The villages of Walden and Maybrook are located within the town of Montgomery, halfway between New York City and Albany. During part of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Walden was considered the Knife Capital of the United States; three companies specialized in producing pocketknives, penknives, and switchblades. At the same time, Maybrook was known as the Gateway to the East; it had the largest railroad-switching terminal connecting rail service from the interior of the country to the New England states. The two villages depended upon each other: Walden manufactured the goods, and...