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Moodus: Twine Capital of America

In the 19th and early 20th century, the mills of Moodus produced more cotton twine for cordage and netting than any other place in the country. Walter Cronkite narrates the video.

History remembered, history lost

I grew up in Moodus on Sillimanville Road.  I periodically visit your website and have been meaning to write to you to say thanks for writing the history of Moodus, the way it really was -- the good, the bad and the ugly. Upon reading all the stories and articles over the years I realize I truly grew up at the wrong time to be in Moodus.  I grew up at the end of the Summer Resort heyday, and watched it all slide downhill from there. 

I remember the Soda Shop, and I remember getting groceries from Uncle Albert (Pear) as I used to call him.  I went to Synagogue when it was on North Moodus road, my Bar Mitzvah was there.  I worked for a short time as Pistol Pete's sidekick up at Banner Lodge.  I remember the Weiner Resort, Banner Lodge, Grand View, Klar Crest, all of them.... and I saw each, one by one, close and wither away. 

I remember the old downtown, I was old enough to ride my bicycle there stopping for a soda at Weinstein's and then heading on down to Neptune Avenue to meet up with John Bielot.  I remember the town being leveled too.  Just one day it wasn't there anymore.  

I even remember getting fresh eggs from Simon's farm and being shown how to "candle" eggs. I remember Jack Banner getting so annoyed because Pistol Pete and I couldn't seem to catch who was putting the row boat into the pool at night.

Yes, memories of Moodus are mixed for me.  I had some fun, but even at a young age I could see and recognize the town being destroyed, the history being lost. I remember the arson fires at Wieners and also at the place next door to Debowsky's house.  My dad had his first heart attack while up on our roof with a hose putting out the embers from the two fires that were landing on our house. I think one of the Bungalows across the street also burned (forget the names of the family that owned them). 

I graduated High School in 1976, did some college in Hartford and joined the Navy leaving Moodus in 1977.  I never looked back. Well, I say never, but I visited once or twice and I came back to bury my parents in late 2000 and early 2001.  It's seems like only the cemeteries can be used as landmarks anymore as people don't tend to build or pave over them.... yet.

I do have hopes that the children of those who moved into the area in the 80's and later, to the new Moodus, create new memories -- ones of growth and building up, and maybe adding to the history of the area.  From what I saw in 2001, they pretty much have a clean slate to work with. 

Again, thanks for the website,

 --Miles-Kevin Baron

Bury Brothers part of town history

When Bill and I were first married and lived by the Moodus Green in the old Advertiser building, I had painted a painting for the Bury Brothers to hang in the meat market to pay off a debt we had rung in meat products in the early 70's as payment. They took it gracefully and extinguished our monthly bill. It was of hereford cows. I'm hoping one of the family members still has possession of it. They were great people and "down to earth folk, always helping their neighbors and fellow man. They are truly part of Moodus history and I will always keep them in my heart.

Sincerely,

--Margaret Delehanty alias "Muggs"

Bonita Springs, FL

Moodus connections run deep

I so enjoy this site. I lived on Plains Road, 1951, across from the then Moodus Savings Bank by Dr Berwick. Julian Bury was my Godfather and I was a freshman when Bud was a Jr or Sr. Uncle Julian and Uncle Joe where wonderful-wonderful people and I loved them dearly!! My dad Frank Larsek was born in Moodus in 1925, married my Mom who is still living and my cousins still live there. The Sidell family across from Hale Ray. 

I moved from Moodus in 1986 and now live in South Carolina. My mom is now 84 and Daddy passed at 61. He was best friends with Danny Maus. My name is Christine Larsek Rowland Fusco and thank you for these wonderful memories. My Dad worked at Russell Jennings in Chester, it then went to be known as Stanley Works. Go figure. Then he spent the rest of his work time at Sibleys in Haddam and my Mom worked at the café  at Hale Ray. MY mom is still best friends with Alice Tesar and Genny Bielot. 

Thanks for the memories.

--Chris Fusco

Fond memories of 1950s Moodus

I came across your site and saw a picture I recognized. On the Moodus-center-pix page, there is a picture labeled ‘First National, Bill's Soda Shop, Weinstein's and Lou's Package’, which also seems to have been used for the ‘Greetings from Moodus’ card. I’d love to get a good copy of it.

My grandmother, Evelyn Levine, lived in the house whose porch partially appears on the left of the picture. There she raised her sons (Nathan, George, Bill, Barney, Saul, Jack, and Dave). The picture was taken in 1960, I think, despite the heading and the name ‘moodus_center_east_1940s.’ In any case, I think the car parked in the 2-car lot to the side of the house is a 1959 Rambler that belonged to my uncle Nathan (whom we called ‘Manny’), and it looks like there is a 1956 Chevy parked in front.

I have fond memories of exploring that house, and I still remember the floor-plan, my dad’s childhood room up-stairs, and the incredible antiques (treadle sewing machines, hand-carved sandstone pottery, my grandfather’s old butchering tools) I found exploring in the attic and basement.

One of my early memories (I was all of 4 years old) is from Memorial Day, 1959. My family drove down to Moodus from Massachusetts for the Memorial Day Parade, which became an annual event for us in the early 1960’s. We saw the parade (replete with Fife and Crum Corps) and then went to Billy’s store where my dad let us buy penny candy. We usually stayed in one of the cabins at Banner Lodge (Pop Banner was my godfather) over the weekend. None of the pictures I saw show it, but there was a covered and raised outdoor stage at the end of the lodge pool on which instructors would lead dance and exercise classes. The memory is that my dad (George) would take me to that stage in the evening, and we would sit, the two of us, while he told me about being a kid growing up in Moodus, working for Banner Lodge during his teen summers, and other recollections.

By the mid 1960’s, the ravine (Moodus River) behind my grandmother’s house was so polluted that the house began to smell horrible. She moved to a house in Middletown, and we ceased to spend Memorial Days in Moodus. Toward the end of the 1960’s, the family would still get together in the area with the brothers and my many cousins, either visiting Bashun Lake, Gillette Castle, or the Goodspeed, but by the early 1970’s, Moodus was essentially gone.

--Hal Franklin

Growing up on Banner Rd.

I don't know where to start. You have brought back so many wonderful childhood memories for me.

Starting with Maxi and his chicken coops to Pistol Pete! I adored them all. As a child growing up on Banner Road, everything was an adventure.

Jack employed my siblings and I either babysitting, camp counselor or whatever he needed us for. Pistol Pete used to bring us home, if it was "very late," refusing to let us walk home in the dark. He used to tell us Jack told him to!

Jack and Mrs. Banner would allow us children to use the pool, gameroom and paddle in the pond. One of the things we did not have permission to do was play on the golf course, so when we were caught Jack gave us a "stern" talking to.

Maxi employed my brother for several summers growing up and I have never tasted a better egg since. He always had his Irish Setters that were so beautiful. I was a senior at Nathan Hale, when Mrs. Simon opened Down on the Farm. I was always fascinated by the workshops. Once again she employed a child that really didn't know what she would do after school. She taught me things that summer that I still carry with me today.

I guess the thing that means so much to me today is that all the people I have mentioned treated us like their own family. Not only did they employee us, but they cared deeply for us and I will always owe them a debt of gratitude.

I remember Pistol Pete and his car down at the old Moodus Center during the parades. We always had to run over and say a big hello! He was bigger than life to me.

Thank you so much for bringing back wonderful childhood memories for me.

--Judy Ryder McCarthy

Moodus on my mind

No one that I know of has written about this amazing farmhouse resort.

In 1940, my parents spent one night of their honeymoon there.   In the 

evening my father suffered a severe asthma attack.  My mom called Mrs. 

Budka who immediately recognized my father's malaise.  She told my mother to keep my father sitting upright all night and to keep him awake as much as possible, and that they should go back to New York City the next morning.  The pollen had gotten the better of him. 

After I was born in 1944 my parents joined my uncle and aunt and their daughter to spend a week or two every summer in Moodus.  The going rate for room and board then was $15 per person.  My father would stay only the first day until 5 PM then he would drive back to Brooklyn to avoid an asthma attack.  I loved this farm and I can remember certain things as early as when I was three-years old.  Eventually my father's doctor injected him with antihistamines and we could spend our vacations there as a family.

I don't remember Julia Budka herself because by the time I was school age she was too old to run the family business.  I was told that not only working class people would go to her farm, but wealthy people would also spend time there mainly to taste her fabulous country cooking.  

She sold the business (I think) to a German-American family called Muller or Müller.  My mother described Mrs. Muller as more strict than Mrs. Budka, but I remember her as a very sweet woman who cooked the most amazing German-American dishes.  I would wake up early and with a Muller family member go to the chicken coop to pick fresh eggs from under the hens and then have the same for breakfast.   

My father, a carpenter by trade, built a serving trolley to help Mrs.  

Muller wheel the food from the kitchen to the dining room, a favor that put our family in good stead.  Mrs. Muller was a bit high strung, even I noticed at my young age.  She emitted a nervous and very audible click from back in her mouth as she swiftly served the diners.  She often had a worried look on her face as she placed huge serving places groaning with sausages and mashed potatoes on the long tables.   

The food was delicious but one day a friend of  my father complained that it was either not warm enough, or simply not enough (he was a very portly man).  Mrs. Muller exploded, stood there and ranted into the diner's face.  This was obviously boiling up but I was too young to recognize the signs.  I remember being frightened seeing this benign woman screaming on top of her lungs and turning red in the face.  It went on for some time and the guest and his wife left the farm afterwards.

We kept up our annual pilgrimage to Moodus until the early 50s.  By then I used to take a rowboat with young friends and row all over Lake Bashan, often fueling my parents' anxiety when we disappeared out of sight from the bank.  One summer I brought my terrapin from Brooklyn and freed my pet into Lake Bashan.  It seemed very happy as it swam into the depths.  

 One of those summers I brought flippers and swam out to a small island in the lake with some boys.  We stayed there for ages until our parents shouted for us to come back for dinner.  We were so far away from the bank we could just barely hear them, but we could see them waving their arms frantically.  We jumped into the cold evening water and started to suffer from fatigue about half way. Luckily the adults could read the signs and quickly rowed out to rescue us.  I hate to think what would've happened if they hadn't seen us or called us back for dinner.

Behind the porch was a large activities room where we could play darts or board games.  There was also a bar for the adults and a jukebox for dancing.  One hot and hazy afternoon I had befriended the only other kid there.  She was a womanly 13-year old and I was a very immature 9-year old.  It was just us in the activities room.   

Out of boredom she found some kind of romantic interest in me, but I was far too naive to recognize such a thing.  She put a nickel in the jukebox and a slow ballad came on.  She asked me to dance and suddenly I was in the arms of a young woman.  It was an extremely pleasant feeling but terribly confusing at the same time.  She whispered into my ear, "I smell something burning."  Instead of me coming back with something appropriate like, "Yeah, it's my heart," I pushed her away and shouted, "Where, what...?"  I took her literally and the moment was lost forever.

For me, my summers at the farmhouse happened during my early formative years.  It had all the mystery and magic of Narnia.  It was a complete contrast from the cement and sidewalks of Brooklyn.  I have never been in Moodus as an adult.  The reason I am writing this is because I just looked up Moodus on the Internet and slowly realized that it is all gone, the farm, the main street, gone.  I wanted to go back there and relive some of these memories with my wife.  I guess the best I can do now is to go through my parents' box of photographs and relive all I can in my mind.

--Anthony Visconti

Beautiful country

What a great site! I will be visiting and doing family research in mid October in the Moodus/East Haddam/Haddam/Middletown area and appreciate all your information.

I'm descended from the original Daniel Cone and will be researching he and his family and my "line" etc. I am looking forward to seeing your beautiful country.

--Joanne, Ohio

Visiting downtown Moodus

As an 80 year old who used to spend summers visiting my grandparents who lived at the top of Methodist Hill and visiting the "downtown" area of Moodus I enjoyed reading your web site.

The entrance to my grandparents house was between the old St. Bridgets and the Jewish Community center opposite the Methodist cemetery.

Jack Banner and Lanny Ross used to stop by and visit with my Uncle Raymond Harris.

I played on the dam behind the house with the Smith boys. Barney, Tom and Henry. The Turczeks lived between the Smiths and the Harries and there was an old man, retarded I think, who sat on their porch all day long.

The mills were standing in those days and the mill next to the Smiths was still operating as the Cone Mill.

My grandparents and great grandparents are buried in the Methodist cemetery at the top of the hill along with a lot of familiar names. We used to collect walnuts from the trees that grew on the south side and dry them over the winter.

I have fond memories of it all.

--Richard Harris, Avon, CT

Loss of Moodus Center heartbreaking

Your Web site on East Haddam is very interesting.

Having grown up in East Haddam, I remember talk of "redevelopment" in Moodus. It's nice to read a history on what took place. The lost of the Moodus village was a tragedy. I suppose if it had worked out properly the players would be considered visionaries instead of dupes.

Whenever I visit the town and drive through Moodus, I try not to think about what was once there. It's too heartbreaking.

School kids would go to Sam Pear's dry goods store to buy their gym clothes. It was just a short walk from school to the dentist. There was something there and it had character, and the buildings housed characters!

-- Sharon Havranek

Pleasurable summers spent in Moodus

It was a result of a late-at-night whim that I entered a search into Google for Moodus. And boy was I surprised to have located your site!

Moodus was a family affair for us. I spent most of my childhood summers at various resorts in town from 1948 to approximately 1959, but my parents vacationed there slightly longer. As my parents were both teachers, we were able to spend the full ten weeks of vacations away, and we did so each year. We stayed for many years at Karas Rest Farm (unmentioned in your site), Klar Crest Resort and Willow Manor. As I got into my teen years, I spent more time away at camps and teen travel tours, but even then I would still spend several weeks in Moodus.

After spending at least one summer at Karas, my grandparents and my uncle rented a bungalow at Elkin’s and subsequently at Richard’s bungalows. As I recall, they vacationed in Moodus for at least a year or two more than my parents, and this brought me back to town as well as I frequently visited with them for a period of time. Another aunt and uncle took their annual two-week vacations at Orchard Mansion. In summary, our years in Moodus probably spanned from 1948 to 1961.

My days in Moodus were pleasurable, and I was lucky to be able to spend them away from the hot streets in Brooklyn. I was always impressed by the rural character of the area, and the vast differences there compared to back in the city. I can still remember our first arrival day in town with utmost clarity and I believe I still retain a tremendous wealth of information about the area during all of those years. My parents were quite knowledgeable about the affairs of the village, and they knew many of the merchants in town. My father would like to spend some of his spare time analyzing the personalities of each of the different proprietors of Levine’s and Weinstein’s soda shops, and had a number of actual incidents and original jokes to share about each one.

Even though my folks were only summer residents, they held a library card and were quite friendly with one or two librarians whose mutual friendship they enjoyed on their weekly visits for all of those years. In various ways, we also became friendly with a number of local families, and even though we were only summer visitors, we very much felt a part of Moodus ourselves.

Moodus was a part of our lives, and as a child I thought it would go on forever the way it was. I recall the decline of most of the hotels and bungalow colonies, and everyone knew that the demise of the area as a vacation area was soon at hand. A number of years later, I read an article about the destruction of the commercial district, and was even more shocked a few years later; whereupon, I made my first return to the area to have driven by the original location of the village without even being able to spot any vestiges of the past at all. It was just like An Outer Limits TV show. That former main street, an eclectic mixture of a tourist spot with a unique small farm-town flavor, was the basis for making that entire area a community, and what a loss it must have been.

My last visit to the area, about four to five years ago, was with my wife and teen-age children to attempt to show them what it was like for me. Sadly, there was no way to recreate for them the wonderful summers that I spent growing up with my family in this very special place. Obviously, it was a different day and age for me, and others, who spent time there as I did, will probably agree that they really felt a darn lot happier, with a whole lot less, than our kids today.

On my last visit, I was unable to visit the public library to inquire about anyone trying to record the history of the resort period in Moodus. So, it is with a great deal of pleasure that I discovered the existence of your site. Thank you for your efforts.

Sincerely,
--G. Shapiro

Visits to grandma were a treat

At age 77, I look back with fondness at Moodus. My grandparents lived on the hill behind the Synagogue (Axelrods?). It was accessed by a narrow driveway between the buildings. The Synagogue was formerly a Congregational Church, built on land donated by my Great-grandfather, Asa Hyde Harris who was a Dancemaster in Moodus.

A visit to Grandma's (Mrs. Edwin Hazen Harris) was always a treat and to stay a week was even better. My uncle Raymond Harris was friendly with a lot of the camp owners so I got to see some of them at the height of summer.

Three generations of Harrises are buried at the Southwest corner of The Methodist Hill Cemetery across the street.

I remember the Cone Mill at the bottom of the hill and all the houses near it. The Smiths and the Turczyks.

Redevelopment wiped out most of what I remember, but I suppose it was inevitable.

Thanks for the memories.

--Richard D. Harris, Avon, CT

A local sensation ...

What a shock to find Moodus on the internet! Almost as much of a shock as when I came home for my first visit to Moodus from Florida, and the main street was gone!!
Anyway, I never spent time at a Moodus resort, but I did live across the street from Orchard Mansion. Also the class of '45 from Nathan Hale-Ray school had Miss Sullivan for our 5th grade teacher, and she later married Mr. Banner of Banner Lodge. That marriage caused a sensation as she was Catholic and he was Jewish. (gossip).

Good luck, and I do enjoy your web site.
--Priscilla Cornwell

Many Riveredge memories

I stumbled across your site while googling for 'moodus riveredge', and was quite surprised to turn up your excellent web site! It brought back many memories of growing up there: buying eggs from your family's farm (I assume the coops/art center were located on the farm on the hilly road to Banner Lodge), the lazy summers at Riveredge (we had a reunion at Frank Davis - 200 people came), and the old downtown with the wooden sidewalks. My uncle Art still has old clipping of the great flood in the 20s which took out the power plant on the Salmon River and crested at a good 20' above normal.

My family still remains on Clark Gates Road by the old apple orchards, but I left for better schools in the late 60s. Riveredge is now a private residence, after a brief attempt as a time-share, but I can still see ghostly echos of my childhood every time I drive by the place.

Thanks - Diana Donnellan in California (must be an affinity for earthquake country)

From the real Catskills

Very nice material - I am going to link it on my Catskills Institute website section on 'the other Catskills'

--Phil Brown, Providence, RI

History quiz

Just a quick note to let you know that I enjoy your web site on East Haddam history. I teach history at the middle school and on quiz days I usually give a bonus question on East Haddam history. It is a quick way for the kids to know a little about their town. I have lived here most of my life and it still surprises me how much I learn about the town. Anyways keep up the good work!

Thanks,
Roy Parker