Camp Alderkill Retirement and Museum Site

 

                                          ALDERKILL              

This is the story of a barn that was built by pioneers who went out
into the virgin woods and cut by hand enormous oak trees so tall that
they could be made into supporting beams of great length and size.  They
were made smooth with an adz and were hoisted into place by strong men and held in place by wooden pegs. 

A hundred and fifty or more years later this barn was found in Dutchess County,near the village of Rhinebeck, New York. It's shell was weathered and worn and there were holes in its roof.  For many years it had sheltered rodents and bats and the land around it had fostered the growth of weeds and tall burdock, the burr of which stuck to the clothes of one who might walk thru  it.  The more than hundred acres of land that surrounded it had become lush with ground pines and ferns under its lovely trees.  It had a stream, or kill, along which grew, in profusion, black alder, and so the name ALDERKILL seemed a suitable one for the place.

The interior, lighted only by shafts of light coming thru the open spaces presented a different picture.  The barn was four stories tall at the south end from ground level to its' roof peak. Through-out were the old oak beams fastened together with pegs, and of such hardness that nails would go into them easily.  There were no floors nor walls to obstruct one's view within the barn's shell.  Some late-day tenant had left an old hayrake. Looking at the old beams gave one a feeling of awe and respect for the men, who by sheer strength and determination had cut, shaped, and lifted them into place.  Their story is part of America, and its' early settlers.  These would never be torn down, but would be left as exposed framework for a home. This was in 1945.

This was not a house that would be built in a year or two. It was eight years before the random width oak flooring for the living room was found, and many more before a real guest room could be afforded.  To have begrudged the time would have taken away the pleasure of anticipation.  Things that come too easily are never loved as much. No, it was to be a home built with time and love unlimited.

The barn's old tenants left reluctantly. Little mice, puzzled about such happenings, still came out of holes along the beams to watch and at night a sudden quiet swish would be a bat whose hole we had not as yet plugged.

Just as the barn itself changed and became more of a home, so did the grounds around it. The stream was dredged out to form a pond for swimming.  Shrubs and flowers were lovingly planted to bring beauty all about the place. Small trees and ferns were brought in from the woods and ground was prepared for the planting of grass and flowers. Bridle paths began to lace the woods and paths to cook-out sites were made.  The stream carried trout and other fish in summer, and moss and ground pine grew along it's frosty banks in winter.  Christmas trees were there to be cut, but many times were passed by, as too lovely to be used for such temporary pleasure.

The exterior of the barn was painted barn red with white trim, and a weathercock was placed on one end of the roof peak.  The lawns surroundingthe house lost their wild look and became soft and green and children danced on them.  There were water ballets in the pond to music from the outside loud speaker.  Riding rings and a tennis court found places near the house and the dirt road was dressed up with a surface of blue stone.

The old beams in the barn were left as they were with the rooms planned around them.  There were dates carved into some of them, and the earliest of these was 1804 with the initials B IV W under it.  Barent Van Wagganan, a revolutionary patriot, was known to have been one of the early owners of the land, and the barn was probably built at the same time.

A house, to be a real home must have a fireplace,and so one was builtwith the stonestaken from the old stone fences on the land.  It became a focal point in the living room, which was planned to be thirty-five feet long with a ceiling seventeen feet high.  On the large expance of wall above was hung a hand wovenold bed spread, and it was this sight that caught the eye as one came thru the front door at the opposite end of the room.

The height of the room made it possible to have a gallery running along the second floor level with bedrooms leading from it.  Five windows, also at second story level, were made with old tinted glass which softened the sunlight coming thru on the opposite side of the room. Two large windows and two doors leading to a balcony outside, were also on this side of the room.

The largest beam in the barn was thirty-five feet long and fourteen by sixteen inches in width.  Time and weather had made it almost rock hard.  Because this beam ran thru the kitchen and dining room, old copper pans and pewter mugs were placed along its sides and top.  A picture gallery was formed on one spacious wall. The room was large enough to be dining room, TV room and music room.

There seemed to be unlimited space in which to make rooms.  The very top floor was made into an attic forty-five by thirty-five feet. On the floor below were three bedrooms, two baths, a cedar closet and four smaller closets.  Color schemes varied. Paint and paper were applied with loving care and many busy days were spent in making draperies, curtains, and bedspreads. The work never seemed to be too hard nor unpleasant. Each year of the twenty-five we would ask ourselves what room we would do or re-do, or what roses we would choose for the flower beds.  There were always plans. When the boy grewto manhood and away from baseballs,guns and double decker beds, there were little granddaughters, and so his room was made very feminine with fluffy curtains, white spreads and a love seat. And so a cycle was started.

Each room had it's own reason for being. A favorite one which was never relinqueshed was a bedroom that looked out toward the morning sun and to a little crab apple tree that was planted as a sapling. Each spring it's lovely white blossoms were an instant reminder of the one who had planted it a few years before.  Childhood memories of another loving home were brought into focus by the gilt frame around a bathroom mirror.  It had once framed a picture in that home.

The kitchen was redone in the middle 1950s and became a most attractive and rather expensively equipped room, which is often the case when a husband becomes interested in the project. Many trips were made to New York show rooms where such equipment was displayed and nothing but the best was to be installed. All the more unusual because the husband, prior to that time had been unable to boil an egg satisfactorily--he had never wanted to try. He later learned to make popovers which he proudly served for each Sunday morning breakfast, thereafter.

Below the living room was a playroom, the same size as the living room but with a lower ceiling.  It was re-done a number of times and the most enjoyable part of doing it was the painting of murals on one wall. The pictures were happy ones of children swimming, riding,sitting around a campfire and in a hayrack getting ready for a hayride. The two cats, Butch and Brighteyes and one of their many families of kittens were also in it.  Brighteyes lived at Alderkill until she died of old age, and Butch until the time he just didn't return from one of his binges. He was a good cat as tom cats go. He was home only for an occasional meal ( which was always caught by Brighteyes) or long enough to sire another litter of kittens. It was a fun mural to paint and was occasionally worked on late into the night until the husband would call down to ask what all the laughter was about, and " for heavens sake when are you coming up to bed?".

A love for old furniture and Oriental rugs combined with strong feelings of sentiment and attachment to things that meant something, played a large part in the furnishing of the rooms.  An old blanket chest held priority over one of the living room radiators---and so the radiator was taken out.  The oldest of five sofas was the favorite because one could easily see over it"s back and thru the window which overlooked the pond and woods beyond. Deer came down to drink in the stream nearby and wild fowl swam in the pond in the fall. For several years a blue heron used the area on it's migratory trip to other regions. There was great fondness for books and pictures and for the lovely enlarged photgraphs--of a husband's hobby.

And so the barn which became a home saw much happiness and also some sadness. It saw the beginning of life and also the end, but it's happy times outnmbered the unhappyones. There had never been the thought that sometime it might be given over to others to love and work on. But that time did come.  When ceilings could not be painted with ease, and a floor sander became too unweildly to manage, and the one who alone had started it all was alone again, the time had come. The barn's new owners were chosen with careand with the hope that these new hands would give it lovingcare and cherish it as it had been loved and cherished for twenty-five years.

                                                           Margaret Treadwell
                                                                1971

 Verbatim Spring 2006 courtesy of the granddaughters of Margaret Treadwell