Debruce, New York
| Debruce | |
|---|---|
| Hamlet | |
 Debruce
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| Coordinates: 41°54′49″N 74°43′38″W / 41.91361°N 74.72722°WCoordinates: 41°54′49″N 74°43′38″W / 41.91361°N 74.72722°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| County | Sullivan |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes | 12758 |
| Area code(s) | 845 |
Debruce is a small hamlet located in Sullivan County, New York.
Debruce is about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Livingston Manor, New York, on the confluence of Willowemoc Creek and Mongaup Creek. It is located at 41°55' North, 74°44' West (41.917, -74.733).
The name, Debruce, is derived from one of its early European investors, Elias DesBrosses, a French Huguenot who with Renssalier and others, escaped from France and persecution, living in the Netherlands. With others he invested in the New World. While he remained in Europe, his offspring became wealthy land owners and were involved in New York politics.
Debruce was once a resort town, catering to fly fishermen. George LeBranch, author of The Dry Fly and Fast Water in 1914, who had his home in Debruce, famously cast his first dry fly there. The DeBruce Club Inn, first owned by Charles B. Ward and then by Walter Kocher since the early 1940s, was also there. The Inn offered a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts and fishing on several miles of the choicest water on the upper Willowemoc. It had its own farm, fish hatchery, hydroelectric plant, private area telephone system, and later TV cable. Movies were shown on weekends. During its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s it was a popular destination for sportsmen from the city, famous for its food and smiling hostesses, and Chef Cesar Ricci. Chef Ricci would oversee its grand formal picnics at both Little Falls and at Mongaup Pond with tables, linens, and flatware with animals spit roasted whole.
In the early 1900s one of LeBranch's favorite dry flies was called the pink lady—pale pink floss ribbed with gold tinsel, duck wings, ginger hackle and tail on a #12 hook. Amusingly, a favorite drink at the Inn was also called the pink lady—gin, grenadine, apple brandy, lemon juice and cracked ice, strained into a stemmed glass. It was also popular with parents of children at the many area summer camps. And
The main Inn was torn down in 1970 by its current owners, the Kocher family. The Auditorium and several hotel buildings still stand. The DeBruce Fly Fishing Club leases what was the Fishermans'Cottage, the hatchery and the several miles of Willowemoc. The properties are currently owned and operated by the Kocher family.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has run the DeBruce Environmental Education Camp, for youth who are 12 to 14 years old in DeBruce. Situated on over 300 acres (1.2 km2) of land adjoining the Catskill Forest Preserve, Camp DeBruce has been in operation since 1948. Formerly a private estate and fish hatchery, the DeBruce Camp was acquired by the DEC in the 1940s and converted into a conservation education camp for boys. In 1975, Camp DeBruce began operation as a co-educational facility. Other area camps during the hotel's heyday were Camp Acadia and Our Lady of Lourdes Camp for Girls, and Hunter Camp.
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