Old Views

[Dave]

Thanks to New Hartford Public Library

[Dave]

[Dave]

I was surprised to come across such an old view of Herkimer's Home. This is the front of the house that most of us years ago thought of as the back, the side that faced the river. I don't know what it looks like these days since the state made it into a "destination." I stopped one day out of casual interest a few years ago as I drove myself on a nostalgic tour up the valley sans Thruway, but was put off by the huge parking lot loaded with buses and so I kept driving and never went in the "park."

I well remember the last time I visited the home. It was in September of 1967 and I'd just graduated from college. My bride and I had left our baby with Grandma and were just driving around to be with each other on the first bit of free time we'd had in our two years of marriage.
It was a gorgeous bright and sunny fall day, the kind that turns the valley into a vision of heaven, especially as the afternoon turns golden and the shadows begin to lengthen. The caretaker at the home was retiring after a number of years service. He said they had just discovered a new stairway from the cellar kitchen up to the great room that ran along the west side of the first floor (that we're looking at on the post card.) He was sorry he wouldn't be part of the restoration. With regret in his voice, he told us he would miss the place, and especially the free rent of the large cottage across the circular driveway separating General Herkimer's manse from the caretaker's home. I commented that this would seem to offer a peaceful existence, down in the little valley and overlooking the Mohawk River, keeping the place up, mowing the lawns and plowing the driveways when snowed in, afterward sitting by the fire in the cozy little cottage. He told me I should apply for the job. But I was gonna be an astronaut and she was gonna learn to fly, to paraphrase Harry Chapin (Taxi) and so we said goodbye and instead took off down the road we chose to follow.
As the years rolled on, every great once in a while I would remember that afternoon with a little bit of regret, until I saw all the buses in the parking lot years later.

A note regarding the house ... it was built with northern winters in mind. Notice that there are no windows on the living floors on this west side. That's for warmth, and there were a couple of other features that helped in that regard. The great room, although on the west side and without west facing windows, was over the kitchen in the cellar. On the east corner toward the river was a smallish bedroom with a huge fireplace with small beds built into the wall next to the fireplace. Here the family would gather on frigid nights, I was told, placing the children (and adults when necessary) in the inglenook beds. With the fires going 24 hours a day, the fireplace represented a huge heat sink that kept the beds and room warm through the long night.