The land thence westward was vacant as far down as the site of the present residence of Milo B. Gregory, on which had been erected a few years before the home of Stephen Benton.
No other house existed until one reached the site of the E. C. Belknap home, where a house is said to have existed at that time, but its occupant’s name remains unknown to me.
Beyond this all was vacant until the yellow house of Aaron Axtell, the pioneer blacksmith, was reached.
On the southern side of the street were fewer houses than on the northern—in all not more than six. First at the eastern end came the Abijah H. Beach home, where Oliver Buckley lived in later years. It had been erected as early as 1805. Mr. Beach was a native of New Milford, and thus had for neighbors across the way three other New Milford families,—Hayes, Noble and Bostwick. Next to the west was the Daniel Bissell house, where Mr. Bissell at first had erected a log dwelling. He put up a frame house in 1794, which remained until 1817 when Joel Bragg built on this site his first hotel.
To the west came the home of John Bissell on the site of the Dr. Gregory house. John Bissell owned the neighboring fertile island, a gift from his father. His house was torn down when Joel Bragg erected the brick dwelling.
Further on stood the Sampson Crooker residence on the L. B. Woodruff site, a portion of which still remains at the rear of the later building.
Next came the hotel which Dr. Cone built on the site of the present Unadilla House at the corner of Clifton Street.
Beyond stood Jacob Hayes’s house, just below the site of the Presbyterian Church.
From this point there was no house until the Sliter place was reached beyond the present barns of James White.
Such was the village of Unadilla, twenty-five years after Sluman Wattles and Timothy Beach made their settlements on the banks of the Ouleout. Seven years later the number of houses was thirty, in which fact we see the influence of the turnpike in building up the settlement. Dr. Dwight in his notes of the visit made in 1804, gives as follows his impressions of the place and its surroundings: