Times Herald-Record Wednesday, May 15, 2002

To some historians, John K. Beekman will always be known as "Theater Jack," John Jacob Astor's partner in New York City's magnificent Park Theatre and the owner of one of the 19th century's premier wine collections.

To those whose primary interest is Sullivan County history, however, Beekman is renown for quite different endeavors, including spurring the settlement of what is today the Town of Bethel.

Beekman was a rich young man about town, one of New York City's most eligible bachelors when he purchased Great Lot 16 of the Hardenbergh Patent around 1800. He immediately began taking steps to encourage the settlement and development of the area, which was then a virtual wilderness served by a single road, the Sackett Road. Beekman constructed a grist mill and saw mill at the outlet of White Lake, and installed William Peck there as miller and land agent. It was from the Beekman holdings that Adam and Eve Pintler, long considered the earliest settlers in Bethel, purchased their farm in 1804. This after they had lived on the property, ignorant of the identity of its owner, since 1798.

Jonas Gregory, who came to Bethel in 1807, wrote of Beekman in 1870 that "it was through his efforts that many of the settlers came. He built a grist mill and a saw mill, the first in the town and at one time, attempted to establish a linen thread manufactory in connection with his mills. To do so, he purchased very valuable machinery in Europe, which was captured by the British during the War of 1812 while on its way to New York.

"It has been said that he intended to send flax from the sea-board to White Lake, cause it to be made into thread there and then cart the thread back to tidewater. This may be so; but a more reasonable hypothesis is that he intended to encourage the growing of the raw article in Bethel, where it was then raised as cheaply as in any other town of the United States."

Despite the relative profitability of his Sullivan County investments, Beekman's later life was not a happy one. His beloved Park Theatre, once New York's finest, was ill-fated and suffered one setback after another after its purchase by Beekman and the fur trader Astor.

The theater opened with a presentation of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" on Jan. 29, 1798. It burned to the ground in 1820, but Beekman and Astor promptly rebuilt it. Construction was nearly complete when another fire on the Fourth of July, 1821, delayed its reopening. Finally, yet another fire brought down its final curtain on December 16, 1848.

By that time, John K. Beekman had been dead five years, unable even to enjoy his cherished wines throughout the last years of his life. Stricken with some strange digestive malady that prevented him from drinking, Beekman, according to historian Alf Evers, writing in "The Catskills, From Wilderness to Woodstock," took satisfaction" in becoming a grim wine miser who refused even a sip to his relatives and friends."

Upon his death, Beekman's fortune, including what remained of his Sullivan County properties, a summer estate in Saratoga Springs, and his wine collection, were left to his nephew, J. Beekman Finlay. Historian Evers notes that Finlay "lost little time pulling corks at a clip that made him one of the most popular hosts of his day."

John Conway is the Sullivan County historian and an adjunct professor of history at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake. He lives in Barryville.