What's West Hill have to do with Goshen? Before 1847, West Hill was part of the town of Goshen. It wasn't until 1847 that a large tract of land--11,600 acres--was parceled off to the town of Rochester.
This included the already settled West Hill, called Old Philadelphia, as well as parts of Bingo. For this and other reasons, West Hill's early settlers came from Goshen, and more "the Brandon side of things than the Rochester side," said Rochester historian Marcus Blair pointed.
Goshen also owns it's own "national forest," with so much land there is "kickback" to the citizens...maybe maple syrup or some wood.
Many of the names in the West Hill cemetery are the same as the Goshen cemetery. But so far, the greatest monument to Goshen, with all due respect to the eagerness of the residents who so faithfully and selflessly gave their lives to both the Rebellion and the Revolutionary Wars, is discovering Elsie Masterton, who ran the famous Blueberry Hill Inn, and published the even more famous Blueberry Hill Cookbook.
Her daughter Laurey recently put out a cookbook--a tribute to her cooking and her mother, called Elsie's Biscuits. Another daughter Heather was a Rochester selectman awhile back, whose beautiful voice the Rochester Town Band has backed, and a talented actress in White River Valley Productions, and ... so much more. I'm so glad she's more than just any Facebook friend...but a real friend!...that I know her, and know how much she gave to Rochester.
I am currently reading Off My Toes!, a tragically hillarious account of Elsie's adventures running the Blueberry Hill Inn with her beloved husband John, raising her three daughter's and their experiences with one-room schools in Goshen. This book has totally blown me away--it's the first book I've read aloud to my wife in a decade!
Free download of Off My Toes!
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