O’Hara, John

Cover sheet tape #130A

Interviewee:John O’Hara andhis wife Sally

Narrator:Dick Paddock

Tape #:130A

Place of Interview:O’Hara’s Lodge, Twin Lakes, Taconic, Ct.

Date:September, 2011

Summary of talk: Family background, property purchase in Sheffield, Twin Lakes, “Idle Hour”, O’Hara Lodge, chapel, grandfather’s estate, family members, buildings, money making enterprises, tragedies in the family, San Souci, Marina, various rooming houses, summer rentals, Aquatic activities, steam launch, farming, horseback riding, terrain, ice cutting & ice houses, the Idle Hour and tenants, inheritance for himself and his 3 children, property sold to Institute of World Affairs, Hillcrest School for Girls, WWII, rationing, food production, paintings of area, more property discussion, art and area art colonies, famous photographer.

Property of the Oral History Project and the Salisbury Association at the Scoville Memorial Library,

Salisbury, Ct. 06068

 

Alright to start off and give the place and time, we are here on a beautiful September afternoon at the O’Hara Lodge on the east Twin Lake. I’ll be talking to John O’Hara. My name is Dick Paddock and without further ado, John, why don’t you tell me how the O’Haras came to be here.

JO:OK Dick, it started with the great grandfather John O’Hara who bought the property which was

later bought by the Institute of World Affairs, though it is up off Taconic Road near the corner of Twin Lakes Road. He had bought other property in Sheffield, Mass. He started off and he bought about 3 acres, then he bought 78 acres, then he picked up the 150 acre parcel which was the Twin lakes property. After that he bought some more property so he ended up with about 300 acres all in Sheffield, and Connecticut line, Massachusetts line.

DP:About what time was this, John?

JO:He bought the property, the Twin lakes property in 1877.

DP:Really before this area was a tourist area.

JO:Right, some of the other property in Sheffield, he seems to have been a resident of Sheffield; he

bought in 1869 and 1867. Then he bought more after he bought the Twin Lakes property, and so I guess he did well in farming.

DP:It sounds like he was a man of means for his era.

JO:Well there was always stuff on the Civil War; now whether any body was ever in the Civil War

from the O’Hara family I don’t know. John O’Hara was born in Ireland in 1840, so when he was buying the Twin Lakes property, he would have been 37. I don’t know. It would take a little math to figure that out, but that property went down to the lake. One of his sons was Thomas O’Hara who bought the property where we are now which he bought in 1888, and he built the house that we are in and of course had the waterfront. He had 150 acres in here. Now to delineate the exact lines and so forth are would really take some homework because it is all property on this side, on west side, formally owned by so and so. I have never gone into it extensively.

DP:Or delineated by landmarks that no longer exist.

JO:That’s right so it is a lot of work and I’ve done some, but not that much. Then he began to sell

off certain property, and the property known as the “Idle Hour” which is on one side of us, he sold to Setzer in 1895, and Setzer built a house on it. It later became called the” Idle Hour” and was added on to.

DP:Was that operated as a real hotel?

JO:It was, it was after 1932. Setzer had it for a private residence; then he went back to Germany. It

could have been World War II that he wanted to get back to Germany. Then the later addition was put on it, and it was a hotel from 1932 to probably sometime in the 1960’s when it closed down. Then the whole area changed as far as guests coming. This O’Hara Lodge my grandmother always put up people

 

here from practically after they opened, she would have spaces in the attic for fishermen; she had about 8 cots in the attic and she could put the fishermen up there. Then they gave the property for the small chapel which is just up from here on Twin Lakes Road. Between the Hurleys and O’Haras that chapel was built and of course…

DP:Do you happen to know about when that was built?

JO:I really don’t. I’ll have to find out.

DP:Was it built by the local residents, or did one of the churches…

JO:Well, the Hurleys, one Hurley was a contractor, and he could have been the lead on building it,

but I am not sure. To do any search of the O’Hara property, I hung on to my grandfather’s estate there were about 20 conveyances in there that you would have to run them down.

DP:It sounds complicated.

JO:So then they built other houses. The O’Hara family, my father had 6 brothers and sisters so

there are a number of houses for each of them. There’s what is called the White Lodge, the Green Lodge and a couple of cottages down below, and of course they have what is now the Boat Rig so all of those things were active. They would have people in all those houses, and there was room in the Idle Hour to feed everybody. So they could all go…

DP:They must have had a fairly large dining room

JO:Yeah it was a good sized dining room, and they would have people come on the train. They

would pick them up. They would come over here and you could walk up to church. You had the other activities.

DP:Sounds nice.

JO:Yeah. They bought Setzer back later on.

DP: Ok, so the O’Hara family re-acquired the property.

JO:They re-acquired Setzer’s property, and then my grandfather bought the property once where

the railroad was. He bought the property on both sides, and owned that farm on Weatogue Road which now the Boks have that, (at the Jet of Rt. 44 and Weatogue) and then it went the other way. He rented that farm out. Gramp made his money renting boats and keeping guests. He had a saw mill up back.

DP:Was it up the hill here?

JO:Yes, up in back, and he had a 30 acre woodlot on part of the property.

DP:Are there any remnants of the saw mill still left?

 

3.

JO:No it was a horse drawn saw mill. That was a tragic event because the horses started to run

away, and he lost a big part of his right hand. The family had a number of tragedies; one brother, my father’s brother, was killed by a bull up on the property where the Institute of World Affairs was, another was kicked in the head, one aunt’s baby died at birth, so a lot of bad things happened. My only first cousin was killed in the war at Bataan and a lot of other cousins died in auto accidents so I am the only one now. My brother died in 2002.

DP: So you are the patriarch of the family.

JO:Yeah, so I’m left and trying to rent property and maintain it; we’re enjoying being here during

the summer and San Diego in the winter, and if you think of anything else, Dick.

DP: Well, I can remember that when I was young in the 50’s the marina area was quite a rocking place.

JO:Yes, it was. When my uncle Steve came back from the war, he had a couple of friends, and they

put up a sizable building down there. They started having Bingo and all sorts of things. Of course for a lot of that I wasn’t here.

DP:I seem to remember pinball machines.

JO:Yes.

DP:And miniature golf.

JO:They had those. My uncleputinaminiature golf course. I imagine before when we were on the

tour, in the 30’s well late 20’s there was a dance hall down the road. They were always accusing Idle Hour of being it, but there was a dance hall, San Souci.

DP: Yeah, my father used to talk about that.

Mrs. O: It wasn’t an O’Hara place.

JO:It was down on what would be the state property, very close to what is the Albert boathouse,

down in that corner.

DP:I think there is a flat spot in the field where it used to be

JO:Yes, where it was, but that went out with the Depression.

DP:Oh dear. My father would never talk a great deal about it so I guess some things went on there

that…

JO:Well, I think so. That was the place to go.

DP: So he kept quiet.

 

4.

JO:What is the marina today was called the Canteen, once upon a time, and that burned down in

the late 30’s. So they had a tent for a while, then they build a smaller place.

DP: They had 2 distinct buildings at the marina today. One is the front building where the kitchen is and then there is a much larger building with roof trusses which looks like it was built later. Is that so?

JO:Yes, it was. After the fire they put up that small building. It used to have cedar posts and it was

open.

DP:OK then it was an open-air building.

JO:It was an open-air building, and then they put a little attachment on it where you put, you know

candy, ice cream, soda. Later they cut all that lumber up in the back and built that. They built a sizable building but a lousy foundation. So when I really started to get involved in 1974, we had to move the building and put in a good foundation.

DP:I can remember it had quite a, I don’t know how to explain it. It had a rolling floor up there, up

and down, back and forth, and then it got straightened out.

JO:Yeah

DP:That was your idea.

JO:Then in 1974 Dave Haab, paid by us, was to direct the recreation. Dave Haab signed up to be

manager, and we had a maintenance man. We had 2 bays for boats so it really changed the business.

DP:Yes

JO:They were able to work on the boats in any kind of weather, and have a good machine shop.

DP: So the marina has been there now for a long time.

JO:Yes, a long time, as far as I can remember. You see some of those old pictures where O’Haras

had a dock and at one time, when I was growing up, they had about 73 wooden boats. People would come and rent a boat. That was a big thing to get your boat on Opening Day which is always the third Saturday in April. Now so many of them come in trailers.

DP:I know the lot is full and they are up and down the road.

JO:It is a good restaurant business and that seems to draw a crowd.

DP:It is a great place to eat and sit and watch the lake. I wish it were open year round.

 

5.

JO:That’s right but a little cool, but they try to get it open 4 days a week; once the summer season

starts, they keep it open Saturday and Sunday until Labor Day. So that is nice.

Mrs. 0: beyond Labor Day

DP:I think she is right.

JO:Columbus Day. It is a great resource.

DP:Now did the O’Hara’s ever own any of the islands or any of that area?

Mrs. 0: I wish they had.

JO:No, I don’t think so. My grandfather told me once he could have bought it but he wasn’t

interested. For what that’s worth. He said, “I’ve got enough and the taxes are too much.”

DP:Oh boy, that doesn’t sound like a new problem, does it?

JO:No, they had a lot of acreage between them and the great grandfather had 300 acres up there

and I don’t know what Gramp had. He kept parceling it out to all these people who wanted to buy.

DP:Well, there are still quite a few holdings here; it sounds like you have a lot of property to this

day.

JO:Yeah there is still about 100 acres here, and then there is 5 acres over with 2 houses on it on the

lake up the road a little bit. That is more than enough.

DP:Do you have any idea how many bedrooms there are in all these assorted lodges?

JO:No, I haven’t added them up, I probably should but I would say there’s got to be over 50 anyway

or maybe more. They are all 6, 7. In this house we cut down some of the bedrooms; we had 9 bedrooms in here.

DP:This is known as the O’Hara Lodge.

JO:This is the O’Hara Lodge. I kind a left that on it because it was such a historic name.

DP:Well, the O’Haras still lodge here.

Mrs. O: That’s right.

JO:That’s right.

Mrs. 0: Mary Elizabeth and that’s the Idle Hour, and that’s the White Lodge and the Green Lodge.

 

6.

JO:Well, the Mary Elizabeth was up back, and it was a garage for Setzer; he had a chauffeur, and so

when Gramp and Grandma bought it back, they moved it down and made a little rooming house out of it.

DP:A house out of it.

Mrs. O: 5 bedrooms

JO:Yeah, it has 5 bedrooms.

DP:Oh my goodness, it is not a little place.

Mrs. O: No, it isn’t.

JO:Yeah and they would have had more downstairs before they remodeled it. So there are a lot of

bedrooms here.

DP:I know you had the White Lodge in use this summer for Tri-Arts.

JO:Tri-Arts have had it for 2 years.

DP:Do they keep their acting staff there?

JO:Well, they have some and they have quite a few of the workers. One gal came out one day, and I

asked her what she did, and she said, “I’m the electrician.” So they have people who paint the set, and do costumes.

DP:What a great place for them to spend the summer.

Mrs. O: They like it.

JO:Well, it is. I am thinking if I want to keep doing that under 2 years. I think that is a healthy

contribution but I’m going talk about it.

DP:Well it seems to me that nowadays there is less interest in renting a place for the summer. I

don’t know what you see. It was once a big business here, but no longer.

JO:The White Lodge and the Green Lodge, lake access is an issue that shouldn’t have happened, but

my uncle didn’t handle that very well. Then we used to have swimming down here, but you can’t do the swimming anymore with the insurance.

DP:Oh, that’s a risk.

JO:yes

DP:Zebra mussels now.

 

JO:Some people get on pontoon boats and it seems to work pretty well.7.

DP:Jump off the boat.

JO:Sure

DP:My father said the Idle Hour had a big aquatic slide at one time. Do you have any recollection of

that?

JO:I don’t. I don’t remember that.

DP:I remember when I was young there was a concrete abutment out there about three feet out

towards the water from the parking lot. It is clear that it had something on it.

JO:Well, they had a big raft. I know they had an 18 foot tower on it; they cut it down a little bit

because they thought it was too dangerous, but you could still go up 12, 15 feet, you know at different levels so it was quite a raft.

DP:Yeah.

Mrs. 0: Was the slide on that?

JO:No. I don’t think there was even a slide on it.

DP:Well, there is a record of a guy actually having a steam launch on this lake at one time. He

brought it from Philadelphia. We encountered one of his descendants on the tour.

Mrs. 0: Really!

DP:Oh yeah, he did that. He brought it up and put it on the lake in the summer. Then he would put

it back on a flat car and take it away in the fall.

JO:Why do they have all these rock walls through all the different areas?

Mrs. O: All over.

JO:It looks as if they are delineating property.

DP:It appears that they tried to farm it. I trust none of your ancestors really tried to farm this

particular area, did they?

JO:Gramp did some, but mostly he had cattle and they had horses. You know when they had

visitors here, they would have maybe a dozen horses up there in the summer for riding. So they had a…

DP:the barns

JO:They had a couple of big barns that could handle the horses.

DP:To the north where the farm was, it looks like it was more suitable.

 

Mrs. O/JO: Yes

8.

DP:But this particular area here near the lodges is hilly and stony.

Mrs. 0: Drive on this road and look up in the hills and it is all stone walls.

DP:Somebody moved all those rocks. I guess it wasn’t your grandfather.

JO:No, but he had cows and work horses, chickens and with the saw mill and the ice cutting and the

guests and the marina.

DP:How long was ice cutting a business in this area?

JO:I remember seeing it when I was, before World War II or even in the early 40’s. I would go down

and watch them. These old fellows would be down there with a jug of cider and sawing that ice, and sometimes they would have a power saw to cut it with. They would set up a conveyor and load it on trucks. At one time they put it on horses. There are remnants of an old sled over in the Green Lodge, where they could put the horses out on the ice with the proper shoes on.

DP:Now I wonder where did they take the ice.

JO:Well different houses, most of these houses that were on the lake in the summer had an ice

house. There used to be an ice house up there.

DP:OK in the red building out back here?

JO:Yeah, and then there is a small green one over there that was an ice house.

Mrs. 0: There is an ice house below, too.>

JO:Below there. The Hurleys had an ice house on the point which was converted into a residence.

Then he would sell ice to the railroad.

DP:Sure but by 1940 that wasn’t a factor anymore. The railroad was not a big user.

JO:That’s right.

DP:I guess at one time in the Salisbury area ice was a big business, and I am certain that Twin Lakes

was included.

JO:Yeah. Yeah.

Mrs. 0:I remember the iceman coming with a big leather pad.

DP:When my family was first weekenders here, we used to have to go over to Falls Village and buy

ice. Bring it back and stick it in the ice box.

JO:Ice was a big thing. I still have a big ice box in the garage; I don’t know what I’ll do with it.

 

DP:It sounds as if there are quite a few artifacts still here.9.

Mrs. 0: Oh there are.

JO:There are, the furniture is sort from we sort of picked from the different houses what we want

and also.

Mrs. 0: We’ve got a lot of old furniture.

DP:Are all the lodges still furnished?

JO:Yes, we had…

DP:So they are ready to go if tenants appeared.

JO:Yeah, it’s still ready to go; it is a little more trouble renting. We have had some good long term

renters.

DP:Yeah, I always see folks up at the Idle Hour so it looks…

JO:Yes, that is a group that goes on and on. There are about 6 or 7 families that stay there.

Mrs. 0: There are 4 generations.

JO:They get along and so they…

DP:How do they, do they just divvy it up by rooms?

JO:Yeah, they all have assigned rooms and they have responsibilities; they use paper plates.

Mrs. 0: Their summer china

JO:So they have been there a long time.

DP:Four generations, it sounds like it.

JO:Yeah, and we’re still going, and I have three children. I have pretty much worked it out that

they’ll inherit it. I have one boy and two girls, so at least that’s what I’m doing and I’ll see what they…

DP:Do they work around here on this property?

JO:No, they’re spread out; one is in Detroit, one is Nashville, and one is in California.

DP:Unfortunately they do not get to come here very often.

JO:No, the one daughter comes for about 6 weeks and my son comes 4th of July, and the other

daughter takes care of her horses. Sally and I are a second marriage. When Sally and I got married, she had 4 children so we have plenty of company.

 

10.

DP: That’s good. This is the kind of a place you want to share.

JO:Yes, it is.

DP:You mentioned the Hurley family, are the O’Haras and the Hurleys related?

JO:Yes, my grandfather and the Hurley’s grandmother were brother and sister; so we have that

common great grandfather John O’Hara. So Gramp and I think my grandmother were in all the conveyances so they conveyed some property to the Hurleys in probably 1905.

DP:So you and the Hurleys have been related all this time.

JO:Yeah, and one cousin that is around here who often reminds me that Robert Hurley was the

Governor in 1940 of Connecticut.

DP:No O’Haras as governor.

JO:No that’s his point.

DP: Maybe that is not a plus, I am not sure. Politicians, do you want to admit that you have politicians as ancestors?

JO:I grew up here so I, other than being away at college and in the army and working, was so

delighted to come back. We didn’t come back until I retired, I retired fully in 2000.

DP:Ok, so you were only an infrequent visitor prior to that.

JO:Well, I tried to I had to step in and manage things and take careof theaunts.I hadtwo old

aunts who tried to do things on their own, and things got away from them.

DP:There is a lot to take care of here.

JO:Yeah so it has worked out and sometimes you wonder why youdid allthisand other times I am

very pleased with it.

DP:It is a remarkable heritage.

JO:I always say I can sit here and look around and everything is mine.

DP:That has to be a good feeling.

Mrs. O: Until he pays the taxes, and maintenance.

JO:Yeah, that might be a little excessive, but sometime I think that way.

DP:It is all because you great grandfather started buying land.

JO:Yeah, yeah.

 

DP:I think he had great taste myself; this is a beautiful part of the country.11.

JO:It really was. That was the thing; I look at the records. They paid maybe $2,000 for this, and my

great grandfather probably paid $1900 or $2000. I mean tremendous-150 acres each.

DP:Yeah, so the heart of the O’Hara property became the Institute of World Affairs (306 Taconic

road).

JO:Yeah, that was when my uncle was killed by a bull; there were 2 older sisters and my

grandfather up there: there wasn’t anybody else to take care of them, and so they sold it which they got $18,000 for it then.

DP:Was that during World War II?

JO:It was right around probably, it could have been just before the war, or close. (See Charles Cook,

tape #123 on the history of the Institute of World Affairs)

DP:Because I know the Institute of World Affairs began in Europe, and they had to leave when the

war broke out.

JO:Yeah, so it could have been after the war.

DP:I had the numbers in those hand-outs that I gave out on the tour. I think it was 1942 or

something.

JO:Yeah, it could be.

DP:It was in that era sometime.

JO:I remember the lady that came around to buy it.

DO: Then there was the school down here, too. I don’t know if you have any memories about that?

JO:Yeah, Hillcrest Girls used to run around in green suits. (20 Cooper Hill Road)

DP:Green suits?

JO:They had these green…

Mrs. O: Uniforms

JO: uniforms; they were wayward girls.

DP:It is funny; my father used exactly the same phrase. “Yeah that was for wayward girls from New

York”.

JO:That’s what they called them.

DP:And from what the Town Historian tells me, I guess they were sent here by court order.

 

JO:Yes.12.

DP:I don’t know what kind of things they had gotten into, but…

JO:I don’t either.

DP:This is certainly a change of venuefor them.

JO:They liked the country, they had a good time.

DP:If you like the city it was bad news.

JO:Yeah.

DP:It was much moreremote.Do youhave any idea over what period of time that school; it is

probably in the records somewhere, when it operated?

JO:Yeah, I’m sure it is. I just remember seeing them on the road, and I was quite young, the many

times I walked from here up to the farm to see the relatives up there. It was a nice walk for a mile or so.

DP:I suppose they could walk done to the marina too.

JO:Yeah, they could walk around some. I don’t know what their restrictions were. Butthat

probably ended with the war. You know a lot of things changed so much.

DP:So I’ve heard. I wasn’t here for that, and I guess a lot of things about life changed in this area.

JO:Yeah, I think things were after the war changed, then they slowed down again, but it was very

quiet during the war..’

DP:I know one of the things I fascinated to discover was that the Scovilles had merchant sailors as

guests who had been torpedoed, and I figure it was during the summer of 1942 that they had a few of them up there. My aunt always mentioned that because she was a teenager during those times. These young men with British accents were pretty irresistible.

JO:Well, the Scovilles did so many wonderful things. It is great to have people like that in the area.

DP:There have been a lot of interesting families in this area.

JO:That was a great tour you gave on it. (June & July 2011, repeat June & July 2012) I haven’t done

as much other than the O’Hara family.

DP:The O’Hara family is certainly a big part of the Twin Lakes area.

JO:Yeah.

DP:Then we have the IWA, the school, summer camps; of course there is a summer camp right here

in your backyard

 

13.

JO:Right. They had the two summer camps, and I remember the island, Muriel Albert was an Air

Raid Warden in World War II. (Her family owned the island before it went to the Institute for the Deaf.)

DP:Oh for goodness sakes! Here?

JO:She’d come around, yeah.

DP:It is so hard to imagine that we would have an Air Raid Warden here in Salisbury at ail.

JO:I have a certificate somewhere on my desk; I saved it because it was one from my aunt,

Josephine Pullen. She was certified as an Air Raid Warden.

DP:I’ll be darned.

Mrs. 0: Cute little Aunt Jo

JO:Yeah we had the black out; we had to tape up half the headlights on your car, and on older cars

you didn’t have a lot of light.

DP:I don’t think I’d want to drive around here with taped up headlights.

JO:But you were lucky to have a car to drive.

DP: Yeah, I guess gasoline was pretty scarce.

JO:Yeah, with all rationing and the same running to need gas. I remember my father had a

checkbook, so many units for whatever you were buying, fish, cheese, whatever- all that was rationed.

DP:I know my father said he lived in Hartford at the time; he would save up enough gas to get here,

and then the Scovilles would give him enough to go home. They did that for like Christmas or Thanksgiving. They didn’t make a regular thing out of it, but I guess traveling was tough.

JO:It was tough.

DP:Time to get the horse back out, I guess.

JO:Well, I tried and we had horses die around here during the war. Boy it is a lot of work burying a

horse.

DP:Did you raise any food or anything during the war here?

JO:No, I don’t think so.

Mrs. 0: What about that field over here?

JO:Well, that was the Rev. Roraback; he always had a big garden. He had quite a garden. No but

Gramp had animals and chickens, pigs.

 

14.

DP:I know the Scovilles got some animals in. In the carriage house they had some poultry and they

had some hogs and things like that. People adapted by growing more on their own.

JO:Right.

DP:Especially meat.

JO:It is always good tohave anadded… We had a smoke house right up in back.

DP:Really!

JO:Yep, he’d smoke allhis ownstuff,

Mrs. O: He had an ice house.

JO: and all these big vans in the basement to store things, eggs. So one of my lousy jobs was cleaning the chicken coop, but I didn’t care for that.

DP:I figure you had a pretty good sized one.

JO:Yeah, Gramp always liked chickens. He liked animals.

DP:Well, you get eggs and your get meat.

JO:Yes, horses he always wanted horses around.

DP:There must have been quite a few chicken houses, barns, and that kind of thing.

JO:Yeah, he had a nice set-up on the barns, the pig barn.

DP:OK there are some paintings here on the wall with barns.

JO:Oh yeah.

DP:Oh yeah I recognize the landscape. It is clear where the barn is.

JO:Right up there where that little house is, and they had another barn behind that. Itkindof

surrounded the barn yard.

DP:There seems to be a lot of paintings here in this room of this area. Now who was thepainter?

JO:I don’t know who painted those pictures, somebody who stayed at the Idle Hour.

Mrs. O: Hartson

JO:Yeah, Hartson, he was a local painter, and my wife Sally, when I was at Davos, of the little

boathouse that is down next to the Albert’s boathouse.

 

DP:I know exactly where that is. It is very easy to tell.15.

JO:Yeah, that’s a good thing. We always wish we had more and saved more.

Mrs. 0: Staying here it is just hard to save your things.

JO:Well, they are around here somewhere; I can lay my hand on…

DP:I know just down here there are some buildings on the hill which in the old postcards are called

Dole’s Cottages. Now was that originally O’Hara land?

JO:It could be. I mean so much of this land I think Gramp owned maybe all the way to what the

grandfather owned. I think this whole section of the shore…

DP:Right on up to…

JO:Yeah right from where the Hour is, I know he granted some land to the Alberts at some point in

the 1890’s. Now where that was maybe it was something…

DP:Did he own the mountain here too?

JO:He only owned

DP:back to the east here.

Mrs. 0: mountain, which one is that?

JO:Right behind us

DP:I can understand why he might not have been interested in owning that. There is not much you

could do with it.

JO:No

Mrs. 0: It is always called Toms.

JO:It is always called Toms but I don’t know where, it has been that for a long time.

DP:I don’t know which Tom it might have been.

JO:I don’t either.

Mrs. 0: Then we have Paul Strands.

JO:the painter

Mrs. 0: the photographer

JO:Yeah, he’s a famous photographer. He stayed over at the White Lodge.

 

16.

Mrs. 0: He stayed at the White Lodge and this from a show at the Metropolitan. He stayed here; he was innovative. I don’t know if this is of interested to you, or not. This was abstract, done when he was photographing.

DP: Oh yeah I see the shadows of the railings on the porch.

Mrs. O.: When did he do this?

JO:1913. There’s a photograph of Twin Lakes up in the first part of that. It is right in the

introduction.

DP:I got the impression that at some point in history there were quite a few artists and painters

here for a while.

JO:Yeah, my brother…

DP:or art communities, was that encouraged?

JO:Well, it may have been. It seems to be all over New England there are artists. My brother said

when grandfather bought the property there was an artist studio right here where the driveway is.

Mrs. O: We have rented to several artists.

JO:Yeah, we did.

DP:I can see where artists would find this an easy place to come and work.

JO:Yeah, It’s a, take that… picture because it…stay here (He is turning pages ?)

Mrs. O: The Island

JO:It’s taken from here;you’re going to waste a lot of tape here.

DP:It’s on a chip.

JO:Butyou see that?

DP:It is a striking picture.

JO:I was figuring how could he get the moon from this side unless the Island was pretty bare.

DP: Yeah, it is hard to tell where that was taken.

Mrs. O: Was it deforested, the Island? Is that in your notes? Do you have any recollection of cutting all the trees down?

 

17.

DP: It is hard to place this picture.

JO:It is hard.

Mrs. O.: But he stayed at the White Lodge right next door and was recognized. We went to a show. I don’t know anything about the art of impression.

DP:I recall you mentioned that on the tour.

JO:Yeah, I did, so he is a well renowned photographer from that group who stayed with us, so any

further thoughts?

DP:Not unless you have any; it’s been fascinating and at least we have now preserved it so that

other people, not only will be able to know, but they’ll hear you tell it.

JO:Well I should have probably…

DP:It is a special treat.

JO:I probably should have learned more going along, but I guess like so many you don’t think about

those things until you are older.

DP:It is called life. Yeah, and you have things to do.

JO:Yeah, but it is good you are recording some of it.

DP:I have always enjoyed listening.

JO:You did a good job on the tour with the speaking.

DP:Thank you.Well, I guess we’ll leave it there for now.