Pole is being removed and wire put underground

Developments

Most importantly, there is Education. This is listed first on our wish list. It is where a great deal of our money and time is happily and eagerly spent. Through our educational programs and our school group visits is where we want our growth to come. One school district cancelled the visit of fourth graders to the house with the reasoning that the New York school’s fourth grade testing necessitated more time in the classroom. The good news is that we now enjoy their third grade students and look forward to some of the seventh graders from that district coming.

The Water Wheel is Turning

The Foundation took a giant step forward in investing to rebuild the Dard Hunter Dam. Using the funding from New York State, charitable foundations and personal donations from our many friends, the dam was rebuilt and dedicated in September 1997. Gomez Mill House completed the Museum Assessment III evaluation the next year. This program called for a survey to be mailed to our visitors and friends. Many people when asked — “What Makes Gomez Mill House Unique?”— answered that it was the Mill and Dam. The respondents said that there were many old houses, but few that taught how to make paper. The capstone, the finishing touch for the Mill, is the replacement of the Water Wheel, the power behind the machinery in the Mill. The cost of putting the wheel in place will be a little over $115,000. The piers for the wheel are in place now, the wheel is ready to be installed and the dedication is set for May 7th. Exciting project and done with your donations.

The Video: Gomez Mill House and the Spirit of the Hudson River Valley — presents the story of five key occupants of Gomez Mill House from 1714 to the Present. The stories are told of Gomez who came to the new world to escape injustice, to Acker who fought for freedom, and then Armstrong who left the bloody Civil War behind to settle and farm with his new wife here. Dard Hunter’s story is told and the story of the preservationist, Mildred Starin who kept the Gomez Mill House from destruction and the land from becoming a development. Help is needed to pay for this fine story and to place it throughout the community. Order through the Museum Shop. The story of Gomez Mill House is important.

In addition to the new video, a booklet has being introduced to tell the story of the House and Occupants with the written word. Our visitors have asked for something to take home that tells the story of the house. Something they can pass on to their friends. The booklet has been written and is available at the house or through the Museum Shop.

The Historic Structures Report is a real serious, real professional document that collects all the information known about the house and its owners. It contains everything about the details of the house. Included are the when, where and how of the house — for example, how, when and by whom was it built and includes details such as the kind and color of paint in the hall closet! It is the guide to end all guides. With it we can accurately and faithfully restore the house and buildings in a totally proper manner. Commissioning this report does not come inexpensively. Receiving and reviewing it is the fun part. Then comes the expense of carrying out the recommendations.

The Mill still has to be interpreted. Displays and exhibits on papermaking and Dard Hunter are needed to better tell the story. There is also the Root Cellar and the Ice House (pictured at right) where we want to tell the stories of Acker and Armstrong.

Three of our buildings — the Main House, the Ice House and the Root Cellar — were built into the side of the hill and once all had sod roofs. The Ice House already has had a sod roof added to it and a surrounding railing. Visitors driving down Mill House Road can stop off the road and walk on to the roof to look at the pond and Hunter's Mill. A real picture moment for all seasons.

Additionally, the front of the Ice House is used as the Sukkah. (Grapes were planted in the Fall to cover the open trellis roof.) On the inside left wall will be plaques with the names of our donors. In the rear, the story of the Acker family will be told. The right wall will show what an icehouse looked like. Next is a marvelous and challenging building — the Root Cellar. Root vegetables were put in the cellar of this slightly rectangle building. Upon opening the door, there is a ladder that precariously takes one to the cellar floor some ten feet below. Our archaeologist “dug” the site in 1998 to prepare it for the next step. What a marvelous building with so many possibilities to interpret the family of artists and writers, the Armstrong family and farm life in the middle of the 1800s. Both these buildings are projects for 2000. It takes money to do the research and the restoration. Come visit and become a part of history.