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Payne Farm west of
route 9-W |
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In the gilded age, no manor house was complete without a working farm. Colonel Payne located his working farm west of route 9-W. There was a large chicken farm next to the farm superintendent's house. Further north there was a dairy barn and a horse barn. Beyond that, near the Ascension Cemetery was a shed, of which all that remains is the stone outline. Eight decades of overgrowth of trees makes is difficult to see what was used as pasture and grazing land for the cattle and horses. |
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 Photo by Alex Zabik circa 1980 |
<<=== The Payne farm area west of route 9W. The superintendent's house and chicken farm is at left. The large stone building at right was a horse barn. The dairy house (with attached silo) was converted to a restaurant by Philip Hellriegel in the early 1970s A wood frame house built during the Wiltwyck era is not visible in this early picture. |
Photo courtesy of
André Dionne
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<<=== Farm superintendent's house and chicken houses in a photo circa 1916.. One coop was attached to the house. A second was separate, and a third (at right angles to the first two coops) was a brooder for young chicks.
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When Alex Zabik purchased the site from Wiltwyck School,, the house became his residence. He broke into the coop area and created a living room and visitors bedroom. His company Medrex Ltd occupied the back half of the renovated chicken coop. ===>>
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Photo by Alex Zabik circa 1980 |
The exterior of the farm superintendent's home remains the same today as in 1916, with the exception of a lush growth of ivy. André Dionne and his wife Kathy are retouching the interior, careful to preserve the essentials of the original. ===>>
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 Photo 21 Sept 2002 |
<<=== Around 1936, Wiltwyck School for Boys constructed a frame house in line with the farm superintendent's home, that served as a dormitory. Like the home, the frame house is attached to the second chicken coop. This addition prevents the pedestrian from visualizing the original home and coops. |
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<<===The chicken house as viewed from the chicken yard. Chickens entered via small windows accessed by wooden ramps from the outdoor yard. These were blocked; they are visible on the lower part of the house. The Zabiks built a partition near the pictured entrance to separate their home from the Medrex operation.
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The stairway at the far end of the chicken house became the employee entrance for Medrix Ltd. Employee parking used space developed by Wiltwyck southeast of the site. ===>> |
 Photo by Alex Zabik |
The extension of the living area of the original house into the coop includes a large living room with a balcony and a guest bedroom. This extends to the skylights visible in the center of the picture. Medrex used the back of the building. Later André Dionne converted this space into an apartment, and the white extension to provide a balcony. ===>> |
 Photo 21 Sept 2002
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<<=== This is the back of the Wiltwyck frame house attached to the original second chicken coop, both of which are now used as artists studios.
Photo 21 Sept 2002
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<<=== A brooder house was located next to the two chicken houses. Currently it is used for storage. Photo 21 Sept 2002
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View of the entrance to the farm area west of 9-W as it looked around 1915 ===>>.
photo courtesy Charles Houghton |
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This photo was taken when the farm was operational. White house at left was the caretaker's cottage. The creamery or dairy barn is seen behind the caretaker's cottage. The horse barn stands to the right of the picture. I have been told that Colonel Payne wanted to have horse shows on the property, as he loved horses. I can find no record of a horse show being held there. ===>> |
 photo Charles
Houghton |
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<<=== The
caretaker's cottage must have been an afterthought to the original
construction. It served as the farmer's home.
photo by Victor VanCarpels |
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<<=== The
elegant ornament in front of the dairy barn contains the letters
I, C and B intertwined.
photo by Victor VanCarpels |
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The dairy barn contained a silo, whose circular windows were later blocked in with matching stone, perhaps in the 1970s. ====>>
photo by Victor VanCarpels |
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Around 1973, Philip Heilriegel opened a restaurant called "The Creamery" in the dairy barn. The operation was unsuccessful after a few years. ===>> photo
by Victor VanCarpels |
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Colonel Payne loved horses. It is thought that he intended
to run horse fairs and meets on the property, but no record
exists of any such fair.
photo by Victor VanCarpels |
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<<=== The horse barn seems to have built in stages, with construction to the right of the clock tower slightly different from that at the left. Heilriegal hoped to open a series of shops in the building and named the complex "Wildwycke Village" |
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This photo shows the relationship between the horse barn and the dairy barn. The ramp in between gave carriage access to the upper floor. Another large door to that floor existed on the west facade. ===>> photo by Victor
VanCarpels
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This diagram shows the footprint of the horse barn and the dairy barn. ===>> photo courtesy Charles Houghton, digitized 2004 by James D Luciana, Marist College |
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Between the barns and the Ascension Cemetery stand the ruins of a
lean-to. The side walls indicate saltbox construction, but no
wood pillars or roofing remains on the site.
photo by Victor
VanCarpels |
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<<=== The
enclosure in front of the shed is covered with saplings. The
enclosure may have been simply a shed to store wood or hay, but more
likely provided a holding or pasture field for the cows or horses.
photo by Victor VanCarpels |
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Charles Houghton, of Highland NY considered using the dairy and horse barn for his Electric Boat Company. However, he relocated the company to a riverside site further north. Here he stands before the wooden house which may have be used by the dairyman's family ===>> photo courtesy Charles Houghton, digitized 2004 by James D Luciana, Marist College
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Here Mr. Houghton stands in front of one of the entrances to the barns. Note the excellent workmanship in the stonework. The wooden doors may have been added by the Wiltwyck school when it was converted to recreational use. ===>> photo courtesy Charles Houghton, digitized 2004 by James D Luciana, Marist College |
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| most recent revision 26 November 2003 | |||
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