Out of a population of only about 330, at the time of the Civil War, forty-two were enrolled from Bellvale and the immediate vicinity. In 1907 the population of the place is estimated at about 300.
Edenville.
Edenville, known in the early annals of local history as Postville, in honor of Colonel Jacobus Post, one of its pioneer settlers, enjoys a picturesque location three miles west of Warwick, with which place it is closely connected in its postal facilities and commercial interests.
Doubtless its early progenitors, because of the establishment of this little hamlet within a radius of great agricultural fertility, predicted its growth to be vastly greater than its actual development proved, but as one by one the railroads on either side were established Edenville was left to its primitive means of transportation.
Nearly north of the village of about one hundred inhabitants are located the isolated peaks of Mts. Adam and Eve, interest in the mineral deposits of which has increased with time. In the decades past, specimens of granite, syenite, granular quartz, hornblende, arsenical iron, and white limestone were gathered by the seeker of mineralogical specimens. Later the quarrying of granite was undertaken by the Orange County Granite Company and the Empire State Granite Company. The quality of the granite found within the mountain confines is of a high order, but the difficulty of transportation forbids an extensive output.
The oldest home of Postville, known as the "Shingle House," was built in 1734, and remained an object of much interest to visitors of the village until destroyed by fire in the winter of 1907.
This was the home of Col. Jacobus Post and is said to have been a haven for travelers on their early tours across the Netherland country.
The Edenville Methodist Church was organized on September 11th, 1822.
The school district known as Purling Brook district was organized in 1813.