Soon now the biography room at the Sloatsburg Public Library will undergo a complete makeover. While adjusting a bare shelf Wednesday afternoon, Library Manager Annmarie McAnany discovered a book caught between the shelf and wall. The outline and texture of the book looked familiar, and McAnany disassembled the shelf to fish out the find.
Antoinette Louise Nattini “Ann” and sister Mary Carmela Nattini “Mary”, both seniors at Suffern High School in 1942. Mary Nattini looked over the newly discovered copy of her 1942 yearbook Wednesday afternoon at the Sloatsburg Senior Center.
What she discovered was a 1942 Suffern High School yearbook in very good condition called the Aremac (the name is an anagram). The 1942 edition now anchors the Sloatsburg Library SHS yearbook collection as the oldest.
Sloatsburg Village Historian Harrison Bush celebrated his 90th birthday on Wednesday, January 13. Mr. Bush, pictured left end of top row, as a Suffern sophomore.
The volume is filled with familiar Sloatsburg names as well as historical names from Hillburn such as the De Freese, Van Dunks and De Groats.
In 1942, Suffern High School occupied what is now the Suffern Municipal building that also houses the Suffern Police Department.
The Sharpshooter rifle club in 1942 at Suffern High School. Locals recall how club members would walk the halls with rifles slung over their backs and then store them in their lockers.
A photo from Suffern High School’s 1942 yearbook that features an interesting category.
McAnany’s historical find complements another recent discovery – a 1951 study titled “Pothat’s Land — A History of Sloatsburg” by Mary Catherine Heins. The yellowed typewritten paper was a SHS senior assignment and contains hand drawn maps of historical places in the Village as well as polaroid snap shots of buildings, most of which no longer exist.
The dissertation is a well-written historical document that relied heavily on oral history and references the original Wynant Van Gelder land grant that covered an area known by natives as Pothat — which became Sloatsburg. In 1951, the original copy of the Van Gelder land grant belonged to SL Eastburn of Suffern, NY.
