KNOWLTON -- It began 15 years ago with a $5,000 roof job that was only temporary. The money paid for tarps and the labor to put them over the main house, which likely served as family home, tavern and possibly general store.

KNOWLTON -- It began 15 years ago with a $5,000 roof job that was only temporary.

The money paid for tarps and the labor to put them over the main house, which likely served as family home, tavern and possibly general store.

The saving of the Ramsaysburg property -- five buildings including a period barn/warehouse -- were celebrated Sunday with the first open air concert in a new amphitheater, situated between the barn and the Delaware River, with Bill Kirchen and Mike Esposito providing the entertainment.

The effort to save what once was the hamlet of Ramsaysburg has fallen to the Knowlton Township Historic Commission, which sponsored the concert with proceeds going to the restoration effort.

Ramsaysburg was settled in 1795 by Irish immigrant brothers James and Adam Ramsay, who settled on a 50-acre piece of land between the river and an escarpment.

The site was chosen because there was an old Native American trail along the riverbank and there was a road leading to the Moravian settlement of Hope. The area became an important shipping center, receiving goods from the farmers in Hope, and logs rafted down the Delaware from the Catskills.

"There was a creek which could power a sawmill," said Ken Metcalf, a member of the historic commission.

Log rafts, which used to make the perilous trip over rapids farther downstream, could be brought to shore and cut into lumber, which could be carted, along with the farm goods, to the main marketplaces along the lower Delaware River.

He noted the barn -- the first building to be restored on the property -- was actually used to store the cut lumber and produce.

In 1870, the railroad came, and passengers began showing up at Ramsaysburg and the nearby hamlet of Delaware, which grew as Ramsaysburg, which still relied on the dwindling river traffic, began a decline.

In 1885, the Ramsay family sold off a part of their land and in 1901 the Spring Brook Farm Hotel began attracting tourists from New York and Philadelphia as spill-over from the now famous hotels within the Delaware Water Gap, just a few miles upriver.

The hotel was sold in 1987, according to the commission's history of the land and a fire in 1997 dashed hopes of the hotel ever returning to life.

In 2000, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, using state Green Acres funds, purchased the remaining 12 acres, intending for the land to become the Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area.

But unable to maintain the buildings, the state agreed to work with the historic commission, which leased the property from the state.

The 2003 grant was the first of more than $1 million in grants received by the commission, said Candice Nattland, another commission member. After the tarp went on, another $197,000 grant was received to stabilize the structure and work was done to also stabilize the barn.

The restored barn has served as a venue for concerts since 2013, but also has become a community center, said Knowlton Mayor Adele Starrs.

"Family got to know each other standing on the sidelines of soccer fields," she said, "but as the kids grew up, there was no place to meet. Now, we have festivals here, and it's becoming a meeting place again."

In addition there have been lectures, a meeting with the Native American tribes that used to live along the river and, said Nattland, "We've even had tai-chi classes there."

The historic commission has put together, after an 18-month process, a 20-year plan for how further restorations are to be done and plans for use of the buildings and the property.

In addition to the now-open amphitheater, there are nature trails with interpretive signs, and a canoe/kayak launch site on the property.

Recently the commission received a $815,000 federal transportation grant.

"This building never had electricity or running water or a septic system," Nattland said, so the first part of the grant was to bring electricity to the two-story-plus-attic structure, which sits less than 100 feet from busy Route 46.

That work has been completed along with an alarm system and exit signs. "It's code," said Metcalf, as he led a photographer through the building.

Nattland said the 20-year plan does not envision restoration of the structure to what it once looked like, but adapting the historic building to contain meeting rooms and gathering places.

On the tour, Metcalf pointed out where some of the plaster has fallen away, revealing a brick wall in one area and likely original walls formed by a mud/straw mixture plastered against wood lath.

Some floors show signs where a cabinet might have stood and other walls sport original chair rails and traces of layers of wallpaper which has yet to be analyzed to determine age.

Metcalf said it's possible some of those "inside the wall" features or wall coverings will be treated so visitors can see how early construction and decorations were used.

"We want to see Ramsaysburg thrive again," said Starrs, "but now as an arts and cultural center and meeting place for the community."

After a pause, she also noted, "and this is all due to these folks (historic commission) getting grants and their hard work. Not a single penny of Knowlton taxpayers' money has gone into this."

The Ramsaysburg Homestead Historic Site has a website at: www.ramsaysburg.org or at www.facebook.com/Ramsaysburg-Historic-Homestead-348851635313408/. The two locations also have a calendar of events.