Hello Rick,
I just started searching Lake Teedyuskung history and see that you are involved with a group with personal histories and stories about the lake. My story is that I’m the oldest son of Ellsworth Petersen. My father bought Dan Beard’s cabin and about 1,000 feet of lake shoreline property shortly after he married my mother in 1942. My father left mom and the family at Dan Beard’s cabin every summer till 1961. He worked in NYC and came to the cabin on weekends. Then he moves the “bunkhouse to his lakefront property. He added to the “bunkhouse” over the years and wound up being 3 times the size in the 1980’s. Dad died in 2001, and mom died in 2010. Their 4 children inherited the property but had other interests. They sold ~ 60 acres last year. My sister Victoria had many local business interests in the 80’s and 90’s. She owned the Fallsport Inn/hotel/restaurant. She also had a B&B on academy street and an antique store in Hawley. I went into the USAF in 1969 and then became a corporate gypsy landing and retiring in Cincinnati.
Thank you.
Dave Petersen
808 Dayton Street
Cincinnati,OH 45214
513 651 1890
dcpetersen808@gmail.com
Here is another message from Dave Petersen to Donna Robins.
Hello Donna (Robins),
I was searching this website and so many old memories came back to life. There was a photo of you, your friend Pat and Barbara Boyles and a few other girls that triggered this email. You had a small aluminum boat with a small outboard motor, and you taught me how to water ski in ~1961. I was 14 and had a crush on you then, but you were a year or two older and I didn’t have a chance. I did, however, buy a boat when I was 15 in 1962 and spent the next few summers skiing all day or until I ran out of gas. I remember going to a party in Rowlands in 1965 when I was 18. You and Pat were there, and I did manage to dance with both of you then. Thank you for those memories and teaching me how to ski. My parent’s place was @ the end of the lake (opposite your place), and they had a long stretch of lake frontage, including the part with that big flat rock. Hopefully you might remember some of this. My Mom died in 2010 and my siblings and I finally sold that land last year.
Hello Rick,
I remember Francis Boyle and Donnie James. They both water skied from my boat. Francis married Donnie and was our county Tax collector. Sorry to learn that Barbara died.
I knew Alan Engvaldsen. Alan and I both had the same Uncle Nat and same cousin Glenn. Nat married my Mother’s sister Aunt Betty. I knew Nat’s father (and Alan’s Grandfather) “Pop” Engvaldsen….” Pop” was driving well into his 90’s and I remember the old black Hudson that he drove.
That 60-acre property was owned by the 4 Petersen siblings, and we sold it last April 2023. The property was on both sides of the 590 ‘cutoff’ road and included about 800’ of lake frontage.
Back in the 1960’s dad sold 200’ of frontage to Mr. Wasmer (sp?) and 100’ to Mr. Pringle. In the late 60’s he sold the Dan Beard cabin and his half of the Dan Beard Boathouse property to his friend John Aram. That boathouse and lot was co-owned by my father and his scouting friend, Stu Jungberg. Stu’s son Bobby, was 3 years older than me, but we spent time playing with Bobby and our other neighbors “Buzzy” and Fawn Osias (sp?)
My father let Boy Scout Troop 61 in Brooklyn use part of that property to build a scout camp called “The Owl’s Nest”. My brother Jon and I attended that summer camp and often took weekend trips with the scouts in the off season.
My Sister Victoria (Tori) was VERY involved in Hawley in the 80’s and early 90’s. She bought and ran a B&B on Academy Street, bought a hotel/bar/restaurant they named Fallsport Inn and started an antique shop that was the “Craft House" in the 60’s.
Another name that is often in these archives is Willard MacCleary. Willard was a bit older, but I knew his brother Mike well.
A famous name out of the Teedyuskung past is Bill Stevenson. Bill was Jill Biden’s first husband. I didn’t know Bill well, but I knew his brother George.
Thanks again for your help,
