Litwin's Drug Store at Parksville, New York
The hamlet of Parksville provides a small snapshot of the economic hard times that have faced Sullivan County since the decline of the tourism industry in the 1970s. Changing American vacation patterns and the closing of the railroad forced many businesses, including some of the largest and most famous hotels and resorts in the area, to close. Unfortunately, despite a short-lived business revival in the 1990s and years of work by various planning committees, the hard times are still evident in and around Parksville, especially with the downtown area nearly abandoned. The recent Route 17 (soon to be Interstate 86) highway bypass away from Main Street only added to the hamlet’s challenges.
Contrary to its current situation, in its hey-day the hamlet of Parksville was once a thriving community. The hamlet, first settled in the early 1800s, was named after Williams Parks, an early resident and mill owner. The late 1800s arrival of the O & W (Ontario & Western) railroad made Parksville, located in a pretty valley with the Little Beaver Kill River running through it, a popular tourist destination for anglers and those seeking a refreshing summer vacation. At its height, as hard as it may be to imagine today, Parksville was home to nearly 50 hotels, inns and boarding houses.
