Barryville, NY

Barryville is a Delaware River hamlet in Highland, Sullivan County, with Route 97 and the Barryville–Shohola bridge tying the waterfront to Pennsylvania. Founded in 1831, it grew around the Delaware and Hudson Canal, which served as the hamlet’s nineteenth-century main street. Canal boats carried coal and passengers between Pennsylvania and the Hudson from 1828 to 1898; stores, hotels, stables, mills, and boat-repair yards gathered along the water. Much of modern Route 97 follows the old canal bed.

The transportation layers remain easy to spot. Sections of canal wall and a canal lock sit along the road, the River Market occupies a former general store, and the old Barryville schoolhouse has been repurposed as the town justice court and polling place. The later Erie Railroad helped build the Upper Delaware resort trade, while the river bridge still connects Barryville to Shohola and its rail line. That is Barryville’s useful local clue: canal, railroad, bridge, and road history are all still visible from a short stretch of riverfront.