TIMES
WALLKILL VALLEY
Vol. 34, No 36 3 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
mansion ruins.
“We’ve got lots of town parks,” said
Member Joan Buck Smith who once
served on the town board. “Money has
gone into fishing, boating, ballgames.”
Colden received a land patent from
his father, Cadwaller Colden Sr. in 1744,
the year he married Elizabeth Ellison
of New Windsor. The elder Colden was
acting governor of New York from 1760
to 1775. The stone structure, remnants of
which still exist, dates back to 1767. The
property remained in the Colden family
ONE DOLLAR
Annual celebration
is Saturday
Pages 5, 10-12
www.WallkillValleyTimes.net
Preservation group wants funds for park
Next year will mark the 250th
anniversary of Montgomery’s Colden
Mansion. The landmark home of
Cadwaller Colden Jr. and his descendants
lies is ruin at the corner of Route
17K and Stone Castle Road, but local
preservationists have long dreamed of
creating a park at the site.
Members of the Coldengham Historical
Preservation Society appeared before the
Montgomery Town Board last week to
ask for funding to develop an interpretive
center and heritage park at the site of the
3
until 1861 and it fell into neglect some
years later. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art acquired woodwork from the property
in 1940 and has preserved a room from the
mansion.
The ruins and surrounding land is now
the property of the Town of Montgomery.
That means that only the town – and not
the preservation society – can apply for
grants to develop the parkland.
Smith asked the town to help develop
Continued on page 3
Tractors on parade
Young spectators along Railroad Avenue greeted participants in Saturday’s annual Village of Montgomery Tractor Parade. More photos on
pages 22-23.
Walden
seeks more
recreation
money from
the town
When the Town of Montgomery
increased its annual contribution to the
Village of Montgomery’s recreation fund
this past June, it ruffled some feathers in
a neighboring village.
The town board voted in June to
increase its contribution by $3,000 to
the Village of Montgomery Summer
Recreation Program, from $18,000 to
$21,000. That prompted Walden officials
to return a $14,900 check that offered no
increase from the previous year.
“It has come to our attention that
the Village of Montgomery is receiving
$21,000 from the Town due to the increase
in their summer camp attendance,” wrote
Walden Village Manager John Revella in
a letter dated July 12, to Town Clerk Tara
Stickles. “While the Recreation contract
is for the entire department and not
specifically the summer camp, we would
like to bring to your attention that the
Village of Walden’s Summer camp serves
significantly more youth as proven in our
documentation submitted to the two at
the request of Supervisor (Mike) Hayes
twice last year. Additionally, we wanted
to be certain that the town is aware that
the Village of Walden also provides year
round programming while the Village of
Montgomery does not. We would formally
Continued on page 4
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL