Oniontown
p4o2
timewa...@yahoo.com
> Whats the story about this place?
Oniontown is a small hamlet in Dover. It's a cluster of rustic houses,
shacks, and trailers, some of them in very rough condition. It's on a
dead-end country road (Oniontown Rd), so it's not on the way to
anywhere else. It appears that Oniontown Rd is a county road, but it's
not much of a road.
It's an isolated community, largely inhabited by people named Wilcox
and Smith. The place is full of trash, junk cars, and chickens. Some
of the residences have no plumbing or electircity, and some are
missing windows, doors, even walls. The people are isolated and
suspicious of foreigners. For years, people have been afraid to go
there. Don't let your car break down in Oniontown, the old story goes,
or it will be stripped and left in a pile of rotting junkers. There
are tales of inbreeding, with the usual hints at unusual physical
characteristics, but no real evidence. Parents would scare their kids
with tales of the Onion People. But the residents of Oniontown are
part of the town, and their kids go to the local schools. There is
some friction between the Oniontowners and others, and it begins in
grade school.
Oniontown lies between Fossing Hill and the railroad tracks. There
used to be a very bad grade crossing, but that was recently closed,
and the state extented Oniontown Rd about a half mile to intersect the
main road farther north, avoiding the crossing. So now, at least from
the main road, it looks like a new road. But once you get up to the
hamlet, it's the same old Appalachian squalor. There was a move to
change the name of the road, as town residents thought Oniontown was a
degrading name. The town decided on Seven Wells Road, I think, but the
new sign ended up just saying Oniontown Rd.
It is said that Oniontown was once a community of farm workers, who
stayed on after the onion farm went bankrupt. The land parcels are
pretty small, and most of them are owned by people named Wilcox or
Smith. There are some dirt tracks all around the area, including a
dirt road that climbs up the ridge. A lot of the surrounding land
belongs to the Chestnut Ridge Rod & Gun Club, headquartered a few
miles to the south.
The community is very poor, and very poorly maintained. Local kids
avoid the place, although sometimes teens will drive through there on
a dare. But now, people from farther away are showing up to ridicule
and harass the residents, some of whom respond with rock-throwing and
car chases. It's an ugly situation on both sides. The local police
would prefer it if no outsiders went up there, but it does seem to be
a public road, at least though part of Oniontown. Legend has it that
the police never liked to go up there with less then two cruisers and
four officers. Some losers started posting videos on YouTube about
driving through Oniontown, so it's now become a destination for other
losers.
Some of the homes are very much off-the-grid, but others have full
phone, electric, internet, etc, so they know about the video, and they
don't like the whole scene. They're being treated like some kind of
hillbilly side show, and they can be violent with their responses.
People have been arrested on both sides. Probably best to leave the
Onion People alone. Places like Oniontown exist all over the country;
but's it's surprising to find such an isolated community so close to
NYC
p4o2
place like this.
Jim Elbrecht
>Have no intention of going there, just surprised that NY state has a
>place like this.
There is another very similar sounding place in Saratoga county.
Subject of a local college video project in the 70?s- The college
won't let anyone see the video.
I think we talked about it here several years ago. Googling 'Skidmore
and Allentown' might yield some details.
I'd be willing to bet there are dozens of such towns in NY.
Jim
aMAZon
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFDD1430F931A25757C0A965958260
gives more information on "The Hollow", which was evidently done around
1973.
djbiz...@gmail.com
> Whats the story about this place?