41 Galilee Road, Damascus Township About 1897 William J. Loy built the illustrated building on the land he called "Brookside Farm." This was the family's residence, but from 1897 until 1933 it was also the Rutledgedale post office. A room in the house was rented to the U.S. Post Office Department, and Mr. Loy was appointed Rutledgedale's postmaster. Alice Rutledge Foster, who was born and raised in Rutledgedale, relates that in the winter she and her brother Charles would hitch the family's pony to a sleigh, and travel three miles on dirt roads to the post office for her family's mail. In those years there was no rural mail delivery by postal carriers. A letter dated December 28, 1933 from Mr. Loy to The Citizen Publishing Co. in Honesdale stated in part: "...the Big Post Office Department at Washington has cordially notified me to discontinue this office on December 30th, and without giving any reason therefore, or even commending me for my faithful service of thirty-six years, four months and twenty-six days.." Mr. Loy was not told, but this new decree was the beginning of mail delivery to rural residents. In the early years the area was known as Rutledgetown and later Rutledgedale. The first Rutledge to settle here was Alexander Rutledge, Jr. In 1836 he and his wife purchased a farm and there they remained for the rest of their lives. During the twentieth century dairy farming was the main source of income in Rutledgedale as well as in most of Wayne County. A reproduced photograph of the house appeared on the letterhead Mr. Loy sent The Citizen Publishing Co. The exterior has not changed through the years. This two-story farmhouse defines the prosperity of the owner; it was not the average farmhouse. Several people have owned the property since Mr. Loy; the present owners Eric Karpeles and Michael Sell purchased the property in 1984.

From 1993 through 2008 the Honesdale National Bank published an annual wall calendar, each featured 13 historic sites. The sites were chosen and researched by a committee of the historical society and artwork was commissioned to Judy Hunt and William Amptman by the bank.

This page was one month of the calendar and was made possible through the Wayne County Commissioners and a Tourism Promotion Committee’s Tourism Grant.