Phoenix NY is due north of Camillus, just
over the Onondaga County line in Oswego Co.
According to William Hullfish, author of "The
Canaller's Songbook", Yewdall's Mill was just west of Syracuse on the
canal.
The song itself is credited to Jimmy Smith, and
according to Lionel Wyld in "Low Bridge! Folklore and the Erie Canal", a
broadside of the song is (or was) housed in the collections of Union
College in Schenectady.
Maybe the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse would have
more info on the town of Yewdall's Mill?
Dave Ruch
Performer of Traditional Songs of New York
State
Buffalo NY
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 12:58
PM
Subject: Yewdall's Mill
A resident of my town has
asked me if Yewdall's Mill, featured in the folk song, "The Girl From
Yewdall's Mill," was real or fictitious. The canal song also mentions
Fairmount and Phoenixville and Ginea Hill. French's Gazetteer lists
Fairmount as a canal stop in the town of Camillus in Onondaga County.
Phoenixville may be Phoenix in the town of Schroeppel in Oswego County.
Neither French's nor Spafford's refer to Yewdall's Mill.
Does anyone have any
knowledge of this place?
Mary Jo
Lanphear
Town of Brighton
Historian