Cushetunk, the first permanent European settlement in the Upper Delaware region, part of which would later become Sullivan County, was established in the 1750s by a group of farmers from eastern Connecticut who wanted to own their own farmland and traveled here to find it.

But those Connecticut settlers were not the first farmers in the region by a long shot.

The Native American Lenape tribe, which spent the warm weather months here for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, depended upon farming, along with hunting and fishing, for survival. Interestingly, among the Lenape, the women did most of the farming, though the arduous task of harvesting was often left to the men. The Lenape grew mostly corn, beans and squash, often referred to as the three sisters of Native American agriculture.

The Lenape developed a system they called companion planting.  In order to get the highest yield of beans possible, the vines needed tall poles on which to grow, so the beans were planted next to the corn, and the tall stalks were perfect for the climbing vines. In turn, the bean’s roots captured nitrogen from the air, and enriched the soil, which was ideal for the corn.

So the two crops thrived together, much more than they would have if planted apart. And, with the planting of the third sister, squash, the system became truly ingenious. The squash plants sent out long, winding vines close to the ground, and had very large leaves, so they were planted in between the rows of corn and beans to act as ground cover, to keep the weeds away and to provide shade for the corn’s shallow roots. They also helped keep the ground moist, which helped the beans grow, which helped the corn grow higher, which made for longer bean vines, and so on.

Many European settlers here farmed for survival as well, even as the county’s economy was being fueled by the burgeoning timber and tanning industries. By 1855, there were 125,489 acres of farmland under cultivation in Sullivan County. In 1880, records show there were 4,394 farms in the county, with the average farm comprising 107 acres. By 1890, the number of farms had decreased to 4,096, but the average size of a farm had increased slightly to 112 acres. In 1900 there were 3,887 farms averaging 123.2 acres. By 1940 there were just 2,778 farms averaging 91.5 acres each.

Although there were many other types of farms, dairy farms were typically the most productive farms in Sullivan County. When the O&W Railway railroad began operating regular milk trains from the county to the New York metropolitan area in 1879, a typical trip consisted of 27 stops in Sullivan, and the shipment averaged 250 of the standard 40-quart cans. 

When the Sullivan County Milk Association was formed in 1880, there were an estimated 2500 dairy cows producing in the county, and by the following year, production had increased to 17,430 cans per week, in addition to 165 cans of condensed milk, and 311 cans of cream. By 1901, the county was shipping 9 million cans of milk on the railroad annually.

Dairy farming remained big business in the county as long as the railroad operated. For example, in 1940 there were 26,271 cattle in the county over the age of three months. Most of these were dairy breeds, with Holstein-Friesian the most popular, followed by Ayrshire and Guernsey. During the preceding year, there were 9,443,357 gallons of milk produced in the county, of which 7,569,283 gallons were sold as fluid milk, generating $1,286,778 for farmers.

Chicken farms were also important, particularly toward the middle of the 20th century.  During 1939, for instance, $925,464 worth of poultry and poultry products were sold by Sullivan County farms.  There were 742,764 chickens raised in the county, of which 422,640 were sold alive or dressed.  In addition, 3,169,942 dozen eggs were produced in Sullivan County.  White Leghorns were the most popular birds, with New Hampshire Red and Plymouth Rock flocks also kept.

There have been other animals raised commercially in Sullivan County over the years, including sheep, horses, and even chinchillas. The scope of these operations varied greatly over the years, as evidenced by the fact that in 1845 there were nearly 20,000 sheep in the county, but by 1940 that number had declined to 507.

Statistics notwithstanding, farming in Sullivan County has never been easy. The story of the development of the industry over the years—and its ultimate decline as well as its recent resurgence—will be the subject of a program presented by this columnist, your Sullivan County Historian, at the Western Sullivan Public Library in Jeffersonville on Tuesday, September 10 at 6:30 p.m.  The program is open to the public. Contact the library for further information.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and a founder and president of The Delaware Company. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.