Historical Society keeps legend alive with marker
Sugar Loaf. The “Legends and Lore” sign at Knapp’s View open space parcel was dedicated on Sept. 29.
| 01 Oct 2025 | 01:27
From left: Debbie Diltz, Brian Boone, Jay Westerveld, Sugar Bear (descendant of slain bear), Tim Diltz, Diane Westerveld, and Peter Lendved. (
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The Sugar Loaf Historical Society dedicated its Nathaniel Knapp William G. Pomeroy “Legends and Lore” marker at Sugar Loaf’s Knapp’s View open space parcel on Sept. 29. The marker commemorated the colonial settler’s 1750 killing of a bear with only his hunting knife 85 years before the Town of Chester even existed.
Legend has it that Knapp was attacked by a bear there and killed it with his knife, highlighting the pioneer spirit that endured in Sugar Loaf right into the 20th century with the 1968 arrival of the pioneer artisans led by Jarvis Boone, Peter Lendved, and Walter Kannon.
“This is why we honor these first craftspeople at this occasion, and being joined by Scion Brian Boone, the son of Sugar Loaf’s crafts village visionary Jarvis Boone, is so appropriate as is having Debbie and Tim Diltz, SLHS donors who came here in ’68 and in ’73 opened Weatherbeaten Woodworks, and Peter Lendved, who in 1968 opened Resplendent Candles, the hamlet’s first 20th century crafts shop, which, like Peter, endures to this day as ‘The Candle Shop’,” said Jay Westerveld Historical Society co-founder.
“I have been blessed to know these people as my friends and extended family since I was a small child,” he added. “They and my mom, who grew up next door to the Methodist Church during WWII, all continue that pioneer spirit in authenticity. There is a lot of love on this hillside, today.”
The attendance of Tim and Debbie Diltz is notable in that, from 1990-1992, Tim served as Chester’s Town Supervisor, where he worked hard to successfully halt a sprawling condo development that had been slated for the farm across the highway from Knapp’s View. His hard-won effort preserved the spectacular viewshed enjoyed by Knapp’s View visitors to this day.
“No plaque exists for Tim Diltz’s remarkable act of land preservation,” Westerveld said. ”The view itself will have to do - for now.”
The donors whose in-kind services are making the marker happen include Wadeson Home Center; LBD Taxidermy; Werner’s Ace Hardware , former Town of Chester supervisor Robert Valentine and the 2023 Town of Chester Town Board; former Town of Chester Account Clerk Nicole Orecchio Griffin; Pat from the Chester Parks Department, and The William G. Pomeroy Foundation for this private grant.
The Sugar Loaf Historical Society operates as a not-for-profit charity that takes no public monies, pays taxes on its properties, and relies entirely on private donors. Tax-deductible donations may be made to: Sugar Loaf Historical Society, PO Box 114, Sugar Loaf, N.Y. 10981.