Hydesville
Hydesville
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)Hydesville was a community in Wayne County, New York, made famous by being the home of the Fox family, who heralded Modern Spiritualism to the world. The village was founded by Dr. Henry Hyde. On some old maps it is spelled Hydeville but is more generally referred to as Hydesville.
Dr. Henry Hyde settled the hamlet in 1815, though there had been scattered buildings there from 1790, when pioneers traveled from New England and Long Island, New York. The fertile land in the area had enticed them to settle and farm. The building of the Erie Canal opened a free route of navigation by water, bringing trade to the area. Dr. Hyde was one of the early settlers and one of the buildings he erected was a framed one-and-a-half story cabin built at a crossroads, to be rented by the Fox family in December, 1847. Other cabins quickly followed, along with a small school and a Methodist church with a graveyard.
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