The first recorded European settler in this area was a Spaniard, Manuel Gonzales, who reached here around 1750. Later settlers built a tavern, a gristmill, and other facilities, and by 1820 Bushkill could be called a village. It had stores, mills, shops, tanneries, a school, and by 1850 a church serving nearby families. When farming declined at the end of the 1900s, villagers turned to the emerging recreation industry for income, and resorts and boarding houses sprang up. By 1901, a railroad brought vacationers from the cities to Bushkill via the Stroudsburgs. By the 1960s, Bushkill included nearly 200 dwelling. However, after the federal government purchased homes and businesses for the proposed Tocks Island Dam, most of the village disappeared. Remnants still visible include the church and cemetery, the post office building, the foundation of the mill, the general store, and the craft gallery on the corner.