History of Carlisle

The first to settle Carlisle were John P. Karker, and Peter Young, both were Germans. Peter Young’s father had settled upon the Hudson, some years prior. Philip Karker planned to raise grapes on local hills. The book tells the story of Philip losing part of a silver coin, and was therefore unable to claim his father’s inheritance.

Few settlers took residence in Carlisle before the Revolution. During the war, many citizens were Tories, as well as patriots. The Karkers were patriots. A neat story is one in which Mrs. Karker was threatened by Tory neighbors, so she took her baby, and hid under a rock in order to escape.

Judge John Brown was born in 1754 to Palatine parents. Mr. Brown was a Captain of a patriot militia, yet was called a Tory because he wanted to give former Tories the right to vote. Brown was the one that first wrote a text of Schoharie County history, although he only went to school for six weeks. Mr. Brown was a judge for twenty-five years.

Benjamin Young built a tavern in 1808. The book states that horse racing, wrestling, drinking, card-playing, and other “immoral customs” took place there.

East of the schoolhouse in Carlisle, there was a racetrack, which held races even on holy Sunday. Another citizen of Carlisle was Elijah Huntington, who stated he had a coffee house. Carlisle had six churches, all Protestant.

In 1852, a seminary was built in Carlisle, but by the time the book was written, it had been torn down. Carlisle had a foundry, which was built in 1846. After many bank-notes caused inflation, some Irish renegades stole much of it from a man named Peter Becker. But they were tracked down by a group of citizens. The first mill house was built in 1790. There is a cave in town with a ceiling of fifty feet, and contains stalagmites and stalactites. Since the death of a professor in the cave, few people have gone.

It’s amazing how quickly people forget history, when they want to push their point, especially in the case of Mr. Brown.