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The following are the remembrances of Charles de Bourbon who grew up in the house that became known as the de Bourbon Mansion. Mr. de Bourbon also provided a video presentation which can viewed via the link below. Due to license restrictions, the video is hosted by You-Tube®. Historic Patterson is grateful for his generous contributions to this website.
Old Friend in Patterson, NY hosted by You-Tube.com
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| The layout of the property. (Charles de Bourbon) |
The Out-House was pulled down by my father and uncle in the late 1950s.
The Woods - My father or uncle made a trail through those woods. As a child it was a huge enchanted forest. This wooded area bordered against the back properties on South Street. A line of cedar trees bordered with the apple orchard.
The Apple Orchard was planted by a previous owner and remained until we sold the home.
The Bungalow was a partitioned building, with concrete floors, on a stone foundation where one half was used for storage. (If only I kept what was in there. I remember a working Edison Tube record player, enormous mirrors, books, and furniture. All contents were disposed.) The other half of the bungalow was a pool room with a gas heater. Heater installed in the early 1960s.
The Barns were a complex of buildings consisting of a main barn with huge hayloft in right half and a garage, storage, and wood working room in the left half. The wood shop had a free standing jewelers polisher, but was mostly wood working, it also had book shelves. (Complete editions of Harpers Weekly Bound Books. Later donated to the Patterson Library.) The barn had a garage in the center with half the floor replace with concrete. Within the barn were steps up to a storage room, and down stairs that was a milking room for cows. Adjacent to the milking room that was the bottom room was a root cellar. Connected at the corner was a stable for 2 horses, feeding bin and another hayloft. The stable had doors that opened up to the corral that also had a hayloft a corn-bin that was used as storage.
The Ping Pong Room - The term Ping Pong Room is a childhood term. Even though there were 2 ping pong tables within, I believe it was a converted from a huge chicken coop. Concrete floors were added as part of the conversion. I have no recollection of it being converted, only that we played a lot of ping pong and roller skating. It had a row of windows on the side that faced away from the main house. There were two smaller chicken coops adjacent to this "room".
The Garage - Not to be confused with the garage in the barn, contained a one car garage with sliding barn doors too. The other 2/3rds was an open front garage for the tractor, jeep, and a front end loader. It had dirt on one side and my brother poured a concrete floor in a portion of this remaining area.
The Bowling Alley - The front was a large room 20' high with 3 over 3 window all around and above as well. The front had a small cupola with a weathervane on top. The interior was completely wood panel with 2 inch wide panels. The were 2 bowling alleys with an elevated wood runner for the pin setter to roll the bowling balls back to the players. At the end of each alley the floor fell away so the pins could fall or kept when the player had a spare. Also each lane had a large square leather pad that protected the end wall from the bowling balls. The end of the alleys had an elevated shelf where the pins setter hopped up and sat while the bowling balls were in play. There were four bowling balls and a set of bocci balls as well.
The Paint House, contained all combustible materials, paint, turpentine, brushes. My parents never let any combustibles be stored in the main house. (With so many children, it was a good move.) The paint house also had a root celler accessed by a large trap door in the floor of the small shed. The root cellar had a window built into the stone foundation. Stone walls, dirt floor, and large enough for a man to stand in. Nothing was ever stored there. To me it represented a creepy place and almost never ventured into it. The roof rafters were made from large branches with the bark still attached.
The Wood Shed, not shown here was almost across from the bungalow and at the end of the bowling alley. It was a true carpenters cabin with several wood working equipment within. Wood floors and the roof rafters were made from large branches with the bark still attached.
The Bike House, another childhood term, called the bike house because we kept all our bicycles in it. Its original use is unknown to me. Stone foundation wood floors with and ornemental roof peak.
In the image, to the left of the bowling alley, bike house, and garage is eight acres of farmland. Rented to VanCounut and Mendel at different times. Alfalfa, clover, corn was planted there as well as in the back fields and an another field, to the right of the apple orchard, in the image.
The property was originally several small farms bought up by a Col. John Hyatt that built the home and outbuildings. The property also bordered the Harlem Railroad line and also crossed the end of South Street. The end result was almost 100 acre farm. For a many years, the Patterson school rented a part of their driveway from our family for a dollar a year, only to be repaid by the school requesting the state to condemn the back portion of the property and all property rented for a new school, in the mid 60's for pennies on the dollar. My father had to fight the school for proper compensation, but that is another story.