It finally had to happen.

It was a prize on Jeopardy.  It was where people came up every year for a few days or a week to get a taste of country life.  It was where friendships and even families were formed.  It was where people met and rode a horse for the first time and fell in love with it for the rest of their life.

It was Roseland.  Roseland Ranch Resort.

It was… because last week they tore it down.

Up until a few years ago I would drive by and see people splashing in the pool right by the road or going off on a trail ride or skiing, but it was only after Roseland closed and I started Pine Plains Views that I became aware of how much of a following this place off Hunns Lake Road in nearby Stanfordville had.  People would write to ask what was going to happen to the property as if I had any information that it was going to reopen.  They had a Face Book page and a discussion board on Topix with thousands of messages.  After I posted new still pictures there would be a flurry of visitors to PIne Plains Views.

Every day there would be at least one or two visitors to Pine Plains Views to look at Roseland and leave the site without looking at anything else. It was odd.

So, last week when I heard that the cranes and bull dozers had arrived, I went there and finally shot some video.

Here is where my story started back in 2008. I was driving by Roseland and I saw this sign.

Pine Plains was in an area of summer camps and bungalow communities where people from the City came to get a taste of “country”.  It was also the home of the dude ranch, Roseland Ranch, recently closed and now up for sale and development.

It still attracts its own very lively discussion forum on the Internet of people who visited and worked there over several decades.  At the moment there are over 3,500 posts!

Update:  As of November 17, 2008. I have not been able to get the results of the auction.  I don’t think anything happened.

Update: March 8, 2009.  I drove by and took some pictures:

Not all that much has changed.  The auction sign was taken down.  The ranch sign fell, or was taken, half-way down.

It looks so empty. I never knew much about Roseland, but when we drove by there was always activity and people looked as if they came up to have a good time and succeeded.   Horses are a major part of my life and I enjoy seeing people introduced to riding and learning to care for horses.

Update: November 1, 2009:

So many people have visited this website just to find out more about Roseland Ranch that I decided to take a little drive this afternoon and shoot some Fall pictures.

Then I went down the road to the main entrance I saw a new For Sale sign:

Update January 22, 2011

After the snow, it’s beautiful but there are no human or horse tracks in the fresh snow….

The sign is still there, the snow is fresh...

Did the cowboy have a name?

The Cowboy Does Not Look Pleased!

He looks pissed….

No Ski Tracks in the Snow

Not a Horse to be Seen

Not a Person to be Seen Either...

I wish I had more to show and tell the people who have come to Pine Plains Views looking for good news about Roseland.  All I can offer them is a warm invitation to explore the rest of the website!

Pine Plains was in an area full of camps and resorts.  Right in Pine Plains itself, where the Lions Club is now located, was Camp Stissing Lake.  I just discovered that there is an active page on Facebook for Camp Stissing Lake.  You can see what the site of the camp is like now by seeing the public beach where they start the Stissing Sprint Triathalon.  Take a virtual tour of Pine Plains on Pine Plains Views.

In the surrounding area are the remains of dozens of summer camps and some are still in business.  I hope to bring some stories about them into this website because they were an important part of the history and culture of the community.  And who knows?  They may become part of its future.

First, meet the community as it turns out on Memorial Day for the parade in 2000.

What do we call the people from Pine Plains? Pine Plainers? Stissingers? The school sports teams refer to themselves as Bombers. It looks as if we should just stick with “People from Pine Plains”. But not all the people. I didn’t see any of the weekenders. Or the newcomers, the City People. And that may be the problem. It is one reason why I am making this website. So this parade is both an introduction to the community and Pine Plains Views. Why Pine Plains, anyway? Is it so special or typical that it deserves a website? We’ll be exploring that, but simply put, Pine Plains is where I live and from where I view the world. So Welcome to Pine Plains Views!

Then, 10 years and a world later…

The year, 2011, the same town, the same people (give or take a few) but now a different world.  Memorial Day after 9/11  has a new meaning.

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One of the lesser-known attractions of Paris is a boat tour through its underground sewer system.  I hope that one of the better-known attractions of Pine Plains will be the restoration of Dutch Schultz’s underground distillery now being planned.  Before any of the work started, I went on a tour of the “facility” with the current property owner, Dan Adams.

Come along, see for yourself!

There’s obviously a lot of history here that cannot be found in books or archives: Dutch, Legs, the W.D.A.N., and more will be tumbling up to the surface.  Some remains barely alive in the collective memory of Pine Plains.  Like the tunnels and the rooms they connect, I thought it would be fun to restore some of this history.  I was thinking that we should crowd-source this history.  If anyone knows more of the stories in this post, how about contributing in the form of a comment below or contacting me through the website.

Here are some newspaper clippings of the history of the still, the Ryan farm, the W.D.A.N., etc.

Well, the new owners have started the restoration of the property and have created their own website.

Actually, this was all for a good cause,  the restoration of the Louis Graham/Brush House.  You can see where the money and effort goes here.

The event was held at The Back Yard Garden in Pine Plains.  I’ll add the appropriate credits and info as soon as I can but I could use some help from you guys…. who was the fellow with Wesley Chase doing the roasting?  So they should both get some credit.   And, of of course, who was the band?  Anyone know, jump in on the Comments below.

These clips were taken at the fund-raiser for the Little Nine Partners Historical Society on July 16, 2011.  I shot them with my cell phone, a Droid X, in the hope that I could upload them live to this website.  My dreams of instant video were dashed by the vagaries of our rural internet connections.  I am still hoping to get a work-flow down so that I can share further moments in a timely manner.  Nevertheless, I hope this illustrates the saying, “The best camera is the one you have with you.”  I hope this example can encourage people to record their local history as it happens!

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“The real deal…” is how Bill Bartolomeo of Wheels of Time described John Corson to me.

He’s local, alright, right on the edge of town, working out of a two bay garage behind his house.  His work is so well-known in the the not-so-local sports and racing car world that about 25 Porsche owners came for a visit.

It started with just one on a small country road. Then they just kept coming and coming…

By the time they were all parked snug on John’s lawn “There was a 356 Speedster cabriolet and a 550 Spyder replicar which represented the early days of the Porsche mark for both street and track.  A variety of years of the 911 model, a 928 V8, 968 models, and a few late model Boxsters.  The only models missing were 914, 924 and 944.” Thanks to Allen K. Littlefield who sent me this inventory and also coordinated the visit.

Then it was a chance to meet John and see some Ferraris and Porsches and hear some of his war stories.

They stayed on to get to know each other better, but most of all to get to know the cars!

Thanks to the  Hudson Valley Region of the Porsche Club of America for bringing this much fun to our town.

As for me, I saw some beautiful automobiles and met some really nice people that I hope to see again.  But most of all I have grown a new respect for the knowledge and craftsmanship that went into the restoration of some of these vintage machines by the people who were driving them.  And as for some of my friends and neighbors in Pine Plains, I hope this answers the question of “What the hell were all those fancy cars doing around town the other day?”

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This is about a dairy farmer, Barry Chase, who is about to sell his herd of milking cows. I visited with him and his wife, Rosey, a few days before their herd leaves.

First, meet some cows…

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Selling a herd is nothing new in our county. It’s been going on for years. Here are the USDA figures for Dutches County.

Milk Cows

Number on farms

1950 23,422
1959 22,017
1969 16,422
1978 13,500
1982 13,000
1987 8,700
1992 5,000
1997 3,500
1998 3,500
1999 3,000
2000 3,300
2001 2,500
2002 2,500
2003 2,900
2004 3,400

There were, until fairly recently, dozens of dairy farms in the Pine Plains area. Milk production and processing was the mainstay of the local economy. But now, as there are only a handful of farmers still milking, people who have moved in from the City or are too young to remember, the familiarity with the way of life of the dairy farmer has passed, too. I hope that this sequence of videos will preserve that way of life if not the farms.

Enough. Let’s meet Barry.

So, the cows are off in the pasture doing what they do to make milk. Eat!

And the farmers go off and do what they have to do to feed the cows. Make hay!

I’m sure you’ve already noticed something… milk may make strong bones, but milking is really hard on the joints. Dairy farming is, literally, back-breaking work and in the next few pages you’ll see just how hard that work is.

Farming entails a lot more than raising crops and animals. It means fixing and repairing machinery and keeping it running…

You’ve all seen silos, those towering cylinders next to the barns. No matter what is inside can get stuck and there is only one way to unstick it.

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This really is a family farm. Rosey, a professor at the local community college, does more than just “help out” with the hard work on this very hot day.

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Barry asked me to take a picture of one of his favorite cows. And it was my chance to get an answer to a question that I have had for a long time: what is the conformation of a good cow?

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Are there favorites in the herd?

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It was hot… very hot… None of us could keep our minds off he heat. Barry gave it a “shot,” though.

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Graining before milking.

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There is always some job that has been put off and can now be done as a distraction before the truck comes for the herd.

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There’s always a fence that needs mending…

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Halters will help move the cows. Might as well put them on now.

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It would be one thing to get the cows onto the truck… but once we saw the truck we realized that it was going to be a job just to get the truck onto the farm!

It’s called a “pot truck” and you’ll see why very soon. But whatever it’s called, it’s giganormous! I get into enough trouble backing up my 3-horse trailer and this rig can hold 35 cows!

Barry suggested that I take a look at the pot from inside the truck and see it from the cows’ point of view.

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Now we were ready to load the cows. But were they ready?

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Time to say goodbye.

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But this is not the end…

The County Fair in Rhinebeck, New York. About 500,000 people come to this fair to eat and then have that food just about evacuated from them on rides. They buy things, play games, and have a good time spending money for the benefit of the Dutchess County Agricultural Society for, as it claims, “the promotion of agriculture, horticulture, mechanical and domestic arts, fine arts and allied sciences through education, instruction, display and competition.”

Let the video speak for itself…

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So, what does this have to do with Barry’s cows or any kind of farming, anyway?

Perhaps I’m not being fair (pun intended) because although there are no farmers on display along the Midway, the fair attracts and educates many people for their first and most basic exposure to agriculture. A few years ago, we spent a week showing a couple of our horses at the agricultural tent to let people who obviously had never been up close to a real horse touch and ask questions about them. I overheard a family in earnest (in fact, heated) discussion about whether those cows being milked were “boys” or “girls” or even both. We are talking basic education here!

To find any evidence of agriculture, or an animal that is not plush/stuffed, you have to go up to what is almost another fair, up on “The Hill” where the 4-H Clubs compete and show their animals.

And it is here, up on The Hill, where you will also meet some folks from Pine Plains.

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Gina and her father are going to continue milking at Barry’s barn and have started building up their own herd.

I am following their progress and you can see some of it here.

Home

Test:

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In the middle of the summer of 2010, I got an email from Mauritius.  As I don’t do crosswords or scrabble, I was pressed to remember that Mauritius was an island nation out in the Indian Ocean somewhere between Africa and India.  The sender was an anthropologist who heard of me through this website and was curious about the agriculture of Pine Plains.  With some back and forth, it turns out that Candice Lowe Swift is a professor of anthropology at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie who was doing field research but on her return would be teaching a course in anthropology and was exploring whether students could be placed on local farms as participant observers.  In farming, this would mean getting right in there, working.

I shot the following videos with the expectation that they would be supplemented by the students’ ethnographies at the end of the course.  As soon as I can get digital versions of their papers integrated with the videos I’ll post them.   In the meantime, the videos will stand by themselves.

One of the sites was Elk Ravine Farm.

Brooks Dairy Farm

Making cheese

We even had a participant observer on our little horse farm.  Nikki, who, fortunately was a rider, was studying at how Pine Plains changed from dairy farming to more recreational land uses such as horses.  No better way than to get a sense of the land by horse!

In addition to the Pine Plains area farms half the class went to Swoons Orchard where they picked and processed apples.  I did not shoot any video there, but it is definitely on my list for next year.

It literally all came together at Vassar where the students were now hosts to all the farmers for brunch that they each prepared.

The papers the students wrote, their ethnographies, will be excerpted here in electronic form. Just has not happened yet.

This was my first visit to Lime Rock Park. Actually, it was my first time at any car track. I came to follow through some stories I had been filming for Pine Pains Views and because it is a major attraction in the area.  Okay, I was also motivated by curiosity but that is why I do what I do anyway.  Once there I became fascinated by the park itself, the vintage cars and the people involved.

Seen Behind the Scenes

The officials are all volunteers through the Sports Car Club of America. There are lots of opportunities to get involved. You work right where the action at some of the best spots to watch the races

The Vintage Racers

A special breed.  They staked out their own camp at the park.  They may be amateurs but there were no dilettantes in this group. No Factory Team MG!  These are people who race the cars they rebuild and restore themselves. And, like George Pardee of Clearwater (yes, Florida!), would sometimes drive the car to New York or Vermont, race it, and then drive it home. Fun on all three legs!

Epilogue:  When he got back home, George was able to discover  that the problem turned out to be the plugs.

Right in the heart of Pine Plains, behind the bank and next to the supermarket, an old house is being restored. It is often referred to as “that old house by the bank parking lot” by people who do not remember the name, Louis Graham/Brush House.  I confess that I was, up until I started filming this, one of them.

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The restoration is being carried out by the Little Nine Partners Historical Society, often misnamed the Pine Plains Historical Society by those who don’t know the historical significance of the Little Nine Partners… I confess that, from time to time, I slip and call it the Pine Plains Historical Society.

I knew the mason, Alan Budd, from other work he has done, but this was my first introduction to Bob Hedges.  The combination of the restoration of this 1760 house and the two men working on it was compelling.  I decided to drop in from time to time and document it for this website.  But once I got started filming I realized that I really wanted to explore the project at more depth and make a video diary that would show the progress of the work and allow me explore the history of the community in which I live.

Day 2

I came back to find Alan sorting through the pile of original rock that he had taken out of the old  fireplace.  He would, of course, have to replace some of the pieces with new, but there was one very special rock that would be retained: phyllite.   This was a special stone that was used in the rear of the fireplaces (hence called “firebacks”) in that period.  There was an old quarry in the woods right near our house on Bean River Road.

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Alan started to assemble the rocks he would use  from new material and what was left from he original fireplace.  Although the techniques and most of the technology was the same as it had been when the house was built, there are now a few modern conveniences for the mason.  While basic techniques have remained pretty much the same since before the industrial revoution, the source of power is new.

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Day 3

This turned out to be a technical visit.  Just when I thought I was understanding the basics of stone-fitting, I saw that a fireplace is a complex blend of different materials and surfaces: the chimney, the firebed and the fireback.  We can see Alan selecting the right rocks for each function.  Again, I was intrigued by the use of phyllite because it is found in the woods just north of us on Bean River Road and while I had heard about it I had never actually seen it.  I am looking forward to finding the deposit and documenting it video.

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Day 4

In which we learn what this photo of Philippe Petit, the young Frenchman who crossed between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974, has to do with the restoration of the 1760o Louis Graham/Brush house in Pine Plains in 2009.

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Day 5

In which we take a tour of the house and hear the fascinating story of the Graham family.  Told be Scott Chase.

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And then a very strange surprise…

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Day 8

I was now seeing this project in a different light.  It had transformed from restoring a building with an interesting history to exploring the history of a community.  The fireplace might be similar to others in existing buildings.  There is a fireplace built with that same phyllite in the nearby  Stissing House.  It might hold some clues.  We’ll have to check it out.

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The phyllite was becoming  a lodestone, leading us on explorations.  We wanted to see the source of this rock because it was localized on a hill on Bean River Road on property owned  by my next door neighbor and friend, Tom Allen, who agreed to take us up into his woods one evening to find the outcroppings where it might have been mined more than a couple of hundred years ago.

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It would be worth a trip in daylight.

Some machines have stories and this is one of them.