Pond Acres, Wittenberg, Ulster County, New York, c. 1930
The Ashokan Reservoir is located in upstate
New York, west of Kingston. To me, it is certainly one of the most scenic
spots in the Catskill Mountains. My grandfather, Edward Daniel Baum, son
of 4th OVC Private George Baum, purchased 90 acres and a farm house for $2,000
in the 1920's only a few miles down the road from the
Ashokan
Reservoir in a hamlet called Wittenberg, about 8 miles outside of Woodstock,
NY. It was called "Pond Acres" as it was located directly across the road
from Yankee Town Pond. I have since found a number of documents relating
to this piece of property including title searches going back to 1797 when
descendants of early settlers of New Amsterdam owned it.
Grandfather Edward, born in 1868 in Cincinnati, Ohio was a harness maker
in Brooklyn, New York having moved there around 1894.
By 1920 his skill was becoming outdated as the automobile
was fast replacing the horse drawn carriages of the 19th century. In order
to make a better living, he bought the house and property for his family
and during the summers, ran a business out of it for the still dominant use
of horses in the area. I remember my father telling me that his father would
travel on horseback to the "farm" late in the Spring (close to 100 miles
from Brooklyn). Later it became a summer vacation spot for his children and
grandchildren, myself included. It lacked electricity until the 1950's. It
was unheated, except for the wood burning stove in the large kitchen and
a potbelly stove in the living room. How cozy and warm that kitchen was on
those chilly mountain mornings. There was a small screened in porch on the
west side of the house that was a woodshed and also had a large sink where
my father would shave. It had one bedroom on the main floor and a large
"dormitory" type room on the second floor with 2 small alcove bedrooms. I
can still smell the nostalgic musty odor, hear the creaky windows that needed
a stick to hold them open, and see the biggest white birch tree I have ever
seen outside the side "dormitory" window along side the unpaved driveway.
As a child with my cousins, we used to play in the "bunkhouse", a small out
building with bunk beds for extra guests. It had a magical old victrola that
we would crank up and play the old 78-rpm records. Behind the bunkhouse was
an outhouse. And next to it was the best place in the whole world to dig
for bait for the biggest and fattest night crawlers you would ever see.
This was truly a 19th century farmhouse. I believe it was built around 1850.
The main house did not have full plumbing until the 1940's. There was a barn
out in the back that had long since fallen down. And that weird apple tree
that over the years had begun to grow sideways...my dog "Teddy" could literally
climb it!
The end of this era came in the 1970's when my father, his 4 surviving brothers
and 2 sisters decided to sell the property. I had been married about 5 years
with 3 small children with hardly two nickels to rub together.... otherwise
I would have love to have purchased it, or at least a few acres. I didn't
even get a chance to go up and take a few mementos (I really wanted that
victrola!!!). Anyway, it was sold to a local developer...property, house
and contents.
In 1992 I was in the area and decided to drive by... Oh! What a mistake,
my heart still aches at the sight I saw. The house and that magnificent birch
tree were gone. A new contemporary house had been built, obviously by a
contractor, because the front yard where we used to pick raspberries and
blackberries, was filled with construction equipment. I had to pull over
to the side of the road and let the tears subside before continuing. Such
a sad legacy. But such wonderful memories I will have all the rest of my
life. - Karin B. Corbeil
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