Beacon Voices: Butch Van Vlack, “The Mountain Man”

by Michael Daecher

“You can tell this marble is old because it isn’t perfectly round,” Butch said, as he handed it to me. Sure enough, it was almost round, but not quite -- made before the age of machine precision. Butch Van Vlack is showing me the gravestones of his ancestors, buried in the disheveled plots of the old Methodist cemetery on Verplanck Avenue. He found the marble here as he was cleaning up around the plots.

As he showed me the faded headstones of his relatives, he also pointed out the grave of the grand daughter of John Adams, the second President of the United States. We then walked over to the “colored” part of the cemetery, where the headstones are only marked with initials, not names. Here lies a black Civil War veteran, as well as an unmarked mass grave of Chinese immigrants who died working on the railroad. To Butch Van Vlack, this graveyard is just the beginning of a long tale of forgotten Beacon history. With family ties going back nearly 300 years, his knowledge of local folklore and insatiable curiosity have made him Beacon’s unofficial historian. I recently tried to keep up with Butch in a sprawling conversation at the Chthonic Clash coffee house.

Q: How long has your family lived here?

My family’s lived on the mountain since 1741. They were originally from Norway, but over the years the name changed to Van Vlack. My ancestors lived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) for 100 years before they came up here. They bought about 2000 acres from Madame Brett, and they owned the land
from Route 52 across 376 to 82, which at that time was Gayhead. There’s still a road around there called Van Vlack Road. Some of the old family graveyards are out there.

My family were carpenters and wheel makers. They had the first grist mill in the area, and the big stone wheel is still in the city hall in Hopewell Junction. Over time, they donated land for new roads, or sold off some pieces. The last big piece of land my family had was bought by J.C. Penney to create a dairy farm for his wife.

Q: What did your father do?

My father was a very hard blue collar worker who worked in the factories here in Beacon, like everyone else. There were very few people living here that weren’t blue collar workers. There were so many places in this town to work, that if you got fired from one place you could walk next door and they’d hire you.

There were a lot of bars, a lot of banks. There were probably 3 or 4 pool rooms. We’d go to the theater across the street (points to abandoned theater across from the coffee shop) in the afternoon when school was out. It was only 9 cents. We had 2 theaters in town: the Beacon, right across the street here, and the Roosevelt, which was right across from the Howland Library.

And there was a lot to do when I was a kid. For example, take ice skating. Behind Forrestal School is a gully, and down in there was a swamp area that would freeze over. We called that Turtle Pond. That’s where we’d play all our hockey games, with Newburgh and a few other places. We always won, because we used to cheat. We’d go there at night and break bottles on the ice, so they’d freeze in. We knew where were the bottles were and they didn’t. We had some rough teams, some rough games, you know?

Q: Do you think kids were tougher back then?

I guess you could call it tougher. No one had a lot of money. So this was a chance for a kid who kid who could play ball, to play ball. Nowadays some things are still tough like that, but they have to pay a lot of money to play ball. Any sport, you have to pay a lot of money.

There was always something for kids to do back then. Like the soap box derby. First prize was a new bicycle, so all the kids were into that. We’d whiz down Verplanck Avenue and stop by heading up the other side to the country club. The CYO dances on the weekend were also a lot of fun. That’s where you’d get to meet the girls. And there were quite a few teenage hangouts in town. You had the Alps Sweet Shop, the Texas Weiner (who had a special chili dog recipe that you could eat without getting an upset stomach). And you had the Yankee Clipper and the Four Corners, two diners directly across from each other.

Main Street was a different place back then. I can remember walking down the street when it was raining, and the only time you’d get wet was when you crossed the street. Every shop had an awning out front, with all their goods out front. It was wonderful.

You could hear some of the prettiest bells in the churches along Main Street. At Christmas time you could walk down the street and do your shopping, and the bells would be playing Christmas music. Right where the Salvation Army building is now, that old church. I don’t know what happened to those bells. There’s just nothing like that around anymore.

Q: Are you going to Spirit of Beacon Day?

No. I used to ride in a motorcycle club, called the Aces, of which I was the president. We used to ride in all the parades, but we haven’t done that in quite a while. Beacon’s always had a motorcycle club, from way back, when motorcycles first came out. They used to have a motorcycle hill climb back in the 20’s. People would come from all over for that.

Q: What did you ride?

I still ride a 1965 Honda 305 (bored out to 360cc), but we had Harley-Davidsons, Triumphs, and Kawasakis. People used to love to see the motorcycles ride in the parade. We had hot rods and dragsters, as it was a car and bike club. We used to do all the parades, not just Spirit of Beacon. We did this through the early 1990s, and the last one we did was for the Desert Storm troops, when they came home. The mayor rode in my sidecar in the parade. After that we weren’t invited anymore, which is fine with me. It’ll save my clutch.

Q: What are some things people new to Beacon need to know about?

There are a lot of things around this town that are beautiful, that most people don’t even know about. Like Sucker Falls. It’s the first dam up Fishkill Creek, around the old Madame Brett mill area. The fish used to spawn, and you could watch them going up the cracks of the rocks, mostly in the spring time. The herring and smelt used to run really heavy, but Texaco had a spill during spawning season, so you see very few these days. But you used to be able to walk across the creek on the fish. As a kid you’d go down there, get a wash bucket and knock a lot of holes in it, tie a rope on it, and drop it down off the Tiaoronda Bridge. As soon as you pulled it up you’d have a whole bucket full of smelt.

Down at Madame Brett Park, if you follow the wooden walkway above the creek over the pipes you can see a little beach out there. That’s where they had the big wheel, for the nets. They would pull the nets in from the bay with row boats, and they’d use the wheel to drag the net up on land. The only kind of fish the fishermen wanted was the shad. Anything else you could have. If you didn’t take them, they’d throw them back in.

If you look down stream at low tide off that bridge, you’ll see a big flat rock. That big rock has iron pins with rings where the sloops used to come up and tie up to that rock. This is what was told to me by my family members. Right now at low tide if you walk along that creek, it’s very possible you could find treasure: belt buckles, buttons, things that were made during the Civil War.

Little things like that are what most people don’t know about. The Mountain Road – the service road they call it now. That was the King’s Road that led to the King’s Highway, which was the Albany Post Road (now Route 9). Instead of going all the way around, they’d go straight over. During the Revolutionary War and Civil War -- they all used it. If you’re very unfamiliar with the mountain, that’s the best way to get to know it. That road takes you right up to the reservoir, to where the casino used to be, and to the towers. It’s beautiful up there. There’s an Indian burial ground up there, and a lot of mountaineers were buried up there.

Q: So you really do know where the bodies are buried!

[shrugs and laughs] The only way the mountaineers could be buried up there is if they were cremated. I know quite a few that were buried on Bald Hill, because it overlooks the city. And directly behind Bald Hill is where the Indian burial grounds are.

Q: Who were the mountaineers?

Some of the first settlers in this area. A lot of them were Scandinavian. Generations of woodcutters, whose biggest pride was how much wood could they chop and split. They knew every foot of the mountain, everything from animal trails to human trails.

People would contract with the mountaineers for firewood or timber for building. Whatever the clients said they wanted was how they cut the wood, like a split rail fence, or wood they could burn this year or next. (Locust and ash you can burn as soon as you cut them. Others you had to wait until they dried out.)

They believed that little people, like fairies, lived in the mountain. They respected that someone already lived in those woods even though they couldn’t see them. I think those beliefs came from the Indians.

But there are very few descendants of the mountaineers left. You know the guy who runs the hot dog stand outside the post office? He’s from a mountaineer family called the Baxters. And the Storms live at the end of Mountain Lane. They’ve been in this area longer than my family.

If you walk up and sit on Bald Hill, and you look at the city, you can almost visualize it without the houses, how it used to be. You can feel the difference in temperature – there’s a frost line in the mountain where it’s 10 degrees colder. It hits you like you’re walking into a wall. If you know where to look, you can still see the outlines of the foundations of the farms that were up there, the stone walls, and where the wells were. And there was also iron ore mining up there too.

You also have a cave up there, which few people know exists. When the Revolutionary War ended they didn’t carry all that stuff down. Most of it’s still in the cave: weapons, ammunition, you name it. Maybe it’s caved in a little bit. You have to know where to look. The night the casino burnt down, my mother and father spent the night in the cave. My mother told me never to go there. There’s nothing but snakes and death in there, she said.

Q: You know where it is?

A: Yeah, I know where it is. When you were a kid here, you got your junior hunting license, and climbed up Mt Beacon to learn how to live off the land: how to build a fire, catch your own food. You got to know the mountain really well. Your father taught you that kind of stuff. But you can’t do that any more.

Q: Would you tell me how to find it?

A: [chuckles] You’ll have to live a few more years in this town before you get to know that.

Editor’s Note: See more pictures of Verplanck Cemetery headstones.

Comments

[sandie Van Vlack]

Great article. Would like to hear from Butch Van Vlack - as I am also a Van Vlack who is trying to connect my Van Vlack lines.

So Butch if you reading this would love to communicate with you.

The title Mountain Man was interesting, as the most comfortable place I live now, is nestled in the Moutains and a beautiful bay. Could it be my genes LOL.

My Van Vlack ancestors eventually came to canada and I have now traced them back to the States.

[Mike]

Hi Sandie,

I don't think Butch has Internet access. If you'd like to send me your contact info, I can pass it on to him in person. Just email me at [email protected].

best,
mike

[a real moutain man]

ted is a good man at story hour

[Sandie Van Vlack]

I am trying to locate Mr. Butch Van Vlack. I am doing family research because of my decendency to VAN VLACK. Is there anyway you could contact Butch Van Vlack and ask his permission to send me his address or phone number. My address is: 809 Matthew Way, Collingwood, Ontario. L9Y 4V3

Any help would be very much appreciated. I did write before and was told Butch, does not have a computer and that my information would be passed to him.

kind regards
Sandie Van Vlack

[Judy Van Vlack]

I also am from a Van Vlack family. My father's name is Edward Everett Van Vlack. Butch Van Vlack said his ancestor's last name was eventually changed to Van Vlack. I wonder what it started out to be?

[Robin Tully Flannery]

my family originates in this area as well. I think that perhaps this is the cemetery I am trying to find.

Does anyone know if this is it:

Interments in the METHODIST CHURCHYARD, MATTEAWAN "Old Gravestones of Dutchess County, New York" by J. W. Poucher published in 1924, pages 110-117.

CLASSIFICATION: Churchyard.

LOCATION: In the city of Beacon, about two blocks north of the main street and two blocks east of the church building.

CONDITION: Good.

INSCRIPTIONS: 428 in number. Copied August 3 and October 1, 1916, by J. W. Poucher, M. D., and Mrs. Poucher..

REMARKS: In 1819 Methodists of the town of Fishkill began to hold services in a school house between Matteawan and Fishkill Landing on the old road, and a burial ground was opened. In 1824 a new road was laid out on which the congregation (known as the Matteawan Methodist Church) acquired a site and erected a building. This building was abandoned in 1860 for religious purposes, became known as Swift Hall and in 1890 burned down. In 1860 the congregation divided, one part building a church at the landing, the other in Matteawan. Recently a fund has been given for the perpetual care of this cemetery.

Thank you!!!