FREYTOWN

COVINGTON TOWNSHIP

Freytown was first settled by John and Susanna Frey who arrived here in 1830 from Monroe County.  In 1882, a road was built from Freytown Corners down a steep hill into Gas Hollow to connect with the Jericho Road. On January 27, 1883 the first wagon passed over this road to take equipment to the Winters and Ball Mill.  It was once a thriving community with a number of homes, a school, a church, a store, a cemetery and a grange hall.  It also contained a lumber camp, a post office, a brickyard, two sawmills and a brush block factory.  Winters and Ball Mill was established at Gas Hollow, not far from Freytown.  The mill was eventually destroyed by fire and other buildings disappeared and the road washed out beyond repair by a hurricane some years later.  The road is now closed at Freytown Corners.

By the 1900s, several families such as the Stalbirds, Ames and Shafers lived here.  Many of these families came be found in the Freytown Cemetery. 

In 1909, the cemetery, church and a single home remained.  This home belonged to Charles and Rosie Schreck.  Rosie was born in Hamlin, PA on April 18, 1877.  She was the daughter of Ralph Ames (1847 – 1917) and his wife Mary (Jones) Ames (1857 – 1925).  In 1881 the family moved to Gas Hollow, near Jericho, Wayne County, to work for the Winters and Ball Manufacturing Company, who built a factory and sawmill.  Charles H. Schreck, native of Freytown, worked for Winters and Ball in 1885 and started construction of his home at the same time.  His home was completed in March of 1898.  On March 28, 1900 he married Miss Laura Rosanna Ames (Rosie) and set up at the new home.  After the fire destroyed the mill in Gas Hollow, he became a farmer.  He was well known in Moscow and Gouldsboro where he sold butter Rosie churned, weighed and wrapped. Charles died on March 17, 1953. 

The Scranton Gas and Water Company had plans to build a huge reservoir that would inundate Freytown and preserve the surrounding watershed.  The company began buying all the property and took down most of the buildings.  Many residents dismantled their own homes and rebuilt them in Moscow.  Some of the houses can be found on Spring Garden and Maple Street.  It’s said that the cemetery was the obstacle in which the reservoir was never built.  Freytown was wiped off county maps.

Some time later, Rosie was given the honorary title of “Mayor of Freytown” by her friends since she was the only resident left.  She died in 1968 at the age of 91.  In 1994, its said that the outline of houses (their foundations) and streets can be seen.

In 2005, nothing can be seen of Freytown.  All that remains is the cemetery and foundations of buildings long forgotten.