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| No one can say this man's name without smiling. Just try it. I dare you. |
Still, despite the glorious way B.C.'s name just rolls off of the tongue, I cannot help but feel that the title of Man With the Greatest Name of All Time must go to Cadwallader Colden. As my friends from the Binghamton University Social Studies MAT program all surely remember, Colden was the man who had the misfortune of serving as the acting colonial governor of New York during the period that The Sons of Liberty (and various other colonial groups) were protesting the passage of The Stamp Act of 1765.
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| Gently protesting. Burning in effigy is a form of flattery right??? |
Colden also served as the first colonial representative to the Iroquois Conference. His encounters with the Iroquois inspired him to write The History of the Five Indian Nations which was the first text written on this particular subject by an Englishman.
With that in mind, perhaps it is not necessary for me to explain why I was so excited when I learned that the ruins of the Colden Family Mansion are located in Montgomery, NY, a few short miles from my townhouse! The mansion was originally built in 1767 by Colden's son and stayed in the family until the mid-19th century. For a time it was home to Colden's famous daughter, Jane Colden, the first female botanist in America.
Today the mansion is, how shall I put this, a little less grand than it used to be. The ruins are hidden behind a ridiculous amount of pricker bushes (I know, I know, I should say "bull thistle" but that just doesn't adequately describe the horror one experiences when one happens to walk into a wall of them) just off of Route 17K. While the town of Montgomery hopes to one day restore the ruins and create a park at the site of the former mansion, as of today there is almost nothing to indicate that a family of historical significance once lived at this particular location.
Jerry and I decided to pull over on the side of the road in the hopes of getting a closer look at the ruins themselves. Unfortunately there were "no trespassing" signs surrounding the entire site, along with the aforementioned pricker bushes. So, getting a closer look was much easier said than done. In the end, our archaeological impulses won out over our fear of local property laws and malicious plants, and we bushwhacked our way up to the mansion.
Feeling extremely happy with our success (and a little naughty as well) we decided to continue our adventure by taking a trip out to the old Colden family cemetery located a mile down the road from the ruins themselves. Reaching the cemetery was, surprisingly, even more difficult than reaching the ruins!
We couldn't help but wonder whether we were going a little crazy, as we found ourselves trudging out through an overgrown, swampy field towards the small stone wall of the cemetery.
Despite the hassle, the weeds, and the tick that Jerry rescued me from, we both agreed that the effort had been worth it when we finally pulled back the old rusted gate and made our way into the cemetery itself. While Cadwallader Colden himself is buried in Queens, the graves of his last wife, Elizabeth, along with many of his descendants, and even a few of the family's slaves are located in the cemetery.
I felt a bit sad looking at the neglected cemetery, despite how ridiculously (and ludicrously) cool I thought it was that Jerry and I were standing in this old, isolated place. Still, I suppose it does not really matter if anyone is continuing to look after the headstones as long as the family's name and deeds are remembered. And no one is going to forget a name like Cadwallader Colden!
With that in mind, perhaps it is not necessary for me to explain why I was so excited when I learned that the ruins of the Colden Family Mansion are located in Montgomery, NY, a few short miles from my townhouse! The mansion was originally built in 1767 by Colden's son and stayed in the family until the mid-19th century. For a time it was home to Colden's famous daughter, Jane Colden, the first female botanist in America.
Today the mansion is, how shall I put this, a little less grand than it used to be. The ruins are hidden behind a ridiculous amount of pricker bushes (I know, I know, I should say "bull thistle" but that just doesn't adequately describe the horror one experiences when one happens to walk into a wall of them) just off of Route 17K. While the town of Montgomery hopes to one day restore the ruins and create a park at the site of the former mansion, as of today there is almost nothing to indicate that a family of historical significance once lived at this particular location.
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| Yeah, I'm sure people can read that sign while driving. No problem. |
Feeling extremely happy with our success (and a little naughty as well) we decided to continue our adventure by taking a trip out to the old Colden family cemetery located a mile down the road from the ruins themselves. Reaching the cemetery was, surprisingly, even more difficult than reaching the ruins!
We couldn't help but wonder whether we were going a little crazy, as we found ourselves trudging out through an overgrown, swampy field towards the small stone wall of the cemetery.
Despite the hassle, the weeds, and the tick that Jerry rescued me from, we both agreed that the effort had been worth it when we finally pulled back the old rusted gate and made our way into the cemetery itself. While Cadwallader Colden himself is buried in Queens, the graves of his last wife, Elizabeth, along with many of his descendants, and even a few of the family's slaves are located in the cemetery.
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