The society remembers Alf Evers.

Mountain Top Historical Society

 ALF EVERS   HISTORIAN OF THE CATSKILLS

1905--2004

  
The first speaker sponsored by the Mountain Top Historical Society in January of l973 was Al Evers.  His definitive book of the Catskills, “The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock”, had just been published.  Our organization was certainly “a new kid on the block” and the idea of asking Alf seemed very presumptuous, but he accepted with apparent pleasure.  We shouldn’t have been surprised.  That was Alf.  He was always ready to share what he knew.  In the succeeding years, we received encouragement from him in our efforts as a budding historical society.

I was first introduced to him in the late l960’s.  He had recently made an agreement with Doubleday to write a history of the Catskills.    Some ten years elapsed before it was completed.  His research had no end.  He was a meticulous researcher and it took him into archives, museums, libraries with rare collections.  He searched out old letters, and rare books and maps. but his consuming research was within the Catskills. 

He explored the territory about which he wrote taking time to visit with the people and listen to their stories.  In doing so, he caught the very essence of the Catskills.  His retelling of the folktales gave a deep understanding of what the Catskills really are.

Alf was a preservationist and a conservationist and in those capacities he participates in concerns which would, or could, effect our mountains.  He was highly respected and his voice was forceful. 

As his health, and later his eye sight failed, he was less often seen in public, but he was always accessible.  No question was too insignificant. Answers came readily, and often with additional bits of information or stories.  His clear memory was nothing short of astounding.

I, like most of those who ever knew him, considered him a friend.  He was a friend to The Mountain Top Historical Society, offering help when we needed it and congratulations when he felt we deserved it.  We will miss him very much, but we always remember this remarkable man.

Justine L Hommel,
President MTHS