General Memories of Cold Spring from the 40s-60s

[C. Hotchkiss]

My family spent most of the summers between 1946 and 1964 at Cold Spring Harbor. It was my very favorite place on earth from childhood through early adulthood, and probably retains the title, sentimentally at least. That little original campus had more natural beauty and appealing geographical diversity than most places many times its physical size.

I was always devoted to little children and did a lot of babysitting at CSH, starting at 11, which sounds terribly young now. I was mature in terms of responsibility, but immature emotionally! :-)
I remember many of the cute little housing units built into the old Hooper and Williams buildings, and I often babysat in the cabins and motel at the top of the hill behind James Lab and Williams. I worked all summer starting at 13 in the Nature Course, and three summers I waitressed in the Dining Hall at BELOVED Blackford Hall. I still babysat a lot in off-hours, often for nothing, asking parents if I could take their children to play or to the beach. A different world!

We lived most years on the middle floor of "Fire House" (had been a real firehouse across the harbor),and for some years there was the dilapidated shell of very run-down house next door, supposedly owned by the Jones family that donated Jones Beach to NY. We loved the walk to the beach, and I can still remember the smell of the honeysuckle and recall the lovely peal of the dinner bell from Blackford, heard all the way to the Sandspit.

Please forgive my emotionality, it's both natural AND a reflection of the tough losses of my father (Rollin D. Hotchkiss) in December, and my brother Paul last week. My Mother Shirley is very frail at almost 96. Rough days - beloved old memories are a comfort. Would LOVE to hear from people who remember Cold Spring fondly too, people whose times there were during those years from 1946 through 1964 in particular. Cindy Hotchkiss Lydgate