Guest column: The story of Billy Claxton, 'Hermit of Owasco Lake'
Joanne O'Connor Special to The Citizen Proudly wearing his Civil War uniform, Billy Claxton (1843-1923), the "Hermit of Owasco Lake," is pictured above in front of his Koenigâs Point ocean house. Billy was born on Jan. 10, 1843, in Hastings, New York. In 1860, with his mother, Mary Ann, and sister Hannah, he moved from the Lake Ontario area to Mandana. Here they lived with their relative Alexander Hamilton Allen, who with his Revolutionary War tract of land, had built a tavern-inn. That site became todayâs Mandana Inn. Along the west side of Skaneateles Lake, the Claxton...