Old Shevlin Homestead in Tannersville, New York
The house pictured above on Platte Clove road in Elka Park is believed to be the oldest in the Mountain Top area. It was probably built by William Miller soon after he acquired the land on September 1, 1793. Miller and his wife Margaret raised ten children there. [Quarterly Journal of the Greene Co. Historical Society, Summer 1981].
By 1890 the house belonged to Mary Fay, widow of Thomas Fay, who donated some of the property for building St. Francis de Sales Church. In 1892 Mary sold the house and remaining property to her son-in-law John Shevlin, son of Charles and Bridget. John's children Tom, Charles, and Lizzie lived there for many years until their deaths. In 1958 it was passed down to Margaret Shevlin Malone and a few years later to her daughter Catherine Malone Bender. [See below]
John's children were my grandfather's cousins and my family used to visit them in the 1950's when I was a child. Behind the house was an old barn and an outhouse. Nearby was a street sign that read "Shevlin's Corners". Inside the main room was a pot belly stove and large heavy beams in the ceiling. The house had a musty smell and the doorways were short, especially the one leading into the kitchen. This photo was taken about 1960. I am the boy running from the back of the house. In the foreground is my father, Herb Shevlin, holding my sister Linda.
-- Robert Shevlin [2003]