Info wanted - Conesville/West Conesville (Schenectady, Schoharie: hotels, vacation home, high school)

[johndenton]

I'm a UK-based writer, working on a novel set in 1965, in which some of the action is set around West Conesville near the Schoharie Reservoir. I hope to visit the area later this year, but in the meantime, some background info would help.

I need to know whether there were any shops, bars or even hotels in West Conesville in 1965 - if so, name, brief description etc would be a big help. If West Conesville was too small at that time for these things, the same info relating to Conesville would be useful.

Any help much appreciated!

[camilia]

Hi John - My husband and I have had a vacation home in Conesville since 1985. The Waterfall (House? Bar? Restaurant?) is right across the bridge from the reservoir, on the edge of a gorgeous waterfall. The place itself is pretty raunchy, lots of bikers go there, but it's still going strong, and I'm sure it's been there forever. Down the road a few yards is a general store, I can't recall the name, but the people at the Waterfall may know. It's also been there forever. I'm fascinated by the fact that you know Conesville! A few years back, Christian Slater did a movie scene there from Julian Poe, a terrible movie, based on a French story, that went straight to video. They used the bridge at the reservoir for the scene. (He jumped from it.) All this is in West Conesville. I'll be going back up in a couple of weeks; I'll see if I can dig up anything else. Whatever made you decide on this novel? My email is camineal2@optonline.net. Best of luck!

[johndenton]

Hi Camilia,

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the delay in responding - we just came back yesterday from a week in Spain.

It's a long story as to why I chose Conesville/West Conesville - but I'll try to explain briefly! The story is called Operation Bedazzle, and is set in 1965. The main character is a Jewish diamond merchant, who sets out to track down the man he holds responsible for the death of his wife in the Holocaust. A long search leads to his discovery that the man now works for General Electric at Schenectady (and explaining the reason for this would take too long here!). Further twists and turns lead to the revelation that he lives just outside West Conesville, to the south side of Mount Royal, overlooking the Schoharie reservoir. The choice of Schenectady was dictated by the subject matter of the plot - West Conesville followed logically from the need to have the character living in a remote spot no more than an hour's drive from Schenectady. The subject matter - World War 2 & the Holocaust - has always interested me, so it seemed a natural topic for my first attempt at novel writing.

If you're interested in having a look at the story (which isn't complete yet) it's posted at www.fanstory.com. There's a search box at the lower left of the home page, and if you put in the title Operation Bedazzle, it should take you straight there. 26 chapters are posted, and the main character arrives in West Conesville in chapter 25. I've mad some assumptions about the layout of the village (I also posted my query to Google Answers and got some useful feedback, but I haven't been able to determine the exact location of various key buildings). I took the liberty of placing the Waterfall House Hotel in the middle of the village, with Richtmayer's Tavern about 150 yards away (so that the entrance of the hotel could be viewed from the tavern).

If you have time to give me some indication of the true location of some of the key buildings (perhaps a sketch map scanned and attached to an email) this would be really helpful.

And if you like the story, that would be just great! I hope to find a publisher which will cover the UK and US markets, but my efforts in that direction haven't gone too far yet - I'm concentrating on finishing the first draft at the moment.

Thanks again for your message,

Regards,

John

[wayne]

I just came across your request for info on west conesville, new york. It so happens that I was born and raised in west conesville. Richmeyer tavern happens to be located just outside the village of manorkill which is about 10 to 15 miles from west conesville. The waterfall house has been a long standing watering hole for the locals for a long time, it has just recently turned into a biker bar. The waterfall house is not located in the village but is in fact about a mile or so out of the village.

I left west conesville in 1967 after graduation from high school and only return for a day every other year or so. There is absolutely nothing in the village as far as businesses, or hotels go. It is still the same sleepy village that it was when I left, absolutely nothing has changed.

There were two mom and pop grocery stores in the village when I was living there but they couldn't make a living at it and ceased to exist around '63.

Wayne

[johndenton]

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for your post, and sorry for the delay in responding. I actually finished writing and editing the book a couple of months ago, so I haven't been monitoring the board for a while.

The story's called Operation Bedazzle, and will be published on April 15 2007. It will be available from Amazon.co.uk (shameless plug........ ;-)

I took a few liberties with placing landmark buildings in the village, in order to make that part of the story work, but I hope anyone who knows the area will forgive this as 'artistic licence'!

If you want to see a preview of the story, it's posted at www.fanstory.com but I haven't submitted the last chapter, and I did some editing of the manuscript after it was posted. The part involving West Conesville starts at chapter 25, if you haven't got time or inclination to read it all.

Thanks again for the post,

Best regards,

John Denton