HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY

 

The home was owned for over a hundred years by the same family via multiple generations including some family members who were born in the house. 

 

But by 2022, the family had disbursed to different parts of the country so it was decided to put it on the market. 

 

Last summer, browsing on the real estate website sites, I discovered it just several hours after it was listed, and as soon as I toured it, I made a full price offer for the home as the additional land around it.  The family needed several months to clear the house and barn of its huge inventory of contents.  Family members came from all over the country to help with the clear out, and whenever possible, I visited and gleaned stories about the history of the family as well as the house. 

 

At one time, it was a huge farm with 400 acres.  There was an apple orchard and they shipped apples from the North Creek train station to New York City.  They had a sugar house where they made maple syrup, and raised pigs and sheep. 

 

The great-grandmother, who as a young beautiful teenager lost a leg in a sledding accident (undeterred by her handicap, she married and had many children),  had large gardens --- she sold cut flowers for weddings and funerals as well as vegetables.  As a 65 year old working carpenter myself, I particularly relished one story about how this woman at 83 (with just one leg) was discovered by her grand-daughter on the roof of a now-long-gone shed, replacing the shingles.  Local people have told me what a strong “mountain woman” she was. 

 

As I understand it, in 1890 a man from New Jersey had the home built by a Dutch carpenter and his crew.  The New Jersey owner and his family only stayed in the house for part of the year, and the rest of the year, the caretakers stayed in it, farming the land, sending produce and maple syrup downstate via train.  Just a few years after the home was built, the owner’s wife wanted a “proper education” for their children so they allowed the caretakers to continue to stay in the house.  The family from whom I bought the property said that they had owned it from the early 1900’s, but the deeds indicate that the caretaking family (several generations of them) didn’t buy the house until 1943.  I find this confusing but interesting --- possibly, they never recorded the original deed.  Someday I will get to the bottom of this.