The beauty and sadness of decay at Maple Grove

I started helping out at a local historic site in Poughkeepsie. I stumbled on it one day and it really is something to behold. Maple Grove was built in 1850 with additions and changes made in 1891. It is one of the very few examples of a fine Hudson Valley mansion that was built on South Road during the 19th century.  It was built by a New York Banker named Charles Macy and it would be the home of many families in the 19th century until it ended up in the hands of the Kinkead family. They would own the house up until the 1980s and willed it to the Saint Simeon Foundation, a foundation that is letting it slip away. The house was set on fire in 1985 and to this day, the servant wing is still a charred mess. The house is without pluming, electricity, or heat. It is rotting away and there are very few in Poughkeepsie who seem to know about it or care what happens to it. While I was there today, I snapped some photos of some of the decay which I found quite lovely and saddening at the same time. Much love and money is needed to get this house back into shape, but I fear that if it ever comes, it will most certainly come to late.

"This Place Stinks! Lets get out of here" - The Joy of small children in Historic Houses

I had a family from Indiana on my tour this morning at the Vanderbilt Mansion. They had three small children, an older girl who said nothing, a middle son with red hair and thick glasses who asked lots of questions and a little girl who frequently proclaimed her hatred for stinky museums. The parents seemed to get even less out of the entire experience than their children. Upon entering the visitors center, I could already see that I was in for an adventure or sorts when the son opened up his bag of Doritos which of course makes his hands covered in greasy cheesy goodness. His father luckily informed his son he could not bring them into the mansion so I didn't have to play the bad-ranger. The little girl had a long strand of blue plastic ribbon which trailed far behind her which her mother informed me was her imaginary long hair, I informed the mother it would have to be reeled in. And the older girl, said nothing. We made our way over to the mansion and the little boy started his questions.

Kid - Soooo, you said that anything you could want in a home is here yes?
Me - Thats right, the Vanderbilts had all kinds of luxuries in this house
Kid - Sooo, did they have a couch that you sit in and you can just stay in the couch and not have to move and you could just have a cotton candy machine come to you and bring you some cotton candy?
Me - Sort of, its called a Butler!

     So we got to the mansion and I informed the family the importance of not touching anything inside of the house because it is all really old and fragile. The little girl continued to wrap her blue ribbon around and the older girl, said nothing. The little boy asked,

Kid - Soooo, if the guy who lived here came here today could he touch anything inside?
Me - Sure, he paid for all of the expensive things in here. But he is no longer here.
Kid - Hes dead!
Me - Yup!

    Inside we go and the little girl looks around and says, "I hate museums!" and flops down to the floor, where she remains for a good deal of the tour. I tried to get her interested in the painting in the golden room. "Go and see the pretty ladies on the ceiling", to which I got a rather blank look.And the older girl, said nothing. When we entered the main living room, I was explaining about the lights and house the mansion was one of the first in the area to have electricity. So the little boy asked,

Kid - Soooo,with these lights, did they clap them on and off like in my friend's house? (to his mother) William's house has the clapper!
Me - No, the clapper wasn't invented yet. They had the Butler to turn off the lights.

The little girl screamed out once again, "I hate museums" and the older girl, said nothing. We made our way upstairs and I let them look at all of the bedrooms and explained that not all of the bathrooms can be seen but they are behind some of the closed doors which of course led the little boy to ponder,

Kid - If all of the bathrooms are behind the doors, how is anyone going to know where they are? Does everyone just use this bathroom because we all can see it?

Goodness, moving on....So then I try to tell the story about the servants and I showed the family the butler's pantry and explained that the food was prepared in the kitchen in the basement and brought up to the butler's pantry to be taken into the dining room. This very much confused the little boy,

Kid - Now wait....umm, umm, if they bring the food down to the basement, wont it get cold?
Me - No, no, the bring the food from the basement, up here to bring into the dining room.
Kid - But why do they bring it down to the basement?
Me - They don't, they make it down there and bring it up here, I guess they might bring any left overs down to the basement.
Kid - But so where is it going?
Me - Into the dining room.
Kid - Then down to the basement?
Me - Why don't we go see the kitchen!

Downstairs, I continued to try to explain the dumbwaiter system to the boy so he could see what I was saying....I hope he got it. As I finish up with the servant's story and show them where they were to exit, the little girl said "This Place Stinks!! Lets get out of here!!" and the older girl, said nothing.

     

My loyalist point of view

So I have to write an essay for my exam in my Revolutionary War class and I am taking on the role of a loyalist in Boston in 1766. I am writing to my brother in Scotland who is studying medicine there and I am warning him of the issues in the colonies.


Dearest Brother,

I do so hope that you will continue your studies in Scotland and not give any more thought to coming to these troublesome colonies. Some of my neighbors believe that we as British citizens should not be taxed so harshly. The stamp act of which many of them dislike so much is of little consequence to me. Our King protected these colonies from the french and their savage allies and our we just supposed to say thank you and move on? We must do our part to pay for that expensive war. Many of my neighbors say that they would be happy to pay taxes if they had representation in parliament but none of our colonies have that, why should Boston be so fortunate? The crown is rule but I doubt these men, these sons of liberty understand that. The acts of a few dishonorable men have included hanging stamp officials in effigy and even the destruction of Andrew Oliver's home who is of course connected with the stamp act. I understand these people got what they wanted as the poor man resigned his commission. Can you imagine, a man of the crown being bullied from his post? What madness is here! Now I understand that parliament is going to send troops from his majesty's army and quite right too. If I were to take up a post of collecting on the King's behalf I would most definitely want the army here to protect me. We need to have a time of reason again my brother. There are far to many who believe in taking the law into their own hands and distorting it far from what the King desires. Parliament will no doubt repeal this act but there will be others and then what? More rebels? More destruction? The King will most assuredly come down hard on this colony and others who should do the same.

I remain your moste humble servt,

Lord So and So

Voices of the past

My lovely Victrola VV-IX lets me listen to the voices of the past. When I was little my father had a record player but all I had to do was press a button and make sure the speakers were plugged in and I could hear all of the music of the 70s and 80s (and my mother's hair band collection). Now I have invested in something different. At George Cole auctions I purchased a great Victrola that plays wonderfully for only $150! It was made in 1916 and still sounds as good as the day it was made. It actually feels funny having to crank it up for one song but knowing that its not plugged into anything or powered by any battery makes this little machine something amazing! It crackles and plays the music from long ago that just takes you someplace other than where you are, back into the past.

The small collection of 78s that I have purchased since finding my victrola is an odd bunch of songs and golden oldies...I guess. Lots of Perry Como, Andrews Sisters, and random stuff I have never heard of. For example....

Check out this title! "Shes the sweetheart of six other guys" by The Happiness Boys. I cant imagine they would be that happy if they were all sharing the same chick.

The Joy of Antiques

I love old things. I love the joy of finding something that was once important to someone from long ago. When I walk into an antique shop, auction hall or yard sale I get oh so excited and try to keep my eyes open for all of the right deals! I am told that sometimes I get too excited and that I should appear less interested when it comes to deal making, of course I know this is true, but I cant help myself! One of my favorite things to collect is military. I find that the most interesting of  items are the ones that might have taken part in the end of someones life. I have found a lot of bargains at places like George Cole auctions in Red hook NY and at large antique gun shows in Springfield MA and Hartford CT. In march I will be heading south to the Baltimore Antique Arms Show  where I hope to get myself another civil war sword to add to my collection. Which is quite modest. An officers sword, and a musicians sword.

 

I also hope to add a bayonet or two to my little collection of short blades. I have one from just about every American war. People find in very odd that a girl like me collects these sorts of antiques but I love it! Not only do these pieces make great wall hangers but people naturally want to talk about them when they come for a visit.   

 

Another thing I like to collect, is related to my job and one of the main people I study, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I have a modest collection of presidential campaign memorabilia. This man ran four times and was elected four times so there seems to be plenty of FDR related items out on the market and its amazing how many little booths at antique shops have pins just randomly sitting in cases. So I have both pro-Roosevelt and anti-Roosevelt pins like "No Third Term" which I couldn't help but add to the collection just to show how the pin clearly didn't get the message across!

 

 

Photos of the dead

I have many old photos. Photos of people from long ago. None if these people are still living and I honestly don't know who they are or even where they were from. In most cases I can judge the general time period based on the clothes they wore but not much else. I collect these photos of the dead because I find them interesting. I can make up a story of each person's life based on the looks on their faces or the items they might be holding.

Once in awhile, I do get lucky and find a name. Sometimes when you open these old and delicate time capsules you might just find something buried inside. This photo shows you some of the old photos in my collection. Its a mixture of daguerreotypes, tintypes, and ambrotypes. Once in awhile I will pull them apart and see if there is something behind them and this time I found something.....

 
Behind this image of a little girl, sucking something out of a bottle, I don't know what exactly...is her name and her parents names. "Hattie Brown, daughter of Alva & Nancy Brown". I know this little girl is long gone and so is the tasty drink that seems to be keeping her quite focused. But when this photo was taken, she was young, lovely and full of life. I wonder what Hattie went on to do in her later years, if she ever got that far. Did she die during an outbreak of colera? Did she marry and have another little Hattie? Who knows? But its fun to think about.     

"Hyde Park on Hudson": Why this terrible movie makes my job complicated

For those of you who bothered to see the latest flop "Hyde Park on Hudson", you might have noticed how terrible the movie was even without knowing the history behind it. I had heard that Bill Murray was going to be playing the role of our 32nd president but I had found it difficult to believe until the man actually stopped by one day and took a tour around the site. And when my boss took the producers into the home to get a feel for the place it then became clear that it was really happening. So naturally we were all quite excited. Months later when our site supervisors as well as those from Wilderstein (Daisy Suckley's home) had a private screening of the finished movie, I knew then that this was not going to be a pretty picture. When it was finally released in December of 2012 I rushed out to get a seat for what my boss had referred to as "Hollywood Garbage". Even though it was opening night and it was only playing in one theater in the area, the place was far from sold out. I could tell right from the beginning that this was not right. The movie makes it seem as if Daisy Suckley is just randomly appearing in FDR's life for the first time, which of course is incorrect, and that she had nothing to do with the construction of Top Cottage, his little retreat. The movie makes it seem like she is seeing it for the first time. She had everything to do with the construction of that building and was a major friend and key player in Roosevelt's life, and not the kind that the movie makes her out to be. The movie was filmed in England and not in the original estate at Hyde Park, so the overall look of everything about it is wrong. They also make a major error in the placement of the political cartoons in FDR's home.  The cartoons that poke fun at Great Britain (as well as the US) from the War of 1812 have always been in the main hall of the house and that is where the King noticed them in real life but for some reason the movie's producers decided to put these prints in the room where the King stayed which did nothing to add to the movie's already none existing plot. There was a major lacking in the overall plot and direction in this movie. It seemed like they could have done so much more in order to make it a little more true to life but they simply chose not to.

     So with that being said, there are some (few, but some) who have made it out to see this piece of - shall we say, historic fiction - and being naturally curious they have made the pilgrimage to see where it all really happened.  Now yes, the King and Queen popped by in 1939. Yes, they stayed the weekend, enjoyed some cocktails and hot dogs and went for a swim. But there is so much that this movie has to say that we have no record of or any proof at all. Particularly when it comes to Franklin and his love of certain ladies. So I have noticed some of the remarks, and/or dumb questions that have naturally come about, thanks to this co-called hollywood interpretation.

For example-- "Oh my, its much smaller than in the movie", "This must be where he and his girlfriend made out", "Did his secretary really walk around naked in Top Cottage?" "The Queen of England was very snotty in the movie, do you think she was really snotty?", "Why Bill Murray for FDR?" <---Actually thats a good question, I like Bill, don't get me wrong, but he is a ghostbuster, not FDR! Sure, he can wave that long cigarette holder around pretty well, but that was about it. So anyway, if you want to see a movie that does an OK job of showing the Roosevelts from Hollywood's point of view, try "Sunrise at Campobello" from 1960 with Greer Garson and Ralph Bellamy or "Eleanor and Franklin" a mini series from the 1970s that starred Jane Alexander and Edward Herrmann.