It was mid-June 1967.
We packed up my 1960 Chevy with all my
belongings, a group of books from my family inheritance, and some kitchen
utensils. We took turns driving the
family car and my car. My grandmother, Nan Nan, and my dog Cleo sat in the
backseat of Mother and Daddy’s car and we headed to New York to begin life
after my
second “graduation”. We drove the 800 miles without spending the
night. It took nearly 16 hours since this was long before Interstate 81 had been
created.
My dog Cleo had to be held on a lap the whole way as she had
a medical collar around her neck to keep her from scratching some recent
stitches in her ear. My car was too full
for passengers. Whoever was in the family car counted cows and cars, and sang
songs, and listened to the radio shows, and still it seemed to take forever.
When we rolled into Kingston, NY we found the Elves’ Motel
right on route 9W, checked in and fell quickly asleep without really trying to
figure out where we were. The next
morning we discovered that on the road behind the bushes behind the motel was a
very large manufacturing plant. As soon as we had breakfast we drove over to
investigate.\
There it was. One
story, cream colored concrete walls, multiple, windowed buildings covering a
great area, huge parking lots (not yet full of cars), and a two story building
facing the street with a circular drive and an American flag on the pole in the
front. Across the two lane street a
similar two story office building faced the road. The signs on the entrances to the parking
lots said, “
Employees Only” IBM
Corporation. I was so excited, and so nervous.
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| IBM KINGSTON IN THE 1960s and 1970s |
I was supposed to report on Monday morning, June 26, at 8 am
ready to work. I had been to the front IBM building several months before (during Easter break) to interview for a
job. I was looking for summer work, as I
had already begun graduate school, and had a scholarship at the University of
Tennessee to finish my masters. IBM
informed me they would not offer summer employment except to children of
employees, but they would offer me full time beginning in June, and pay for me
to go to Syracuse University and complete my masters, giving me time off as
needed. It did not take me long to
figure out this was a good deal!
And now I am here, ready to wish my family and my dog
goodbye to see if I could make it in the “real world”. It was a little scary but I had no time to
think about it…we had to find me somewhere to live!
I don’t remember the process of apartment hunting much,
except they all looked pretty dingy that I could afford. At last in the hamlet of Lake Katrine at the
north edge of Kingston we found an almost new mobile home, two bedrooms, on the
back of the property of a family who lived there. It was clean, complete, and affordable. Daddy loaned me the money for the security
to have a phone installed (I paid him back with my first paycheck.) In much too
short a time I found myself waving goodbye as they drove away.
It is now nearly 50 years later, and my husband of 44 years and I are back in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York to see how things have
changed.
Until we moved away from the area in 1979 to spend two
years living in London, England we had a lot of adventures in and around
Kingston. Before I was married I lived
in the trailer in Lake Katrine, a rental house on Washington and Linderman
Avenues in Kingston, and a garage apartment in Saugerties. Once married we had a small house in old
Hurley, outside Kingston, and then bought a large home in Holly Hills in
Woodstock. I worked during all that
time in Kingston. Chick worked first in Poughkeepsie and Wappinger’s Falls,
about 20 miles south of Kingston and then in the Kingston Plant as well.
There are so many things we wanted to revisit:
KINGSTON
- The IBM Plant, long since abandoned by IBM not
long after the programming center was moved to Research Triangle Park.
The pictures from the IBM plant today are on the damaged drive. The net is that all but a couple of buildings have been demolished; only the programming building (lower left circled building in picture below) has been rented recently and it is vacant now. All the buildings except those circled in yellow have been demolisthed.
- My apartment in uptown Kingston, where Dr. Mauceri, the
landlord used to keep rearranging the furniture while my roommate and I were at
work, and rehanging the crucifix each time we took it down (or was it the
painting of the Last Supper…I forget)
This two story old home with the bay windows on first and second floor still stands on the corner of Washington and Linderman. The trees are huge and hedges now block most of the view of the house. The side yard is full of discarded children's toys and the front porch loaded with junk. Only the garage at the back of the house looks the same ---too small to put your car in and still open the door to get out.
I will add back the pictures if/when they are recovered from the disc.
SAUGERTIES
- The garage apartment on Old Stage Road in Saugerties where my roommate Arlene and I had several really great parties. One in particular enabled me to get rid of my then boyfriend, Fred Haldeman, and by chance be ready to meet Chick! Building is empty now.
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| TWO BEDROOMS, UPSTAIRS AND 20 MINUTES FROM WORK ---VERY RURAL ROAD |
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| THE APARTMENTS ACROSS THE STREET WHERE I FIRST MET CHICK-- |
- Our mutual friends, Dale and Peggy Moffett lived in second apartment from left. We had lots of parties and beer-softball games in the yard in front of these apartments.
- Cantine Field In the town of Saugerties on the Fourth of July we would watch a huge fireworks display and on Memorial Day groups of IBMers would have family softball games at Cantine Field-- with kegs of beer, (and freeze to death because it isn’t WARM yet here.) The field is still there but we were unable to get to it.
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ESOPUS FALLS BEHIND WHERE THE OLD CANTINE MILL STOOD.
- Esopus Creek where, with friends Irene Frankenberg and Dick Lennon, I went ice skating on the Esopus Creek behind the mill…I had no idea you could ice skate OUTSIDE. This is the lake behind the dam I skated on. I am standing where the mill used to be.
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| VIEW OF OLD CANTINE PAPER MILL FROM SAUGERTIES BRIDGE. |
The old mill was bought by Tom Struzzieri and turned into a luxury hotel and tavern, bringing life back to the dying Saugerties area. We had a wonderful lunch there and enjoyed not only the view, but the
gelato to die for. (The picture of the new Diamond Mill Hotel and Tavern is on my dead disc.)
The only other activity we had in Saugerties was to get our haircuts. Joseph was the first hairdresser I ever met who could cut curly hair. Chick even sneaked in the back door and had his hair cut there, too. We discovered the shop on Main street is still operational, though it was closed the day we were there.
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| JOSEPH's HAIRDRESSER SAUGERTIES |
WOODSTOCK
- The town of Woodstock, where Chick and I and the
friends who introduced us went to hang out in bars after dinner the night I met
Chick the first time. Where I tasted my
first pumpernickel bread, baklava, and drank sangria on the porch of the Woodstock Pub and
watched the crazy people from New York City get off the bus to enjoy Woodstock
(it WAS the 60’s remember!) When they
arrived we went home.
The Woodstock Pub has been bought, renamed the Landau and ruined by closing in the front open porch...every Woodstock local agrees it is ruined..only tourists go there now. Still we had a look...no sangria on the menu anymore.
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TYPICAL LOAFERS IN THE WOODSTOCK TOWN SQUARE
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| ON TINKER STREET |
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| THE CANDLESTOCK |
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| THE GILDED CARRIAGE. STILL OWNED BY THE SAME FAMILY BUT INSTEAD OF LOOKING ARTSY/FOLKSY IT LOOKS LIKE SOUTHERN SEASON's INSIDE |
- Woodstock Playhouse, Deanie’s Restaurant (Lee Marvin’s hangout at the time), Byrdcliffe Art Colony , Joshua’s Restaurant, the Candlestock, Art Museum/shop for the Woodstock Artists, the Woodstock Laundromat, and The Gilded Carriage, an eclectic store in Woodstock where Chick bought me the spice jars I still have today. (Red photos lost on disc)
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| THE PLAYHOUSE WHERE MANY FUTURE BROADWAY STARS GOT THEIR START |
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| THE LAUNDRY USED TO BE A SORT OF COMMUNITY CENTER " BACK IN THE DAY". THIS TRIP WE HAD THEM DO OUR LAUNDRY FOR US AND WE PICKED IT UP TWO DAYS LATER |
- The Catholic Church in Woodstock where we were married and The DePuy Canal House Tavern in High Falls, owned by chef John Novi, where we had our Wedding Reception Dinner ( individual filet wellington with three wines…Lacrima Cristi (appetizer), St. Emilion (entrée), and Asti Spamanti (dessert…our wedding cake)
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| IN FRONT OF CATHOLIC CHAPEL IN WOODSTOCK |
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| THE SIMPLE SHAKE SHINGLE CHAPEL OF 1972 IS NOW A SIDED COMMUNITY CENTER. |
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| THE BEAUTIFUL DePUY CANAL HOUSE TAVERN IS BEING TURNED INTO A MUSEUM |
- My first house: I bought it in old Hurley,with the help of my parents and my boyfriend (Chick) before I was married, This is the first Palermo home! 10 Circle Drive...about 10 minutes from work and in an Historic old stone house Dutch town from the 1700s. Of course, we were in a normal, middle class subdivision.
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| JUST BEFORE THE WEDDING, IN MY FRONT YARD |
- When we went to visit the Hurley house, the current owners came outside to see who was taking pictures. When we told them we had owned the house years ago, they asked if we had been in England! Linda and Jim Godwin bought the house from us in 1980 while we were living in London. They invited in, gave us the history of the house and the neighborhood, and we had a great visit for 45 minutes. I still love that house. Especially the kitchen. (I had painted the garage door, front door and kitchen cabinet doors ORANGE and WHITE (for UT obviously) and she said the color almost made them not buy the house. Then they said, "Oh,well. It's just paint!" This would be a perfect house for a retired couple.
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| Linda and Jim Godwin |
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| 10 CIRCLE DRIVE HURLEY NY 2016 |
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| APPLIANCES REARRANGED BUT STILL THE SAME SIZE ! |
- Hurley Corn Flats:While living in Hurley, we worked hard and played hard. Most of our greatest "play" memories are from this time. We lived just across the road from the "Hurley Corn Flats". The Gill Farm was 1300 acres of the most tasty corn we have EVER had. We were so happy to be coming to the mid-Hudson area at this time of year because corn is at its peak right now! (The first two years we were in North Carolina we missed the corn season, because we never thought about it until September and that was too late!) One of our MUST DO activities was to seek out the Hurley corn flats and treat ourselves to a supper of nothing but corn, as we used to do.
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- The farm has recently been turned over to a cooperative and Cornell University to teach serious farmers the best way to manage a medium size farm. Thankfully the corn is still being raised on much of it, and it is as great as we remember. Here are pictures of our heavenly dinner:
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ON THE COB
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| ON THE COLEMAN STOVE |
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| ON THE TABLE |
- Hurley Mountain Inn : Our old friend the Esopus Creek (ice skating in Saugerties) ran very near our house in Hurley. It was just behind the Hurley Mountain Inn, also across the road from our subdivision. The Hurley Mountain Inn was our traditional Friday night destination. The Italian Mama there made homemade tomato sauce better than you have ever tasted in your life. On Friday nights after work, Chick and I would head for the Hurley Mountain Inn and order a pizza just to get the unbelievable tomato sauce. While we waited we played good old fashioned Pinball, game after game! Beer and pizza...the dinner fit for the gods! At least with mama's tomato sauce.
- Fording Place: Just down the road from the Hurley Mountain Inn was the favorite spot on hot summer days---Fording Place Road! The little road took off west from US 209 behind a little store. At the Esopus creek the road just crossed it...no bridge. In summer families would bring their lawn chairs and line them up along the road IN the water, shoes off, watching their kids splash and play. For the bigger kids (or fishermen during the week) just off to the left was a big pool. A rope hung from a tall tree and that was the ONLY way for a kid to get into the water. Chick just had to see if we could still ford the creek. When we got there the creek was a bit wider, but a hiker said she had seen lots of pickup trucks make the trip, so off we went. What a beautiful creek! What a fun memory!.
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| LOOKING ACROSS FORDING PLACE |
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| LOOKING DOWN ESOPUS CREEK FROM HALF WAY ACROSS |
- Hurley Mountain Road: The road continued on the other side of the creek and after several miles came to another favorite weekend activity for us. We had a muzzle loader long rifle, ball and cap, 45 caliber (that means BIG round balls for shot) and later a 22 target rifle. At one point on the road a notch in the side of a big hill, with a stone wall at the back was the place folks went to target shoot. You would set your target up 100-125 back from the road, in the deep notch, with the stone wall to the back (no one could accidentally wander into your range), and either stand or lean on the big stones out by the road, and 'go for it'. One time we took my mother (5'2", 110 lbs) to give it a shot. We put up some soda cans as targets, leaned her over a big rock for stability, loaded the muzzle loader, and told her shoot! She did, and the recoil set the little lady right on her butt on the ground. She probably missed her target but we were too busy laughing to care. Such wonderful memories of such simple times. It is nice to see it is still there.
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| STONES AT ENTRY TO THE SHOOTING NOTCH |
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| SET UP TARGETS DEEP IN THE NOTCH |
- Holly Hills, Woodstock/West Hurley : We lived in old Hurley from 1971 (2) to 1979 when we bought a bigger home in West Hurley, where our house was located right across the street from the Catholic Church (St. John the Evangelist) in whose chapel in Woodstock we were married. When we went by to see our home, 13 Holly Hills Drive, the son and soon-to-be- daughter-in-law were moving to Colorado. We chatted with them awhile with them and told us the history of this house. We didn't realize at the time what a really nice neighborhood we had moved to, and today it is very well kept and beautiful.
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13 HOLLY HILLS DRIVE ---3500 SQ FT and in 2016 STILL NO AIR CONDITIONING!
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We spent 2 years in London and when we returned, IBM was in the process of moving the Programming Center to RTP. We had sold the Hurley house while we were gone, and after a couple of "look-see" trips to North Carolina, we bought a house in North Raleigh, and turned this back to IBM to sell. It was a great place to live and work and today, While much of it has changed, it was neat to see how it has turned out.
I will have to put the
"meandering" activities in a separate BLOG or I will never get this done. It is about 9pm and the temperature is now 61 degrees. After several days of HOT, HUMID weather, it seems autumn may at last be upon us. Sorry we will miss the colors...
