Hi y’all and welcome to another exciting and thought provoking issue of this bi-weekly newsletter, The CORNERSTONE TRAVELER. Alsovailable online at www.cornerstonetraveler.com. To all of my readers of this newsletter,I am sorry if this newsletter is a few days late, but I had a problem with my teeth that I had problems with when I played ice hockey with the college students when I was kid and also when I lost some with my motorcycle accident and I had to have another extracted last week. Again I apologize.

Mid-Hudson Valley news: According to the United States Weather Service the Catskills and the mid-Hudson Valley is at the peak of fall foliage. As I have written in previous newsletters, I prefer to view the foliage from the rest area on 44/55 just past the hairpin turn on the left hand side as you are going up into the mountain. I have always enjoyed the foliage views of the mid-Hudson Valley from this spot. Check it out!
As I have written earlier, the foliage will not last as long as previous years because of the lack of rain in the Catskills and the mid-Hudson Valley. According to the United States Weather Service, the Catskills and the mid-Hudson Valley is in a moderate to severe drought. We are more than 8 inches below the average accumulated rainfall for this year. The city of Kingston has issued a voluntary water restriction on the citizens for taking shorter showers and reducing the amount of time washing hands and faces with continued use of the water.
Halloween is a short two weeks away and there will be numerous haunts in the mid-Hudson Valley such as haunted tours in South Fallsburg every Friday and Saturday until Halloween.
And there is the historic haunted Huguenot Street tour where you will experience Huguenot Street as it was in past years including the greave yard where there is the supposed spirit of a young girl who died when a ship sunk in the Hudson River. I have been there a few times on Halloween and I have yet to see this spirit.
I have to admit seeing the aged gravestones of the early settlers of New Paltz (the Huguenots) do intrigue me.

observations: I have been getting calls from the police fund raisers on an almost monthly basis trying to raising money for police chiefs and police rank and file on a monthly basis. I have come to the conclusion that these telephone fund raisers is a scam much like the Wounded Warriors Project.
I have also been getting calls from outfits selling solar kits, but when I ask for mail documents I get the response “that they do not do this and I respond that they are losers. I will not agree to anything on the telephone or on the internet. I will only agree to do anything with postal proof of these scam artists. They or I do not like calling them artists because they are just thieves and not artists.
sports: NHL : The Rangers are in first place in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern conference with 8 points and a record of 4-2.
The Islanders are in 4th place of the same division with 6 points and a record of 3-3.
NFL: The Jets defeated the Ravens in Baltimore with a score of 24-16. They are in 4th place of the Eastern Conference of the AFC.
The Giants defeated the Rams in London by a score of 17-10. They also are in 4th place of the Eastern Conference of the NFC.

other: As with all previous issues of this newsletter, everything printed here is either copyright protected or copyright pending.
The history of P&G’s follows this newsletter from when about the mid 1930’s to almost the present.
The short story that follows is a short story I wrote years ago called The LIGHTHOUSE.
I hope you like it.
I am Rik McGuire and I approved this newsletter.

History of P&G’s continued to the present

From 1925 – 1945 a number of diverse businesses occupied the building. These included Carols Clothing Store (1937), Atkins Drug Store (1938), Schaffert Real Estate Office (1943) and Dicks Bar and Grill among others.
In 1947 Dicks Bar and Grill was purchased by two Lake Mohonk employees, Pat Cafferty and George Jayne. Legend has it that neither told their wives of their intention to purchase the business. They immediately changed the Grills name to Pat and Georges. Among it loyal customers it was simply P&G’s.
One of the best things to happen to P&G’s occurred in 1961. An ex Dodger player named Stormer Nickerson became a bartender. Stormy as he was affectionately known became something of a legend. His heart, quiet good humor and generous spirit made P&G’s the one place that welcomed all from the harsher outside world into a refuge for college students, business people, local characters and even for a while, in the 1960’s, bikers. According to one source. “They weren’t as rowdy a crew as you might expect because although he was quiet, Stormy commanded and got respect.” His professional baseball background made him a natural to pitch batting practice for the New Paltz College teams and he did so for a number of seasons. One college fraternity considered P&G’s their private domain. The scene of everything important, news, views, camaraderie and especially humor was always evident at P&G’s.
After the St. Helens volcano erupted and news reports discussed the possibility of ash fall out across the U.S., Stormy came to work to find the staff dressed in garbage bags and metal kitchen colanders on their heads. Since no ash was reported on anyone Stormy reasoned the attire had been affective by making everyone laugh their ash off.

In June 1991, after 30 years, Stormy retired from P&G’s. He died in June of 1994. From his casual humor that lingers, to his Chile recipe that is still served and the kind memories often repeated by his many friends, Stormy is still here.
In 1969 Edwin Beck bought P&G’s. His first weekend as owner was completely successful. The following weekend, however, the place was deserted. A disheartened Beck couldn’t understand what he had done to alienate everyone so quickly. He was relieved to learn it was simply a matter of poor timing. Everyone was away and wallowing in a farm in Bethel NY. A music festival or something.
Ed Beck never spent time worrying. He looked across Main Street and up Platekill Avenue, seeing thousands of thirsty college students who, for the most part remained on campus.
Taking a good supply of liquid refreshment, Beck went to the campus and gave the students (all legal in those days) a new place to call home. He transformed P&G’s from a neighborhood bar into a local institution.
The face of Beck’s personality had much to do with the continued success of P&G’s, the place was fun. One oft quoted story about Beck concerns a young P&G’s enthusiast who wanted to be just like Beck when he grew up. It is reported that Beck in all humility replied. “Well you can’t do both.”
The name Pat and Georges was officially changed to P&G’s in the 1980’s by Ed Beck and his son Mike. In 1985, Mike bought out his father’s interest. In 1994, he undertook extensive renovations, making the building exterior appear as it did in 1900, when it was the Casino.

The LIGHTHOUSE

I have been the caretaker of this lighthouse on the southern tip of Cuddyhunk for the past two years. The lighthouse is considered a national historic landmark by the federal Historical Society. This lighthouse has been lighting the shoals of the coast of Cuddyhunk since before the American Revolution.
I was hired by the Massachusetts Historical Society two years ago because I had written several much researched pieces of the Americas past in local newspapers and one national magazine. This historical society wanted me to research the old lighthouse and write a definitive history of it. I naturally agreed because I was and still am a struggling writer, concentrating on Americas past.      This was an ideal position for me because I could get paid to do what I enjoy most, writing and get paid to do it along with living expenses and shelter.
I live in the lighthouse. I have a regular monthly stipend to spend on food, fuel and other expenses along with a good wage to be the caretaker and historian of the lighthouse.
This was an ideal position for a writer such as myself. It is so much easier now that I am the caretaker and historian of this ancient lighthouse
Before I had supported myself by bartending at the harbor bars in New Bedford. In the beginning of my bartending career I worked the rundown fisherman bars where the drink of choice was a shot and a beer. Those old fishermen tipped good. I suppose it is because they knew how hard they worked to make a decent wage and thought that I had worked hard enough to receive a generous gratuity.
Then those old fashion bars were bought up by yuppie owners who served the newly rich yacht owners and my tips started to dry up. I can’t count the number of times I heard those new doctors who owned thirty foot yachts complain about malpractice insurance, but at the same time   pay a few thousand dollars for a new sail and then leave me a five dollar tip on a tab of over one hundred dollars. I found myself making less money at the new yuppie bars than at the old fisherman bars. So naturally I accepted this position as caretaker and historian of the old lighthouse on Cuddyhunk.
I researched the hell out of the lighthouse from local libraries both in New Bedford and on Cuddyhunk. Plus I researched any material I could find at a local nautical museum and at Woodshole on Cape Cod. The\Massachusetts Historical Society was impressed with my research which was my intent when I interviewed for the position.
What bothered me during my extensive research was that there was very little written about the lighthouse immediately after it was constructed. It wasn’t until ten years after the construction that there were any definitive writings on the lighthouse. This bothered me and I knew I would be obligated to learn the reason for this gap in the history of the lighthouse.
As lighthouse keeper, there was very little I had to do to keep it operating flawlessly. The high candle power light would come on automatically when the ambient light dropped to a specific level and would turn its self off when the ambient light rose to an acceptable level.
Even if the power shut down, a generator started up automatically so that the light from the lighthouse would only flicker momentarily. So I had very little to do at the lighthouse accept to do my research and conduct the occasional tour. All I really had to do for the operation of the lighthouse was to assure that the diesel fuel tank for the generator was full, check the lights on the light source and do the typical maintenance to the lighthouse structure. This left me with the time to research, write and occasionally explore the grounds around the lighthouse and the light beam itself. There wasn’t all that much to explore and discover until this one board in the bedroom intrigued me because it creaked every time I walked upon it.

I purchased some old time wedge spikes to hammer the creaking board home when I thought that it could very well be hiding something. And I pulled it up. I discovered hidden underneath the board an old time watch cap, a uniform of some sort, candles, a stone and flint and an oil skin wrapped around hand written documents.
I slipped the watch cap on my head and it fit perfectly I then unrolled the oil skin to reveal what was written those many years ago. And I spent the next five hours reading the documents from over two hundred and thirty years ago and writing notes on what I had read.
The document started with a barely legible scrawl.

1 October 1776

My name is Calvin Hughes and I have been hired by the commonwealth of Massachusetts to operate this lighthouse on Cuddyhunk to warn ships of the dangers of the shoals that threaten shipping near this southern coast, especially at low tide.
Everything was going well until one night after I had applied the necessary pitch to a lighted lantern; I was prepared to sleep for two hours when I would need to replenish the pitch fuel for the lamp. I slept the necessary two hours, woke, went to do what was needed when I saw that ghost ship fifty yards from shore. I saw the ghost ship slam into the shoals and sink. I heard all the cries for help from the dying and drowning.
I knew it was a ghost ship because I could see through the hull the sailors and African men and women trapped below decks. The sight scared me to the bible in my bedroom.
The ghost ship appeared almost nightly at almost precisely the same time and sank before my befuddled eyes.
Finally this ended after three harrowing months.

Calvin Hughes rambled on almost nightly about seeing the ghost ship sinking on the shoals of Cuddyhunk. I could tell he was using bottles of rum to fortify his courage each and every night because he wrote that he was purchasing the rum from a local boating captain who was part of the triangle trade of slave, molasses and rum.
I could tell when he was well into his cups, as they would say in those old times of American history. His writings would ramble on and on almost nonsensically. It became almost impossible to read and my eyes tired quickly. But I forced myself to read and I did until almost three that morning when I thought I would pass out on my desk in my bedroom.
I slept fitfully that night, morning. My dreams were centered on that ghost ship of African men and women slaves. And I worried that I would witness this ghost slave ship, late at night. I didn’t and I can’t be sure what I would have done if I had.
Then suddenly Calvin Hughes writings took an unexplained turn and here is what I read next.
Then the unthinkable happened. A privateer, Captain Willie, One Ear piloted a ship near the lighthouse. And I knew the light was bright enough to warn this privateer away from the shoals.
He ignored the warning because he thought to lure a British warship near the shoals. But the captain of the British warship saw my light and steered wide of the shoals, but Captain Willie thought he could thread the needle of the shoals and sank with all aboard. The British warship stuck around, hoping to secure any stolen booty by Captain Willie, but the next morning a hurricane crashed ashore and swept Captain Willie, his crew and whatever remained of the ship out to sea.
Captain Willie and his crew now haunt the lighthouse and me on a nightly basis, so that I barely get any sleep. I don’t know why they haunt me. It was Captain Willie’s decision to thread the needle of the shoals. The light from the lighthouse should have been warning enough.
I do know that I can’t take much more of this and I am quitting my post as lighthouse keeper and perhaps get a job on a local whaling boat.

Calvin Hughes

There were more documents in Calvin Hughes hand that described the ghost ship. But again it was nearly ineligible scrawl from a man who was obviously scared to death of this ghost ship and latter on of Captain Willie One Ear and his crew. Actually, Calvin Hughes wrote, it was Captain Willie being haunted by his crew because they thought that he caused their untimely deaths by being so reckless as he captained the Canary Island, the name of the schooner that sank in 1776. They even thought that Captain Willie should suffer for his decision to risk their lives instead of coming about and letting the British warship take back the stolen booty. The First Mate Howard told the captain it would be foolhardy to thread the needle of the shoals as the captain had suggested. But the captain knew the value of their stolen booty and decided the value was worth the risk especially for him because he received seventy percent of the value and the remaining the crew divided up among themselves.
Captain Willie learned the futility of his greed with his life and the lives of his crew. The reason why the crew haunted the spirit of Captain Willie and the lighthouse.
How much longer will this haunting continue? I have no idea. All I am certain of is that I am to write of this history of this lighthouse. Should I include the ghost ship of African slaves and of Captain Willie on the Canary Island. I really don’t know! Perhaps the spirits of those two doomed ships will guide me. But I am uncertain how to end this tale, but to inform my readers I am still the caretaker and historian of this lighthouse and plan to continue for as long as I live or until the spirits scare me off. Which I don’t think will ever happen.

I did go to the local whaling society meeting house in New Bedford to research Calvin Hughes. I learned he was considered a valued whaling seaman who worked on several whaling ships. Though a few of the captains did complain that he would at night, lose his sea legs after drinking too much rum. They complained that he would tell and retell his sightings of the slave ghost ship and of Captain Willie and the ghosts around him. The captains thought that he was only trying to scare the rest of the crew with his tales of ghosts. What he didn’t know was that the rest of the crew laughed at him behind his back.
Calvin Hughes lost his life on a Nantucket sleigh ride with a harpooned whale. The whale was able to dive down to an unimaginable depth, taking the boat with the whalers after it. Calvin Hughes body was never found and is believed to be resting at the bottom of the Grand Banks.
The spirit of Calvin Hughes did appear before me one night, just as I was preparing to go to bed. The spirit appeared before me as I lay back in bed waiting for sleep to overcome me. The spirit of Calvin Hughes was a very kind and understanding of how I was trying to write the history of the lighthouse.

“You’re doing a very commendable job with your writing of the history of one of the first lighthouses to light the coast of the New World.
“I am trying my best.” I admitted. “But there is very little written about this lighthouse. And I searched everywhere and I can’t find enough.” I complained.
The spirit of Calvin Hughes only nodded then whispered. “Go to the local public library in Cuddyhunk. There you will find a book written by Amos Pritchard around 1785, shortly after my untimely death. He wrote the history of Cuddyhunk from its very beginning to the American Revolution. In this book you will find the original construction plans for the lighthouse, who constructed it and how the town paid for its construction and upkeep.”
“I’ll check it out.” I said. “But why haven’t I even heard of this book? I always prided myself on finding and reading the most hard to find books on Americas past, Yet I have never heard of Amos Pritchard. Why?” I had to ask.
Calvin Hughes smiled at me with that ghostly smile and whispered. “Very few copies of this book were ever published. And naturally the local library felt obligated to purchase one for their library.”
I could only nod and the spirit of Calvin Hughes disappeared into the night of my bedroom. I fell asleep knowing that the first thing I would do the next day was to find this book by Amos Pritchard.
I woke early the following morning as I usually did when I was in the zone to write or research what I was going to write. I had several cups of coffee as I went over in my head how I was to approach what I would learn from Mr. Pritchard.
I walked to the public library. It was only a mile from the lighthouse. I walked to the front desk of the library . Seated behind the desk was a matronly grey haired woman who smiled when approached. “Can I help you?”
“Yes.” I said. “I am looking for a book that was published a long time ago by a Mr. Amos Pritchard. I believe this library has a copy of it.”
The old matron smiled. “Yes. We have that book. But I think you are the first person to even ask for it or about it since I have worked here. Which is over fifty years. She rose from behind her desk. “Follow me and I will help you find it.”
It took at least an hour before we were able to locate the book. It was in a box of dusty old books that were scheduled to be sold at the next library book sale. An annual event to raise money for the library. I admit I had bought at least twenty books at this annual book sale.
I paid the old librarian twenty dollars for the book and I took it home to read.
Amos Pritchard wrote how the first few years were tough on Cuddyhunk. He wrote that it was essentially a lifeless island with little or no wildlife and very little soil to grow vegetables and fruit. He wrote that the residents relied on off shore netting of fish and lobsters to survive on. The homes were built sporadically when lumber was made available from the mainland of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Life was rough those first few years. And then the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with help from the newly formed federal government of the New United States helped to fund construction of the lighthouse that still stands and that I occupy.
Amos Pritchard wrote much of the early times of Cuddyhunk and of the newly formed nation called the United States of America in a whole new light. From someone who wrote about it from a firsthand experience.
I knew immediately after finishing the book that I would treasure it tightly. It showed me more of early America than I could have read in any history book.
Mr. Pritchard even wrote that John Adams was considered a soap box rabble rouser against the British occupation of Americas. He also wrote of the conservative element in the New World, the Loyalists, who sided with the British rule and against any rebellion from this rule.
I finished the book by Amos Pritchard and placed it on the shelf of my books of early America history to be used in future newspaper and magazine articles I had planned to submit.
As I lay back in bed waiting for sleep to overcome me, a spirit appeared before me. Though I had already seen the spirits of Willie, One Ear, Calvin Hughes and countless others, I was still shocked motionless.
The spirit of Amos Pritchard whispered. “I am glad that you like and appreciate what I had written those many years ago. I only wish others can read what I had written.”
I could only nod and say. “Yes. What you had written is very enlightening of Americas early days.”
“But less than one hundred of my books were published and printed and most of them have been lost for all time.” The spirit of Amos Pritchard complained.
I suddenly sat up in bed and thought I had a terrific idea to help this spirit. “I know of a publishing house in New York City that is constantly looking for works of the past of early America. I will contact them tomorrow to see if they are interested in re-publishing your book.” I promised the spirit of Amos Pritchard as he disappeared from my bedroom.
I did as I promised and contacted this New York City publishing house with the thought of publishing an unknown author of America’s early history. At first the editors were reluctant because they had no history of Amos Pritchard. I was reluctant, but I finally gave in and said I would let them read my book by Mr. Pritchard on the condition I would get it back. I even went so far as to drive it to New York City and hand it to them with the promise I would get it back within two weeks when I drove back to the city in New York.
In those two weeks I learned that this publishing house was ecstatic with the book by Amos Pritchard. They wondered if the book sold, where should the royalties go? And I said without thinking. “To the town of Cuddyhunk in memory of Amos Pritchard.”
I was happy with what I had accomplished with Amos Pritchard’s book and I lay back in my bed in the lighthouse, proud of what I had done and suddenly the spirit of Amos Pritchard appeared before me in a state of jubilation.
“You have done well to get my work published yet again.” The spirit whispered. “And I am happy, finally.”
“Good.” I said and I left it at that.
I am now in my early forties with a wife and a young boy. We still live in the lighthouse. My son, Billy, likes to go out early in the morning and wave at the passing fishing boats. I even let Billy sound the fog horn on foggy, dank days and nights when the lighthouse lantern can’t be seen easily. Billy helped me a lot with the typical maintenance of the lighthouse and I know he would apply to be the lighthouse keeper when he became of age and I retire.
I did explain to my wife and my son when he became old enough to understand the ghosts that haunted the lighthouse though they did not haunt as much as before because they had all accepted their new existence and crossed over to a higher level of consciousness.

Finally Trevor Finely
10:03 p.m.
7/03/08
@ Barnaby’s