“Why don’t you write a column about Mill Point?” asked the caller.

After some back and forth, the deal is struck for my visit next week to Mill Point on the Schoharie Creek in the town of Glen in Montgomery County.  I’ll meet my contact, Henry Mars, at his home on Youngs Corners Road off Route 161.  Mars is on the other side of the creek in Wellsville in the town of Florida.


Has Mars lived there all his life?  No, he said, only since 1933.  Mars said that Mill Point once had mills, as you might expect, and was a thriving little settlement.  All this should make for good reading some weeks down the road in Focus on History in the Daily Gazette.

On Saturday, May 10, the history column will deal with ice skating in Rockton, a section of north Amsterdam on a hill near where Mohawk Carpet Company had its upper mill.

Eileen MacVean lived in Rockton years ago and now she and her husband Don live nearby on Midline Road in the town of Amsterdam.

“Rockton runs north from the fire house on Locust Avenue, down Lyon Street and up Clizbe Avenue to where it intersects Locust,” MacVean wrote.

The story about skating will feature memories provided by Gail Buchner Breen who grew up on Finlay Street in Rockton in the 1950s. Her family operated Buchner Brothers Painting and Decorating.

MacVean remembers the Buchners well, “When I first moved to Amsterdam, I lived on Finlay Street. The greatest things I got to play with were old wallpaper sample books that Gail's grandfather would give to me. What fun I had. I can remember that family well and see some of them quite often. In fact I think I have known five generations in the Buchner family.”

Rockton grocery stores years ago included Firth's, Locust Avenue Market, Clizbe Avenue Market and the Red and White. Haas gas station was on the corner of Lindsay and Wilbur Street, right next to the Red and White. Brook's Drug store was on Locust Avenue.

Insurance man Bud Barnett and some of the World War II Rockton veterans started what they called Rockton Reunions to get the old crowd together again through the years. Now, baby boomer Rocktonians (?) are having their own reunions.