Breezy Park, Woodchuck Park, Etc.

Peavine Park Might Have Had

Different Name, Letter Shows

Ruth Cough, president of the Bethel Business Association (BBA), recently came across an anonymous hand-written note in the BBA files, which reads in part: "Peavine Park didn’t have a name just before the grand opening. Louie (Gaiko) asked members for a name to inscribe on the flagpole.

"Brendan Butler was in charge of getting signs made for park and asked Louie for the name. Louie sat down with an 8 x 11 sheet of paper to brainstorm for names. Read off names for Brendan.

"He liked it—after local railroad because of twisty route." "

Gaiko, as everyone knows, was the inspiration and prime mover behind the creation of Bethel's Peavine Park on the White River. Brendan remembers the naming of the park, which is near the roadbed of the old Peavine Railroad, which ran to Rochester from 1900 to 1932.

A stanza of a poem, "The Old Peavine " written by E.J. Burns in 1933 reads: ""Its twisted, winding course/As it follows the river’s bend/Has been for years a monument/And it grieves us to see it end."

We were curious about the other names that were suggested and then discarded for Bethel’s beautiful park on the White River. With the help of Carroll Ketchum, who has been long active in the BBA, and Ellen Nobile, who was secretary of the Peavine Park committee, we tracked down an old scrapbook documenting the history of the park. 

In it were countless pictures and documents pertaining to the Peavine Park project, including a memorandum by Ellen that confirmed the interaction between Louie and Brendan resulting in the Peavine name.  Ellen’s memorandum noted that Louie sat down with pen and paper in his furniture store and wrote down names as fast as he could think of them, and that the whole process, including his telephone consultation with Brendan, took about ten to fifteen minutes.

In the old scrapbook we also found the original sheet of suggested names that Louie had drawn up and read to Brendan.  The names were:

Two-Rivers Park, Point Park, Bethel Park, Dream Park, Shady Park, Fun Park, Three-Rivers Park, Storm Park, Boulevard Park, Bridge Park, Pump House Park, BBA Park, Summer Park, Maple Park, Woodchuck Park, Breezy Park, River View Park, White River Park, Fiddle Head Park, River Junction Park, Cool Park, Indian Rest Park, General Thomas Park, Pea Vine Park, Lovers’ Park, Sun Rise Park, and Indian Point Park. 

Thanks to the efforts and donations of so many individuals and companies in the Bethel community, the Peavine Park area was cleared, landscaped, and officially opened on July 27, 1991.  The community has continuously maintained and upgraded the park, adding picnic tables and benches and, in 1995, purchasing a gazebo.

In 1996 portions of the park were enclosed by a split-rail fence. The BBA conveyed its ownership of the park to the town of Bethel in 1996. Today we can all enjoy the amenities of Peavine Park situated in a peaceful, woodland setting on a bank of the White River.