Hide Article Text (OCR)
Mildred Parker SeeseWhat flag flies over Liitle BritainWhere is Little Britain?What is it?Why is it?Margaret Van Santfoord Wallace, who lives in a picket fenced house-in-a-garden on Station Road, loving chronicler of Little Britain, says matter-of-factly: “Little Britain is the whole western end of the Town of New Windsor.”In seven years of exhaustive research and writing that draws also on three generations of Little Britain ancestry, her own lifetime of familiarity and many years of living in the heart of Little Britain, she has shown that Little Britain has no bounds.The Little Britain Presbyterian Church, formerly Associate Reformed, now slightly bypassed by Route 207, part of an old “road to Goshen,” is the nucleus of Little Britain. The people who established the church — families of Seoteh-Irish Presbyterianism who arrived with Charles Clinton about 1729 — were in America because they did not like living in the Brifnin of their day. They did not like the attitude of the British government toward their religious choice of Calvinism.With two sons of Charles Clinton, Generals George and James, decisive figures in the winning of the rebellion against the British government, with George the first Governor of New York, its militia commander and later Vice President of the nation, Little Britain was, again a seat of Revolution.Where is Little Britain, besides being in New Windsor? You could almost say Little Britain is where you find it, or where Margaret Wallace has found it: New Windsor or even Orange County.Or, you could say it’s a state of mind, or a heritage from a great past of intellectual, educational, patriotic, freedom loving, agriculturalleadership. It ,vras, until a decade ago, a green and lovely rural areaFiebeginning to suffer from comparatively slow but disturbing invasion by “developers.”Then the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moved in! And a great chunk of agricultural and historic Little Britain was bitten off one summer day in 1971 without so much as by-your-leave for the people who owned and lived on the seized 8,657 acres.Since then innumerable houses, very old, very new and in between, have been vacated, leveled, even their sites made unrecognizable.Whether or not it can operate transportation systems efficiently, the MTA is thorough and efficient in demolition.General James Clinton’s wealthy well-preserved house of 1798 beside Rt. 207, home of Bryan Fischler, may be saved if sponsorship can be found for upkeep and use. (“Liberty” is cut into the foundation.) It is only one of many demolished or doomed. At least two very old places have been razed despite MTA promises at least to confer with County Historian Donald Clark and an authoritative committee of people concerned about the future as well as preservation of the heritage of Orange County in Little Britain.The last vestige of the first man-made waterway in America, the Colden farm canal, long lost and lately found by Miss Wallace, will disappear. Liberty Square, formed by historic roads, is practically obliterated. Temple Bill, also in Little Britain, probably is safe.But three more dwellings of architectural or historic consequence are possibly doomed: The tvpical mid-19th century former Elmwood School;the imposing Will Bacher residence on Ridge Road and the Telford Tavern on Rt. 207.There, during the Revolution, captured Hessian soldiers, pausing overnight in the march from Saratoga, were guarded by boy soldiers so the continental officers could rest in the tavern, a small modern-appearing house, lately the home of Michael DiStefano, Sr.Margaret Wallace, herself just across Route 207 from the seized territory, had sounded a battle-cry for Little Britain a day before the fateful August 13, 1971, when claims to nearly 9,000 acres of Orange County, unauthorized by the owners, were filed with the County Cleric.She titled an article: “ ‘Big’ Little Britain: Its Second Revolution.” In it she wrote: “Again we are being invaded by those who should be bur protectors. We must unite against this injustice . . .“Stewart was developed from a small air field at the time of World War 2 ... It hurt (but) Little Britain could suffer for a cause. Now Little Britain is threatened with loss of half its lands, and contamination of the other half, not for a cause but for someone’s fantastic idea. Our homes are supposedly our castles.-Unlawful invasion must be resisted ... We cannot make plans. Should we paint our houses, enlarge business? MTA’s threat is hurting Little Britain. So did the Revolution two hundred years ago. But there was victory then, and there can be victory now.”A few months later she predicted accurately: “Drury Lane is where the devastation will probably begin,” and she wrote poignantly: “Little Britain is threatened with partial extinction and complete heartache. We should t§ke a fond look around ... If we can’t keep what is, let us not forget what was ... All the northern half of Little Britain has changed ownership. Not one owner was approached, not one mention was made of *PrmJ9 pe deed***.. WhaMlafihis asm LittleBritain?”In her annual Christmas letter to dozens of relatives, friends and former associates. Miss Wallace wrote: “The year 1971 brought unbelievable trouble to Little Britain. The MTA looked at us with covetous eyes ... Fifteen hundred people are being driven from their homes... Right has little weight against might... Those of us in the south half of Little Britain... wonder what a jetport will do to us. The taken lands are off the tax list, and the rest of us will have to pay more. Would you think tiiis could happen in the U.S.A. “with liberty and justice for all?’... Isn’t it very good to have our citizenship in Heaven?”The fighting spirit of Little Britain, beaten down, overwhelmed as it was temporarily in the first Revolution, has been likewise subdued in this Second Revolution. Thent he militia and the spirit were rallied by the Clintons who had barely escaped with their own lives.Now a mild, religious, self-effacing little person, one with a long career in teaching and library work behind her, represents the fighting spirit of Little Britain. Over and over, as she records the seemingly wanton and unnecessary rape of Little Britain, she sounds the cry to rally.Win or lose, she’s a brave and admirable figure, worthy of her Little Britain ancestors, worthy of the grandfather and great grandfather who for nearly 60 years were pastors of the Little Britain church. Like here, they would have been outraged at the monster that is swallowing up their Little Britain that has scattered so many members that the church ipw barely exists.’On
Newspaper Details
Middletown Record
Middletown, New York, US
Sun, May 27, 1973
Page 45
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NY, 06 Feb 2023
Other Publications Near Middletown, New York
Middletown Times Press
Middletown Times Herald
Middletown Daily Times
Middletown Daily Press
Middletown Daily Herald
