted a surprisingly long time.

Then the real butchering began.  the connections between to top of

the shell and the bottom were severed with a chisel, and that was

no easy task.  then the skin remaining as a connection between the

shells needed to be cut.  That was a serious knife dulling

procedure (turtle skin is really tough!).  Once the shell halves

had been separated, the skin was removed from the legs and other

meaty parts.  MD Bob Milora cut out the heart of one and put it in

a glass of salty water.  It continued to  beat for more than 5

hours.  The meat separated from all the bones was cooled and

eventually made into a stew which I recall as being rather good. 

(Reference Mock Turtle soup/stew.)


Jefferson Stew:  Here is one for which I have not been able to

find a recipe.  I think it was supposed to have chicken and

rabbit.  I do recall Grandpa once serving it and at least saying

that it had rabbit in it.  The small bones seemed to confirm that.

 These stews were I bet commonplace in hunting families which ours

was not.  But folks would bring Henry a lot of stuff, so he may in

fact have made stews with rabbit and squirrel.

Hope this was useful.....

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[i] Postum was made from wheat bran, wheat, molasses, and maltodextrin from corn. It was discontinued in 2007.  Wikipedia

[ii] Salustiano Berzal was a major mushroom producer in Saugerties. Edward Poll, Karlyn Knaust Elia - 1997 - History - 128 page