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Trippy
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Haunted
Fite Club
Although the main focus of Opus 40 is Harvey Fite's magnificently constructed bluestone environment, there are other curiosities for a visitor to explore.
In the early 70's, after he had retired as a professor at Bard College, Fite took time out from Opus 40 to build a museum to house his collection of quarryman's tools and artifacts.
The museum is a fascinating tour through the history of the area and the skills of its workingmen: quarrying equipment is represented, and so are the tools, most of them hand-forged, that the quarryman used every day for farming, blacksmithing, carpentry and the like.
It's a lot to take in at once!
And no matter where you are, this Hessian guard follows you with his eyes.
The space is filled to the brim - no surface is left bare, including the walls where tools are arrayed in pleasing patterns.
From windowsills...
...to rafters - fascinating objects abound.
Apparently Harvey Fite was a man who liked to keep all his ducks in a row.
The pot-bellied stove in the corner looks well-worn and well-loved...
...as do the rest of the tools and equipment on display.
Anyone know what this is?
Besides being an extraordinary quarryman, Harvey Fite was also a fine artist, and as such his sculptures have a home in the museum alongside his tools. This combination of the utilitarian with the purely aesthetic is what makes for such a unique space. This hand of Thomas Jefferson was carved from a catalpa tree which bloomed, according to Fite, for the first time on July 4, 1776.
What was once a log has been transformed into this serious fellow.
Be sure to bid David Crosby 49 bye-byes on the way out...
...and shut the door using this fetching handle.
Don't forget to turn off the light.
A visit to Opus 40 and the accompanying Quarryman's Museum make for a perfect outing. What a truly wonderful place to spend the day.
In the early 70's, after he had retired as a professor at Bard College, Fite took time out from Opus 40 to build a museum to house his collection of quarryman's tools and artifacts.
The museum is a fascinating tour through the history of the area and the skills of its workingmen: quarrying equipment is represented, and so are the tools, most of them hand-forged, that the quarryman used every day for farming, blacksmithing, carpentry and the like.
It's a lot to take in at once!
And no matter where you are, this Hessian guard follows you with his eyes.
The space is filled to the brim - no surface is left bare, including the walls where tools are arrayed in pleasing patterns.
From windowsills...
...to rafters - fascinating objects abound.
Apparently Harvey Fite was a man who liked to keep all his ducks in a row.
The pot-bellied stove in the corner looks well-worn and well-loved...
...as do the rest of the tools and equipment on display.
Anyone know what this is?
Besides being an extraordinary quarryman, Harvey Fite was also a fine artist, and as such his sculptures have a home in the museum alongside his tools. This combination of the utilitarian with the purely aesthetic is what makes for such a unique space. This hand of Thomas Jefferson was carved from a catalpa tree which bloomed, according to Fite, for the first time on July 4, 1776.
What was once a log has been transformed into this serious fellow.
Be sure to bid David Crosby 49 bye-byes on the way out...
...and shut the door using this fetching handle.
Don't forget to turn off the light.
A visit to Opus 40 and the accompanying Quarryman's Museum make for a perfect outing. What a truly wonderful place to spend the day.
Rock Star
Up in Saugerties there is a magical place where a sculptor named Harvey Fite took this...
...and transformed it into this!
Behold Opus 40! Covering six acres, this labor of love (and sweat) is comprised of hundreds of thousands of tons of finely fitted bluestone, constructed by hand over a period of 37 years.*
This grand space is a total artistic environment. You can walk through, around, and over it. I found the deep recesses of its lower pathways to be really cool...literally...which brought much relief on the sweltering day I visited.
Fite worked alone, using traditional quarryman's tools - hammers, chisels, drills, crowbars, and a huge boom equipped with a hand-powered winch. It's amazing that one man created this.
The central monolith weighs nine tons!
Fite built his house on the property. When it still had no electricity or plumbing, he used this circular pool as a refrigerator. A mesh bag with milk, butter and eggs could be lowered into its icy water and pulled up as needed. Today, the algae makes it look like a big bowl of refreshing gazpacho soup...yum!
There are several natural quarry pools fed by springs...
...where one can picnic among the stone sculptures, all hand-carved by Fite.
Opus 40 is a tranquil treasure of the Catskills, where one can walk, climb, sit and dip one's toes into the cooling pools...
...and reflect on one man's vision to take earth's Paleozoic bounty and transform it into a magnum opus.
*40 refers to the number of years Harvey Fite expected he would need to complete the work. Fite died in 1976, in the 37th year of his creation.
...and transformed it into this!
Behold Opus 40! Covering six acres, this labor of love (and sweat) is comprised of hundreds of thousands of tons of finely fitted bluestone, constructed by hand over a period of 37 years.*
This grand space is a total artistic environment. You can walk through, around, and over it. I found the deep recesses of its lower pathways to be really cool...literally...which brought much relief on the sweltering day I visited.
Fite worked alone, using traditional quarryman's tools - hammers, chisels, drills, crowbars, and a huge boom equipped with a hand-powered winch. It's amazing that one man created this.
The central monolith weighs nine tons!
Fite built his house on the property. When it still had no electricity or plumbing, he used this circular pool as a refrigerator. A mesh bag with milk, butter and eggs could be lowered into its icy water and pulled up as needed. Today, the algae makes it look like a big bowl of refreshing gazpacho soup...yum!
There are several natural quarry pools fed by springs...
...where one can picnic among the stone sculptures, all hand-carved by Fite.
Opus 40 is a tranquil treasure of the Catskills, where one can walk, climb, sit and dip one's toes into the cooling pools...
...and reflect on one man's vision to take earth's Paleozoic bounty and transform it into a magnum opus.
*40 refers to the number of years Harvey Fite expected he would need to complete the work. Fite died in 1976, in the 37th year of his creation.
Pull up a chair...
I'm glad this sign was recently put up...
...because I always wondered what these ruins were doing in someone's yard. They're the ghost buildings of what was once a thriving furniture factory.
The company-owned hamlet of Chichester was founded by the brothers Frank and Lemuel Chichester. With an abundance of hardwoods and the water power of crisscrossing streams, this area of the Catskills was the perfect spot to situate their factory. They specialized in chair and cradle making. Old timers would have you believe that every chair on the east coast came out of Chichester.
picture from the Empire State Railway Museum
The factory was later purchased by William Schwarzwaelder, maker of fine office furniture. Workers enjoyed recreational buildings, a general store, post office, school and church - all company-built, owned and maintained.
Decades later, the great depression devastated the business and it went kaput in 1939. The rest of the hamlet no longer had an owner, and would be doomed if it didn't find another. The village, at the time comprising of 44 houses and buildings, was put up for auction on October 28th, 1939. The hamlet was purchased at the auction and has been in the hands of private owners ever since.
Hopefully, these remnants of the past will stay standing for another 150 years.
...because I always wondered what these ruins were doing in someone's yard. They're the ghost buildings of what was once a thriving furniture factory.
The company-owned hamlet of Chichester was founded by the brothers Frank and Lemuel Chichester. With an abundance of hardwoods and the water power of crisscrossing streams, this area of the Catskills was the perfect spot to situate their factory. They specialized in chair and cradle making. Old timers would have you believe that every chair on the east coast came out of Chichester.
picture from the Empire State Railway Museum
The factory was later purchased by William Schwarzwaelder, maker of fine office furniture. Workers enjoyed recreational buildings, a general store, post office, school and church - all company-built, owned and maintained.
Decades later, the great depression devastated the business and it went kaput in 1939. The rest of the hamlet no longer had an owner, and would be doomed if it didn't find another. The village, at the time comprising of 44 houses and buildings, was put up for auction on October 28th, 1939. The hamlet was purchased at the auction and has been in the hands of private owners ever since.
Hopefully, these remnants of the past will stay standing for another 150 years.
Color me impressed!
I daresay you'll find a vacancy at the Reservoir Motel, what with that fancy cable television broadcast in living color. They're probably booked all summer, while us chumps have to watch the new summer lineup in black and white down at the Days Inn.
And that isn't the only amenity being offered to their lucky visitors. See it in the distance?
It's a sort of glass enclosed little booth with the word Phone stamped on it. Hmmm..I'm guessing one could use a cell phone within its confines without disturbing other guests.
How clever!
And that isn't the only amenity being offered to their lucky visitors. See it in the distance?
It's a sort of glass enclosed little booth with the word Phone stamped on it. Hmmm..I'm guessing one could use a cell phone within its confines without disturbing other guests.
How clever!
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