photo circa 1915 |
<<=== The gatehouse at the main entrance to the property was designed by Thomas Hastings, but the iron grill at the main gate is the work of Julian Burroughs. The grill was removed in the 1940s. | 
photo 10 Sept 2002 |
<<=== The grill had a gate for autos and another for pedestrians. The auto gate was too narrow for later day autos, and after an accident in 1944, the entire gate was removed. |
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The home of the chief gardener adjacent to a large greenhouse. The first floor was a workroom. This building has been renamed in honor of Brother John Berchmans ===>> photo 10 Sept 2002 |
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This building now houses a Novitiate for training of candidates for the Marist Brothers. ===>> photo taken circa 1995 |
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<<=== This was a formal garden directly opposite the greenhouses, but within easy walking distance from the main house.. Most of the soil for this garden was reputedly imported from New Jersey, either by rail or by boat, by Neidlinger and/or Payne photo September
2001 |
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<<=== Greenhouse east building. Grass in foreground is the area occupied by Payne's greenhouse, which consisted of four regular size greenhouses with a tall domed house in the center. photo September
2001 |
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Icehouse near pond west of English Village was designed and built by Julian Burroughs ===>> photo 30 august
2001
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Another view of icehouse and pond. In dry periods the pond is replenished by the pump along the Hudson River. ===>> photo 30
august 2001
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<<=== The Pratt house from a picture taken from Elizabeth Burroughs-Kelly essay in "Town of Esopus story" published 1978. Early called it the superintendent's house, the Brothers renamed the house Holy Rosary |
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The Pratt house from a picture taken 30 August 2001. Richard Foy, website editor and daughter Bridget in foreground. Bridget was a Marist Lay Volunteer 1998-1999. photo by Victor E. VanCarpels
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Pratt house in winter. Note porte couchere has been boxed in. Addition at right was put on about 1935 by Episcopal Church when house was used as a dining hall and kitchen. ===>> photo circa 1995
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The Brothers gradually cleared the fields just east of Holy Rosary. In 1943 there were two baseball fields. The slope to the house was clear of trees, and the house, 257' away was a home run. Gradually many more fields were cleared, probably on land cultivated by the Beavers and later by Pratt. ===>> |
photo 21 Sep 2002 |
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<<=== Sometime between 2001 and 2007 the box around the porte cochere was removed, restoring the Pratt house to more like its original condition. photo June 2008 |
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<<=== Portrait of George Watson Pratt as a young
man received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ??? |
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Composite of George Pratt photo against a background of the 20th New York State Militia. George was named a Colonel and led the regiment to Washington DC in 1862 ===>>
received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ??? |
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From the captions below the photograph, we can presume this photo was taken in Washington by either Matthew Brady or at least in the Matthew Brady studio. ===>> received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ???
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<<=== George Watson Pratt in either his Civil War uniform or his New York State militia uniform (which may have been the same uniform). received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ???
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<<=== In 1855, George married Anna Tibbets of
Albany. After his death in 1862, Anna remained on the Esopus
property until after the turn of the century. received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ???
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Tombstone of George Seymour Pratt, the only son of George and Anna Pratt. He died in 1867. ===>> received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ???
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Tombstone of George Watson Pratt located in a cemetery in Albany, New York. ===>> received 2008 by Brothers Don Nugent and Joseph Matthew from ???
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Andrew Mason was first superintendent of the Payne Estate, and lived
in the Pratt house. See enlargement for details.
photo courtesy Tom Sparrow |
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<<=== Andrew and Annie Smith Mason, their
daughter Hilda Edith Mason Harper (1893 - 1943) and grandson James
Harper (1926 - 1987) are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx NY
photo by Richard Foy |
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Headstones for Andrew and Annie Mason at the foot of the Celtic Cross in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, NY ===>> photo
by Richard Foy |
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Headstone for Hilda Mason, the youngest daughter of the Masons, buried in the same plot as her parents in Woodlawn Cemetery ===>>
photo by Richard Foy |
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photo 21 Sept 2002 |
<<=== The basketball courts were built on the site of six wooden handball courts constructed by Brother Francis Xavier and student Brothers in summer 1944. They are a sign of changing times, as interest in handball waned. | 
photo 21 Sept 2002 |
<<=== The swimming pool was built on a field used in 1942-1948 as a potato field. Before that the students swam in the Hudson River, but this was deemed too dangerous for young swimmers |
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This lonely, rusty, abandoned hayrake is a reminder of the days of hardscrabble farming on the premises in the 18th and 19th centuries. ===>> photo 21 Sept 2002 |
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A child's jungle gym is symbolic of the changing mission of the Brothers on the Esopus property. ===>> photo 21 Sept 2002 |
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<<=== The photos at right and left are of ruins of a house which probably belonged to the Beavers, who occupied the northern half of the property before the Pratts. They may have been 'squatters' until the land was definitively taken over by the Pells. Brother Stephen Kappes remembers that fifteen years ago he could see the outlines of at least two rooms, with walls projecting at right angles. Time has filled in the spaces. The site had a magnificent view of the Hudson River. ===>> photos by Brother
Stephen Kappes |
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This photo taken shortly after 1910 shows the buildings which sandwich the greenhouse as well as the glass cylinders and the central glass dome of the original greenhouse. ===>> Original photo located in l'Hermitage building shown at right. Digital copy by Rich Foy 16 April 2004. |
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The woods at lower right seem to indicate a mystery house. Photo was taken after mansion was constructed and with yacht Aphrodite moored in the Hudson ===>> Improved photo received from Payne Fund, Cleveland, Ohio 10 April 2004.
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