A Sunken City
The festival’s name “Sunken City” pays homage to the Village of Old Gilboa which lays underwater near the cidery. In 1916 it was a large hamlet of several hundred homes, a large business and industrial center, and adjacent to 4 square miles of rich Schoharie valley farmland. To the dismay of Gilboa residents, the valley became the projected site for the northern-most reservoir in the New York City water supply. Eminent domain was declared, and in 1926 the Schoharie Creek was dammed to form the Schoharie Reservoir and the settlement of Gilboa was razed and flooded.
The village was submerged under 22 billion gallons of water at a depth of about 57 feet, which comprised the 1,142-acre reservoir and dam. Many of the villagers moved to nearby towns and villages to live and work while others headed west along the Susquehanna Trail.
