Remembering life at the Allen Farm: An interview with Gerry Allen

Posted 8/21/12

[In our February 12 issue we reprinted a 1978 TRR profile of Bennet Allen. As reported in that article, the Allens and another family, the Aikens, were the first black people to move to Narrowsburg, …

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Remembering life at the Allen Farm: An interview with Gerry Allen

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[In our February 12 issue we reprinted a 1978 TRR profile of Bennet Allen. As reported in that article, the Allens and another family, the Aikens, were the first black people to move to Narrowsburg, NY, in 1960. Recently, Tusten historian Grace Johansen met with his son Gerry to learn more.]

Gerry Allen and I met at the library here in Narrowsburg, NY. Our purpose was to learn more about the Allen Farm in later years. Gerry is a tall, pleasant man and we soon found common ground in our experiences as children of resort owners.

Bennet Allen and Maude Everett met while attending school in Knoxville, TN. In 1933 they were married. Unable to have children, they adopted Gerry when two months old, Eddie when six years old, and Stanley White, the son of Gerry’s mother’s cousin, was added to the family when eight years old.

They decided to move when their city neighborhood began to deteriorate. A Lucky Lake advertisement attracted them to Narrowsburg, and they bought the Kraus farm and moved here in 1960.

At first, the boys hated it. There seemed to be nothing to do in this all white community. At school there were many fights, until the boys joined some of the sports teams. Gradually, things got better

Bennet Allen worked in New York City for the transit system, traveling back up to the farm late Friday nights. But early Saturday mornings he would wake the boys and ask what they did all week, checking on their math and history homework. There had to be good grades or they could not play sports. Gerry said he came close, but sports never had to be cut off for any of the boys. Their father was serious about a good education. They had to study after school, and they had to go to church on Sunday; those were the rules.

When the farm expanded to become a resort, the boys were kept busy. They learned to wait on tables, make beds, clean rooms, wash dishes, laundry, etc. Bennet had July and August off, the busy summer months when he and the family all worked from 5 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. In addition to taking care of the guests, the garden had to be weeded, the grass mowed and the pool cleaned. Bennet enjoyed going to the racetrack occasionally and often got a ride there and back, but before he left he made sure the boys did their chores. Gerry said he liked bartending best of all the jobs in the summer. That was when his best friend came to work, and girls from the city came as guests.

Bennet and his best friend later bought additional acreage from Charlie Scheibling. The property had a rundown building on it and chicken coops. They tried raising chickens, and it was Gerry’s job to feed them before and after school. Night basketball practice relieved him of the job, and then his father had to feed them.

The chicken business soon lost its appeal. Bennet burned the chicken coops and restored the building to be a motel (now the Arrowhead Apartments). The town’s Oktoberfest had been held on this property, so the Allens also hosted it for two more years. Thereafter, the Octoberfest was held on the Roto Rooter property.

Bennet took care of all maintenance and business transactions, and his wife did the cooking, with no help. She refused to let anyone in the kitchen with her. She bought food supplies at the A&P in Honesdale and bought meat from Pingles in Beach Lake. She served a hearty breakfast and an early dinner. As Gerry said, she was a good cook, or guests would not have returned.

Labor Day marked the end of summer guests, and family life returned—that is, until November, when scores of men would come for hunting season.

Bennet was able to be at the farm full-time after retiring in 1965. He had worked 27 years for the New York City Transit Authority. The resort business began to decline in the mid-1970s and closed in 1977, but the friendly, hardworking Allens had earned the respect of their community.

Bennet died in 1978 at age 70. His wife lived to be 94. They are both buried here in Narrowsburg, the town Bennet said was “the best place I could have settled.”

Postscript

After a year in Viet Nam, Gerry returned in 1971, helped at the farm, then moved back to the city. After retiring from the post office, he moved back to Narrowsburg permanently. His brother and cousin live and work in New York City.

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