Working at Blackford

[Cindy Lygate Hotchkiss]

Cold Spring Harbor will probably always be my favorite place on earth by virtue of having spent most of my childhood and adolescent summers in that place of idyllic beauty, almost serenely removed from the modern world. I enjoyed our winter home, but was always looking forward to the annual 9 or 10 summer weeks at beloved Cold Spring Harbor.



I started working summers at 13, first assisting in the Nature course, and eventually working in the kitchen/dining hall at Blackford, one of those places I loved best on that campus of interesting bulidings. And that Blackford job was one of my favorite jobs in my life, adult professional careeers included.



In my teens, Earle Dennison was the chef. He had the stereotypical prima donna/controlling "chef personality," but we hit it off very well and somehow he and I had very soft spots in our hearts for eachother.



This should be a story I tuck away and tell no one because it was a selfish prank and I'm not proud of it... I have a terrible sweet tooth, and Earle made one dessert that just drove me crazy; cream puffs, pastries filled with either whipped cream or custard and frosted with chocolate. I remember one afternoon seeing him make some for the next day, and that night I convinced a friend of mine to go sneak one with me. We crept quietly up the circular back steps into the kitchen, and we each took a cream puff from the refrigerator right by the stairs. I don't know if Earle heard footsteps above his room, but suddenly we heard someone coming up the steps. We ran up the same little steps to the top, where a locked door meant we had to stay curled up in that tiny nook just a few feet above Earle. We finished our cream puffs, tried to wipe off our faces, and waited a few minutes, when he was safely on the other side of the big kitchen. Then we exaggerated the sound of running on the steps and ran in to greet Earle enthusiastically, as if we had just come up the steps. We told him we just dropped in to say hello and visit him. He was so tickled that we teenagers cared enough to visit him that he offered us each a cream puff!



So we each ate two of those delights that evening! And i will never forget feeling suffused with guilt, knowing that we were kindly given the extra treat for a false reason. Out gluttonous goal was being rewarded because we lied on top of sneaking dessert, and Earle though out mission had been to express our fondness and friendliness! ... Another of the many moral lessons learned at that stunning place I loved so much!



Cindy Hotchkiss Lydgate - at CSH some or all of the summers 1946-1964