Thursday, February 19, 2009

Theme Thursday: A Library in a Small Town

Perfect building, (former church) friendly & helpful librarians, good children's room and a lot of good books. What more can one ask of a library? The town of Sloatsburg, NY is nothing fancy, as any Sloatsburger will readily admit. But they have two things that feed the soul: Harriman State Park and a good library. I don't live close enough to visit often, but it's always a treat.


Sloatsburg was once known as the Village of *Pothat, so here is a hat tidbit from poet Carl Sandburg.


*A friend insists it was once called Pot Cheese Gulch but I refuse to believe it.

Trivia: George Washington definitely slept in Sloatsburg during the Revolutionary War.

20 comments:

Tom said...

In many towns they will build new 'modern' libraries and tear down these beautiful old buildings...what a better place to enjoy books then an historic setting?

Anonymous said...

Avid, you may want to check on that "original" name. You just never know. And that looks like a nice place to get lost in for a spell.

tut-tut said...

But take off your hat in the library . . .

Anonymous said...

Always, I remove my hat,tut-tut. Well, not in the grocery but buildings of importance. Some of the old Navy courtesy still remains. And yes, I still tip my hat for the lasses and hold the door :)

R.L. Bourges said...

Oh, Sloatsburg is on the Port Jervis-Hoboken line!
Port Jervis has a neat library that must from the same period as this one.

The Port Jervis Free Library was my home away from the trailer during the summer and fall of 2001. I have fond, fond memories of the place.

http://www.rcls.org/ptj/

Brian Miller said...

Pot Cheese Gulch...interesting. Love it when buildings are reused. It ffels like a small town library. nice.

e said...

I would love to visit that library and town...Anytime you fancy a road trip, Avid, let me know! Small town libraries are awesome and usually as full of history as the librarians that work in them!

Trivia Questions: What was the first Free, fully tax supported library to open its doors? Where and in what year??? (I know, because I spoke with the librarian there)...

Tess Kincaid said...

The next best thing for a church building is books!

JGH said...

Looks like a beautiful library. Is it on Rt. 17? I like to go to Auntie Els Farm Market up there, too.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

what a perfect way to recycle a former church....from one place of worship to another!

I think I like the name pothat better thatn sloatsburg.... what's a sloat?

Barbara said...

This reminds me of our local library, also an intimate space. It's the kind of place where people get to know one another.

R.L. Bourges said...

sloat: A narrow piece of timber which holds together large pieces; a slat; as, the sloats of a cart.

As a surname: http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Sloat

Avid Reader said...

JGH-- Yes, it's a bt beyond auntie el's.

Sloatpeople--it was some dude with the unfortunate name of Sloat--sounds like stoat (those weasely things)

Cuppa Jo said...

Aw, I love old churchy-buildings-turned-libraries. They're so pretty and the innate history of the building seems to make it a natural home to all the stories that are found in books.

Megan said...

My cousins live in a town called Sloat, here in Calif. I wonder how many Sloats there are?

Mickey's Musings said...

When I think of all the libraries around here,I am hard pressed to find one in an old building . They are all quite new. Our main library is old and too small,but the building is functional,institutional looking. We have no libraries in nice buildings with character. That ambiance is missing.

Merle Sneed said...

What a wonderful old building! I'm glad it was preserved and reused.

Kris McCracken said...

I am quite the fan of a good hat.

lettuce said...

Sloatsburg?!!

what a GREAT name

tut-tut said...

e, what is it?

My Classic Fiction Book List -Partial List

  • Austen, Jane: (Complete Works)
  • Balzac: Cousin Bette/ Eugenie Grandet / Cousin Pons
  • Best Russian Short Stories
  • Boyle, TC: Short Works
  • Brennan, Maeve : Short Works, 1 Novella
  • Bronte, Emily, Ann, Jane (Complete Works)
  • Brookner, Anita ( Complete Works)
  • Cather, Willa (Complete Works)
  • Chekov: Short Works
  • David Copperfield (Dickens)
  • Dickens:A Tale of Two Cities
  • Dickens:Great Expectations
  • Dickens:Nicholas Nickelby
  • Dickens:Our Mutual Friend
  • Dickens:The Old Curiosity Shop
  • Doyle, Roddy (some novels, memoir)
  • Drabble, Margaret (4 Novels)
  • Drieser, Theodore (Complete Works)
  • Fitzgerald, F.Scott (Most Novels & short works)
  • Hardy, Thomas (Complete Works)
  • Hemingway, Short stories
  • Hemingway: The Old Man in the Sea
  • Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
  • Hugo: Les Miserables/Hunchback Of ND
  • James, Henry: Daisy Miller
  • James, Henry: In The Cage
  • James, Henry: Portrait of a Lady
  • James, Henry: The Golden Bowl
  • James, Henry: What Maisy Knew
  • James, Henry: Wings of a Dove
  • James, Henry:The Ambassadors
  • James, Henry; The Bostonians
  • Kerouac: Dharma Bums
  • Kerouac: On The Road
  • Kerouac: The Subterraneans
  • Kerouac: Tristessa
  • Lardner,Ring:Short Works
  • Larsen: Quicksand
  • Lewis, Sinclair: Arrowsmith
  • Lewis, Sinclair: Free Air
  • Lewis, Sinclair: Main Street
  • Lewis, Sinclair: The Job
  • MacGill, Patrick (Complete works)
  • Mackin, Walter (novels)
  • Maupassant: Short Works, novels
  • McGahern, John (novels of)
  • McNulty, John (Short Works)
  • Norris, Frank: McTeague
  • O'Brien, Edna (3 Novels)
  • O'Donnell, Paeder : Novels of
  • O. Henry
  • Potok, Chaim (4 novels/1 non fiction)
  • Salinger, JD : Nine Stories
  • Salinger: Franny & Zooey
  • Salinger: Raise High the Roofbeams
  • Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye
  • Sinclair, Lewis: Dodsworth
  • Sinclair, Lewis: Elmer Gantry
  • Sinclair, Upton: King Coal
  • Sinclair, Upton: The Jungle
  • Steinbeck, John: Sweet Thursday
  • Steinbeck: Winter of our Discontent
  • Steinbeck: Cannery Row
  • Steinbeck: East of Eden
  • Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
  • Theroux, Paul (3 Novels )
  • Toibin, Colm: (Novels of)
  • Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
  • Tolstoy: Short Works
  • Turgenev (2 novels)
  • Twain: T Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi
  • Vonnegut: Early Works (1950s-60s)
  • Wharton, Edith: Novels of/Short Stories
  • Women & Fiction (Edit. Cahill)
  • Zola, Emile ( 10 novels)