Sugar Loaf NY

06/01/2026

The Sugar Loaf Historical Society reminds visitors to Knapp's View to stay to the paths this time of year, as rare/protected ground-nesting birds have eggs and chicks in their nests in the higher grasses.
Knapp's View hosts two relatively rare ground-nesting species, the Bobolink and the Meadowlark, that aren't found in many other spots in Orange county; the Sugar Loaf Historical Society's founders were the first to identify this parcel as habitat for these two species, back in the 1970s.

05/30/2026

Yikes.

So most people are figuring out, the Sugar Loaf Community Foundation has been taken over as the personal property of Narcissist Jeff Zahn and his insane wife Elizabeth Zahn.
Bob says that you only have to look at the community foundation page to see how Jeff uses the Sugar Loaf Community Foundation foundation as his own personal page.
Can't argue that!

05/25/2026

Today we honor US Service Personnel lost in the line of duty.
Sadly, this is also Sugar Loaf's first Memorial Day in over 200 years without our American flag (and pole), which we residents used to lower to half-staff on Memorial Day mornings.
Regardless, we honor our nation's fallen military personnel.

05/17/2026

Loaf Crafts Village driveway, 2004, next to "Windridge Gifts", currently "Merrily Paper".
Two people living in the cottage in the back created this stonework purchased and planted the flowers( flowers paid for by the owners of Windridge Gifts) along with the basket, the mini deck with table and chairs, etc.
Like most Loafers prior to 2023, they watered the flowers daily, along with those of all of their neighbors, and would never have thought of demanding that the town of Chester Highway Department do this (unlike a current 'community' group is now demanding in 2026) .
The couple that built this and installed many other plantings in the village went on to co-found, with several other Loafers, the Sugar Loaf Historical Society... an Historical Society that has never used a public tax dollar, and never will.
Real artisan communities take beautification upon themselves without demanding public agencies do this for them.

How times have changed

05/16/2026

There's a lot of love among these flowers!
Sugar Loaf's Village "Beautification Committee", late 1980s
Back when residents took our hamlet's beautification into their own hands, as artisans both within their own work spaces as well as out in the greater workspace of our then-beautiful crafts village.
Sadly,
Just this past week, a current-day suburban transplant 'community leader' who's overseen concrete sidewalks replacing our once bucolic pathways, and the removal of our beautiful "Sugar Loaf Triangle" that hosted our flagpole and flag and plantings of Tulips and Daffodils....spoke at a municipal town board meeting requesting that the town of Chester (at taxpayer expense) manage hanging flower pots along the street, installing, maintaining and watering these pots.
Gone, clearly, are Sugar Loaf's days of real artisans taking the task of beautification upon themselves, as we Loafers had done for decades.
That same current-day organization also demanded the town's taxpayers pay for a new sign for Sugar Loaf, at a cost of approximately $10,000.00....which was approved.
A community of 'crafts' people charging the taxpayers for a sign ....a sign made in another town altogether.
How times have changed.
As New York State's officially-incorporated Sugar Loaf Historical Society, we hope to remind people that there was once a time when authentic artisans took beautification on themselves, and enjoyed themselves while they did it.
THESE were some of the artisans that once represented our crafts village with integrity and love:
L-R, Back, standing: Joy Sprague, Matthew Kannon, Debbie Diltz
L-R Front: Terry Boswell, Alex Boswell, Sylvia Margolis, Joanne Sauer.
Let's maybe try to learn from our past
🌷💐🪻💐🌷🪻💐🌷🪻🌷💐

05/15/2026

"Boomer Hill", 1919
Pine Hill Road just up past the steep bend.
Back when The Loaf was
" A quaint little drinking hamlet with a farming problem"

05/15/2026

On the subject of PRESERVING Sugar Loaf, which is part of our NYS Education Department incorporated organization's explicit mission:

Most residents miss the fact that BESS sites (like the one being proposed IN SUGAR LOAF, on Sugar Loaf Mountain Road) are really being installed to set the ground for DATA CENTERS.
In fact, Blackstone finances Aypa Power - the company seeking to build a massive BESS on Sugar Loaf Mountain Road :

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1351940423457196&set=a.639899304661315

A data center campus in north-central Georgia consumed more than 29 million gallons of water without the local utility company initially realizing it, triggering low-pressure water flow to its host community, Politico reported Saturday.

The 615-acre Fayetteville-based data center campus, codenamed “Project Excalibur,” was found to have one water connection installed without the knowledge of the Fayette County water system, and another that was not linked to its developer’s account and therefore was not being billed, according to the outlet.

https://dailycaller.com/2026/05/11/project-excalibur-data-center-quality-technology-services-blackstone-29-million-gallons-water-fayetteville-georgia/?fbclid=IwY2xjawRxXdtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFEMDJJd0NCMzlFR3A1RTlRc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPNTE0NzcxNTY5MjI4MDYxAAEesFokz7CE72u2ITidjQXKbwpS_y-UMCrrUHQAZVbt5wezvTxPvPdOicp79z8_aem_OyKT9nWHxi06pO3tcKvPmw

05/13/2026

A span ( team of two) of Bays pulls a carriage from Warwick up along Main Street in Sugar Loaf's village at the turn of the 19th century (to the 20th) . Such teams were commonly fitted with "Fly Nets" those long strings you see in the photo, lain close together, extending from the horse's back down to its 'knees'.
Horses were integral components of daily life in "The Loaf", right into the mid 20th century.
Small wonder that Hambletonian, the father of all trotting horses, was foaled right here in the hamlet!

This Hamlet-onian fact brought to by the Legendary Sugar Loaf Historical Society.

05/12/2026

2004 with some craft village founders
L-R:

LH side: Peter, our Candlemaker:
Sugar Loaf's first 20th c. Craftsman ( along with Jarvis Boone) he's been making candles continuously in the same wonderful shop to this day, since 1968! Peter is generally considered to be the true face of Sugar Loaf's authentic artisan identity; our hamlet godfather, if you will :D. We love Peter dearly.

Center: Matthew Kannon, Barnsider manager.
Matt managed the Barnsider Tavern ( est. 1980) after his dad, Walter (R) handed it over to him at the end of the 1980s. Matthew did the work of 10 people and kept that sincere and infectious smile for most of his tenure until he sold the tavern in this 21st century. It's currently managed as the Sugar Loaf Taphouse , STILL serving excellent fare and keeping the hamlet faith!

RH side: Walter "Wally" Kannon, one of the three founders of the 1968 Crafts Village identity that transformed Sugar Loaf from a dusty little saloon and sawmill strip of road to a thriving artisan center. He visioned and created the Barnsider Tavern in the building he purchased in the 1960s for his 'barnsiding' business, from which he dismantled beautiful old barns to sell the weathered lumber.

Photo: Sugar Loaf Historical Society
(Feel free to share anywhere!)

05/10/2026

Happy Mothers' Day to all the Moms!
Here's the Mom of our Sugar loaf Historical society's co-founder president, way back in the early 1940s on the Holbert farm, using her (too long) stirrup straps looped-up to hold her tiny, deer hide moccasins. Growing up here, riding was an essential life skill.
Remember:
All of our moms were once little girls with dreams of their own, long before we little monsters came along, even before their feet could reach their own lives' stirrups
Happy Mothers' Day, Mommies everywhere
May the little girl always stay bright within you!