Dun (Scottish): Brown haired soldier.
Dow (Irish): Dark haired.
Doune (English): People from the hill.
The hills to the east and to the west of this valley were once owned by James Scott Downie, son of John Downie who immigrated to Delaware County from Coatbridge, Scotland in 1854. The Downies were a sept of the Clan Lindsay, and are entitled to wear the Lindsay tartan. James and his wife Fanny Harkness bought an abandoned hop farm on the land you see looking to the west of East Street and moved here March 1, 1903. The house there dates to 1867. The hops had been destroyed by a disease so James decided to make a dairy out of the farm. The land to the top of the mountain to the west was known as the "Downie Farm" and consisted of 146 acres, including 12 acres of virgin timber which James proclaimed "the most beautiful timber I ever saw". The land to the top of the mountain to the east was known as the "East 40" (acres) and is still in the Downie family.
The red barn you see on the west side of East St. was built by James, who envisioned it's location prior to buying the land. The topography was ideal for bringing hay into the barn by wagon from the field into the mid level hay "mows" to feed the dairy cows in the lower level. The wood was skidded down the hill from the timber at the top, then cut by a portable saw mill set up near the road, and ran on steam power. The wood was stacked to season and in 1909 the foundation of the barn was dug. Stones from the many stone-walled fields were brought by James' team of 2 oxen and mortared together to make walls 3 feet wide extending 3 feet below ground. The two man crew counted1200 loads of stone over the course of that summer. Tree trunk posts were mounted on the stone foundations through the middle of the barn. The structure measures 36' x 72'. It was planned out by a Mr. Byard, a prolific barn builder from Milford. He had James draw on paper exactly where to lay out the lumber and exactly how many boards, and the dimensions of the lumber completely "out of his head". James was taken aback when Mr. Byard confided he had never been to school and could neither read nor write! When construction time came, each piece of wood was in exactly the correct location which saved an immense amount of time and allowed a 16 man team from Milford to have the barn ready to receive the hay that summer. No cranes in those times, just 50 local farmers gathering to use pikepoles to raise the large beams, barn-raising style. The timbers were secured with wood pins - no metal was used in the construction of the barn frame.
James died in 1946 and the Downie farm was then purchased by his daughter Mary and her husband Lewis Sovocool. Lewis passed away in 1980 and Mary could often be seen working in her garden near the house here until moving to the Thanksgiving Home in Cooperstown in 1990. She passed away in 2000 at the age of 102, becoming one of a rare group of people to live in 3 different centuries during their life span.
Look down the road. Can you imagine wet footprints on it coming up from the creek? That is one of the fondest memories of my childhood here. You are standing on our childhood playground. From gathering fossils, to riding innertubes, to catching crayfish, to digging out clay from the bank to make figurines, this creek was our Kingdom in the summer months. The bridge used to be a wood and steel structure. I can remember watching cars clambering over us from below. While this was being replaced in the early 80's, our grade school bus would drop us off on East St. and we had to cross the creek downstream where it narrows on a "bridge" made of hay bales held in place with fence stakes. I am not kidding! We were bussed past 3 or 4 other schools to Greater Plains Elementary. I still don't understand that : )
As fate would have it, the wood bridge was replaced with an enormous 12 foot diameter steel tube which made for a perfect water flume on an innertube. We stacked up rocks to make a deep plunge pool at the downstream end. Such a blast! My mom says she knew we were OK if she could still hear
us screaming from our house - about 1/2 mile away. When it was quiet, she knew someone was probably bleeding. Cache placed in honor of all the Downie ancestors.
Enough history, enjoy the area! Obey all signs.