In Episode Five, we covered some of Woodbury’s larger hotels that thrived during the era of local railroad traffic and farming more than one hundred years ago. Another side to these accommodations, however, was the many boarding houses that once populated Woodbury. Unlike a hotel, summer guests would become a part of a home’s family leading to experiences that have far more personal and memorable qualities. Join us on Episode Seven with Dorothy Morris, a long-time Woodbury Historical Society member and former chair of the Gatehouse Museum & Historic Site. Her family, the Helbings, once operated a boarding house in the town’s forgotten hamlet of Woodbury Falls near Cornwall along today’s Mineral Springs Road. Tune in as Dot’s unique glimpse into the past sheds light on how some chose to spend summer vacations when large, grand resorts were perhaps too expensive or too distant from community life.

When we sat down to start working on Episode Four of Famous Residents, we really didn’t think the list would be long. Sure, we had a few well-known and highly respected individuals whose reputations towered, but we certainly did not think it would amount to the more than twenty that we discovered! This little community has certainly outdone itself in being a haven for some pretty impressive names. And the diversity of their achievements is also amazing. So join me, Walt Stanfield, Leslie Rose, and my dad as we discuss the who, where, and why of our famous Woodbury residents.

Tourism has proven to be an important aspect of Woodbury’s history for over a century and, while it is not necessarily obvious today, the Woodbury Common outlet mall makes it arguably more important than many other facets of our community. However, tourism was once popular in Woodbury for the region’s tranquil scenery which led to the operation of many hotels and boarding houses at the turn of the twentieth century. Join Alex Prizgintas with some new and returning guests as he uncovers the hotels that once existed in our town.

What if we told you that an inventor who had more patents than Thomas Edison and was a contemporary of George Westinghouse as well as Nikola Tesla once called Central Valley home? Episode six of A Walk Through Woodbury covers the rich history of Ethan Ira Dodds, an industrial engineer with more than 2,000 patents to his name with the cold light (fluorescent light) and circular saw as some of many items tied to his legacy. As many of Dodds’s inventions were used deep within railroad technology, his story has largely been neglected in modern history. The Woodbury Historical Society gained a rare opportunity to chronicle his story when, in June 2024, an interview was conducted with the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Ethan Dodds in the very same home where he once lived more than 100 years ago. Tune in to hear stories never shared with the public before about this brilliant, famous individual who once called Woodbury home.