Main Page

The hamlet is located on the south-east corner of the town and was the junction of the New Berlin branch of the O & W railroad. So, it was once called New Berlin Junction. Joseph Gilbert in his letter of 1812, tells of stopping at "Indian Orchard". It was also called Shaver's Corners.

It is believed that the first settlers of the town of Guilford were two Frenchmen by the name of Mercereau and they settled at the mouth of Guilford Creek in East Guilford. The falls which are still present today offered a source of water power and the first mill was built their in 1789. There was a large Indian village by the bridge where the Marchers settled.

Indian Orchard Falls    Indian Orchard Mill

In the 1800's the hamlet contained one church (Presbyterian), a district school, a hotel, one store, a saw and grist mill, a shingle factory, a cider mill, a shoe shop, two blacksmith shops, a carriage repair shop and a population of about 75.

The chief industry of the hamlet were four quarries of flagging stone. A large mill was built by the falls in 1806. It was referred to as Lascade Mills then owned by the Preston brothers. Where the bridge crossed are rare white barked sycamore trees along the banks of the brook. It is believed that this is the only native stand of sycamores in the whole Unadilla River watershed.

Town of Guilford | All Rights Reserved | Powered by CivicLive | © 2024 Civiclive