Remsen starts with New England farms and Welsh families

Remsen has one of those origin stories that feels like several small roads meeting at once. The town history says Barnabas Mitchell came from Meriden, Connecticut in 1792 and settled about five miles northeast of the present village. Other New England settlers followed. It also says Captain Shubael Cross settled at what is now Bardwell Mills and built the first sawmill and gristmill.

Then another layer arrived. The same history places five Welsh families in the area in September 1795 and says they were the first of their nationality to stake a future there. By fall 1801, the settlement had about 60 families, or nearly 300 people. When Oneida County was formed from Herkimer County in 1798, part of Norway became the new town of Remsen.

That is a lot of history for a small place to carry: mills, town meetings in a log house, New England names, Welsh families, a village that later grew sawmill, gristmill, blacksmith, ashery, and store life. Remsen’s present-day quiet makes more sense when you know how much early movement is packed underneath it. Even Main Street feels a little different with Bardwell Mills and those first Welsh families in the background.