A Project of Urgency

In over seventy years of neglect and abandonment, nature and the elements aided by the inaction of men, came back to claim a once historic home, collapsing roofs and crumbling walls. And now unless something is done quickly, the little that remains of this historic structure will be lost forever and a part of Montgomery's history will be wiped off the face of this earth. Future generations will not know about the people who came before them and paved the way for present day Montgomery.

Here is an excerpt from the January 11, 2007 meeting of the town board meeting of the Town of Montgomery, which illustrates perfectly why we cannot possibly delay action on preserving and stabilising the ruins:

Richard Phelps (Audience) came before the Board and Public regarding some serious problems at the Colden Mansion Site that he wanted to bring to the Board's attention.

Mr. Phelps requested the Colden Mansion to be on the February 1st Agenda and stated that he has a preliminary copy of a Stabilization Report on the Colden Mansion and that the Committee would like to give a presentation on that at the February 1st meeting.

Mr. Phelps passed out a packet of copies of photographs to the Town Board.
Supervisor Cockburn stated that the Colden Mansion would get added to the February 1st Agenda.

Mr. Phelps referred to the photographs in the packet which he presented to the Board and stated that the Colden Mansion needed immediate attention because there are 2 trees leaning against the 1 remaining stone column that is in the front of the Mansion and the base of the column has been undermined where a wooden beam which went through the column as a support is rotted away and is now leaving a large cavity in the back of the column and The trees in question will press against the stone column and cause the column to tumble into the cellar. The stone column to the right of the front door has collapsed inside the cellar and that is what will happen to the remaining column if the Town doesn't act in a judicious manner. The solution is for this cavity to be filled in with stone and mortar and the 2 trees, which are leaning against the column, to be removed after that cavity is filled.

A discussion was held on the matter and about a Preservation Fund for the Colden Mansion.

A Motion by Councilwoman Jasiel, seconded by Councilwoman Buck Smith that the Town Board of the Town of Montgomery go forward with getting quotes for the stone column and remove the 2 trees at the Colden Mansion Site.

Roll Call: All Ayes Motion Carried: 5-0

Mr. Phelps stated that any work that is going to be done has to be brought before the Historic Preservation Board and he offered to draw up the specifications/work proposal for the Board to go out to quote with.

Supervisor Cockburn suggested that if Mr. Phelps draws up a work proposal that it should be reviewed by an Engineer and then get it to the Historic Preservation Commission or leave it for her and she will get it to them.

Supervisor Cockburn told Mr. Phelps to bring in the work proposal to her and she would make sure that Mr. Aiello reviewed it.

Nomination for National Register of Historic Places

On June 28, 2006 the Colden Mansion Ruins was among 31 properties that the New York State Board for Historic Preservation recommended for nomination to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. See Federal Register: June 28, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 124), page 35508-35509.

The Cadwallader Colden Mansion today

The once handsome mansion now stands in complete and utter ruin at the intersection of Stone Castle Road and Route 17K in the town of Montgomery, New York. The woods have grown up around the ruins of the mansion to claim back the land 241 years after Cadwallader Colden Jr., felled the first tree on the property he had inherited from his father. If you peer through the trees you will catch glimpses of the stone walls and foundations.

And if you brave the undergrowth and the trash, as the photographers below have done, you will stand before the crumbling walls of the mansion, and if you try very hard, you will see it in your mind's eye as it once was and you will have been witness to part of your own history. It is men like Cadwallader Colden, Sr., who braved the wilderness of a new land, literally hacking their dwellings out of the forests ... building their homes and taming the land with crops and cattle. It was a hostile land that they groomed with their sweat and their blood, often burying those family members that did not survive the harsh conditions.

The pictures below were taken from rchrdcnnnghm's photostream on flickr. Copyright is owned by rchrdcnnnghm.

The Story of the Cadwallader Colden Mansion

In 1744, Cadwallader Colden, gave to his son, Cadwallader Colden Jr., five hundred and twenty-five acres of the three thousand acre family estate known as Coldenham. It was probably a wedding gift. Colden had purchased the land in 1718, soon after he had moved from Philadelphia to New York, see the Colden family blog for more details about the purchase: http://coldensofcoldenham.blogspot.com/

Cadwallader Jr. or Cad as he was known to his family, was twenty-two years old when he receives his land from his father. He immediately starts working on his property. Everything he knows about farming, he has learnt on Coldenham. He fells the first tree with his own hands and starts farming his five hundred plus acres, and builds two homes and various structures on it. One of the homes which became known as the Colden Mansion, was constructed in 1767 for Cad and his wife Elizabeth Ellison. It was one of the first stone houses in the area and there are people who mistakenly refer to this as Cadwallader Colden, Sr's house. This is of course not true. Sr's house has long since been demolished and no one can really tell where the original Colden house was. But we know that Sr's original house still existed in 1797 because in his will Cad leaves five hundred acres and the original Cadwallader Colden house to his son Cadwallader Colden III.

The oldest surviving image of Cad's mansion is the 1859 engraving seen above. It was a handsome house that stood two and a half stories tall and was five bays wide. The first floor had two parlors, one on each side of the central hall. There were two chambers above the parlors and a basement kitchen below the east parlor.

Another description says this of the mansion, "...was a hipped roofed two story rectangle. It had centrally located front and rear doors with a connecting hall and a staircase of black walnut that swept from the entrance around the foyer to the second floor. Later Colden would add a wing to make the building "L" shaped, and still later he would restore its rectangular form with another wing. The rooms were spacious, with ten feet high ceilings, rich interior wood paneling, and fluted base relief columns balancing the doors and fireplaces, typical of its genre. Neatly sculptured cornices topped the clear vertical lines of wood paneled walls".

The mansion and Coldenham (which Cad inherited in 1761 when his father moved to the city), remained in Cad's family even when he was imprisoned from 1774 to 1784 for being a loyalist. The mansion and lands remain in the Colden family when Cad dies on February 18, 1797. His will leaves the use of the mansion to his wife Elizabeth for her lifetime.

Sometime in the mid to late 1800s the mansion is sold out of the Colden family. The mansion remains intact until about the 1930s when it is abandoned as a result of estate litigation. Below is probably what the mansion looked like before it fell victim to neglect and the elements.

It is fortunate that in 1940 The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired some of the original woodwork from the west parlor of the house. This paneling is now displayed in the museum's Verplanck room, see below for two pictures from the Met's website.

Bits and pieces of the mansion, including more woodwork and the front door and the mile marker, are on display in town hall in Montgomery, New York. Below are pictures taken during a visit to the town hall in 2004.