Pleasant Plains and Frost Mills Notes

In the early and mid 1700's, land around the mill was being parceled out by land brokers and converted into farms. Garrison and Bunker had taken title to 750 acres in the area along Hollow Road from the present Cookingham Drive to the corner by the Pleasant Plains Presbyterian Church. In 1752 Van Vliet and Masten had purchased 750 acres south of Hollow Road near the crossing of Meadowbrook Lane and Rymph Road, where a stone house was built on the present site of the home of Louis Johnson. The Palatine Germans were also moving in from the north and west, Travers-Cookinghams et al., as the tar camps at West Camp and Germantown were abandoned. In 1784 the land now occupied by the Pleasant Plains Presbyterian Church was given by Richard Alsop, a land broker, to the Providence Society of Pleasant Plains for religious and educational purposes, indicating that an area group had already been formed for social, religious, and educational purposes. The first post office at Pleasant Plains was established in 1829 at the house on the corner of Hollow Road and Quaker Lane, with Abram Golder as Post Master. It was later moved to the mill where P.D. Cookingham was the designated Post Master. At this time, Cookingham and Harris were operating the mill, then another move to the general store opposite the mill. At one time the area was being served by both the Star Route as Pleasant Plains and R.F.D. as Staatsburg. The mill area was a busy cross roads; a store, a mill, a blacksmith shop, and a wagon makers shop. When a church, school, or store became too small for its purpose, it was moved in toto and converted into a dwelling house. How? Man plus horsepower. Within our limited area there are three homes that have lost their former site and identity. Up to the north-west was a high rocky piece of land known as Shultz Mountain. This being unsuitable for farming was partitioned into wood lots where timber was cut for miling and the toppings for firewood. Much building material was obtained from this source and some of the old families here abouts still own their wood lots. The old mill passed through several successive owners, LeRoy Cookingham, Harris, and others, with the last owner being Jacob Zopher Frost. As of now, the corner carries the name of Frost Mills.