Caretaker’s Caretaker

As we embark on yet another new rehab project — small in the grander scheme of our 18+ year historic rehabilitation of Rosslyn but an intriguing nexus of problem solving woven into one simple architectural detail — I’m struck by a notion. Not a new idea, nor an earth shattering idea. Not wisdom wrinkled like the American Linden bark outside my loft window. But a notion that through-threads our relationship with Rosslyn. That our relationship with Rosslyn across an almost two decade sojourn has actually been a symbiotic stewardship. That Susan, Rosslyn, and I have each and all been our caretaker’s caretaker. Hhhmmm… Sounds nice, but WHAT?!

As so often in the past, I’m reminded that it is Rosslyn who caretakes us rather than the other way around. (Source: On the Level)

In a sense, I’ve been exploring this mutually attentive relationship for years. Hundreds of posts are at their core my slow realization that Rosslyn has been our caretaker at least as often as we’ve been this property’s caretaker. So today I attempt to jumpstart some sort of clarifying treatise with a post gathering together related scraps. No patchwork quilt. Not yet. More scrapbook than coverlet.

Caretaker’s Caretaker, A Poem

Symbiotic stewards,
Susan, Rosslyn, and I,
each a caretaker's caretaker
each ensuring one another's
well-being and endurance,
each honoring a heritage,
architectural and natural,
while wholesome homing.

History comes alive, blurs into new,
past and future intermingle,
preservation and creativity
court and couple while
stewardship and storytelling
balance and rebalance,
two tykes on a teeter-totter.

Caretaking Rosslyn

I reference “caretaking” and “stewardship” often in my Rosslyn Redux reflections. I see them not necessarily as synonymous, but as closely related and, in the case of Rosslyn, often overlapping. For the sake of simplicity let’s start out with a look at past and present caretakers in the most familiar sense.

[Doug] had been working for us since the spring of 2005. He’d been a member of the contracting team that renovated the Lapine House, and then we rolled him over to work on Rosslyn. When our historic rehabilitation was complete (Is it ever complete? Rehab ad infinitum…) he stayed on as caretaker, quickly a becoming a jack of all trades who we relied upon heavily. (Source: Rifle & Eggs)

For the better part of a dozen years Doug was Rosslyn’s daily custodian and guardian.

After Doug, Bob Murphy, and later his father wife, Pam Murphy, took on the demanding responsibily of year-round maintenance.

Pam’s late husband, Bob Murphy,… worked as our property caretaker and became an admired and dearly respected friend… (Source: Upcycled Christmas Gifts)

Pam project managed the top-to-bottom renovation and addition at ADK Oasis Lakeside in addition to Rosslyn’s icehouse rehabilitation. She has property managed Rosslyn, both ADK Oasis Airbnb properties, and the Westport Yacht Club for us.

Over the last year Glen Gehrkens has taken on more and more responsibility caretaking all of these properties, lightening Pam’s load and ensuring a steady hand on the helm.

We thank the many — from engineers and permitting authorities, contractors and builders, property caretakers and friends — who have ensured Rosslyn’s historic… [property] endures… Thank you all! (Source: Ice Flow)

Among the many, one of the heavy hitters in recent years has been Tony Foster. His investment of time and passion is the quintessential example of selfless stewardship. 

And it would be an egregious act of omission if I didn’t salute the Amish helpers who quietly, diligently caretake for us.

In keeping with the modesty of our Amish neighbors, this morning I would like to offer an understated but respectful nod to the family who have been helping us maintain and nurture Rosslyn’s grounds over the past year. No personal portraits and no names. No website and no Instagram handle. But plenty of respect and gratitude to the kindhearted, hardworking men and women who help empower our stewardship of Rosslyn’s ample responsibilities and resources as well as groundskeeping at our ADK Oasis Lakeside and ADK Oasis Highlawn guest accommodations. (Source: Among the Amish)

Architectural Heritage Stewardship

In addition to the many who have worked to help caretake Rosslyn, there this the ambitious adventure we undertook almost 2 decades ago when Susan and I decided to make Rosslyn our home. 

From those early days as Rosslyn’s newest stewards, when Susan and I were still running on dreams, optimism, and a totally unrealistic sense for the magnitude of the project we’d undertaken, our twin objectives were to preserve the immense [architectural] heritage we’d inherited while ensuring that our new home was a functional, energy efficient modern home attuned to our needs and lifestyle. (Source: Historic Rehabilitation)

I won’t pretend that the going was easy.

Everything, *EVERY THING* was on the verge of failing, succumbing to the ravages of time and neglect. All four buildings needed immediate and significant attention. Rosslyn’s many constituent parts were sooo old and tired.

So often in our… years as the stewards of Rosslyn, I’m drawn to the juxtaposition of old and new. In many respects rehabilitating Rosslyn and making our life here has blurred past, present, and future. History is alive. And similarly much of our quotidian existence is timeless. There’s a whimsical simultaneity of lives and times that infiltrates our lakeside lifestyle… (Source: Boathouse Illustration Revisited)

We quickly learned just how needy this property was. Whether or not we possessed the stamina and resources to give our new home what it needed would be a much slower education. 

Like many owners of important old houses, this couple never intended to become stewards of a 2½-storey neoclassical manse that spreads over more than 6,000 square feet… (Source: “Beguiled into Stewardship“ via Rosslyn Featured in Old House Journal)

So much of our good fortune as Rosslyn’s stewards has been inherited from generations before us. Responsible ownership, conscientious preservation, and magnanimous spirits account for the life we’ve enjoyed on this property. We endeavor to follow in that tradition. (Source: Re-Homing John Deere AMT 626)

Rosslyn’s history included a notable human legacy: lives lived and recorded; stories told and retold; images made, circulated, and collected. Rosslyn’s backstory as a prominent presence along Merchants Row; built by one of the two founding families in Essex; plus the iconic boathouse attracting the eyes of generations of photographers, artists, travelers; the years spent as a local enterprise (restaurant and watering hole, vacation accommodation, and boating regatta hub); and well documented home and preservation subject of George McNulty who helped catalyze Essex’s recognition in the historic register;… Rosslyn was an old house, new home with an outsized history. This was new to Susan and me.

The questions. The advice. The judgement. The memories and stories and artifacts. The responsibility. The stewardship. The pride… It’s been an adjustment. A learning curve. A deeply formative journey. A privilege. (Source: Old House, New Home)

There’s an inevitable tension between the duty of stewardship and the affinity for storytelling and poetic truth. Between the responsibility to document important details for future Rosslyn homeowners and the creative freedom to explore textures and layers, melodies and harmonies, whimsical what-ifs and errant adventures. (Source: Chronicler or Artist)

Thank you… [for your] ominous warning to always act as responsible stewards of that quirky little building [Rosslyn’s boathouse]. (Source: Boathouse Collapsing in 1983 Flood)

Despite my resolve to balance my lifestyle with healthy stewardship of the natural environment, I never before stopped to contemplate how unnatural this [boathouse] structure really is. Although I’d likely discourage construction of a new albeit similar structure in fragile habitat like Lake Champlain, I never once stopped to consider Rosslyn’s beautiful boathouse a violation of nature because it already existed. It’s part of the architectural heritage of Essex, NY. In fact, we felt a responsibility to restore the boathouse. Indeed I still do, despite my newfound recognition that it contradicts my conventional bias. (Source: Re-roofing the Rosslyn Boathouse)

And some day — in the still unknown future — I hope that the boathouse will evolve again to satisfy and inspire Rosslyn’s future stewards. (Source: Demolition: Rosslyn Dedux)

Rosslyn, no longer being preserved by neglect, was now being historically rehabilitated with intention and determination. And to this day, our commitment has not wavered. The current boathouse gangway repairs and the icehouse rehabilitation project are only the two most current efforts to ensure that our stewardship of this historic property allows it to be enjoyed for generations to come… (Source: Preservation by Neglect: The Farm in Cossayuna)

And before I sign off for the evening, I’d like to emphasize the environmental caretakership we have understood to as important as the architectural heritage.  

Land & Wildlife Stewardship

I often refer to John Davis as our wildlife steward (or some such euphemism). To be fair, this handy title is overly narrow. But it does serve a purpose. It is he who familiarizes himself with the wellbeing of our backlands and our many wild neighbors who call this sanctuary home. John keeps the pulse of the wilder side of Rosslyn.

Healthy, sustainable, holistic practice — from construction and gardening to eating and personal wellness, responsible land stewardship to ecological wildlife guardianship — was fundamental to the lifestyle changes we made two decades ago when we exited life in Manhattan and started fresh on the Adirondack Coast. Today we’re even more committed to an intentional, accountable lifestyle. (Source: Earth Day)

At Rosslyn, homesteading is less about producing everything that we eat and drink, and more about living as responsible stewards in a property presently and historically endowed with sufficient grounds and outbuildings for homesteading while honoring the homesteading tradition in as many ways as practical for us. (Source: Homestead Haikus)

We’re fortunate to share Rosslyn’s fields and forests with so many wild neighbors, and this is due in no small part to the conscientious efforts of our close friend and Rosslyn’s wildlife steward, John Davis (@wildwaystrekker), who patrols these acres year round monitoring the health and wellbeing of the the flora and fauna. (Source: Bobcat Blurring)

John Davis (Executive Director, The Rewilding Institute; Rewilding Advocate, Adirondack Council) serves as Rosslyn’s wildlife steward. He monitors the health of our land and the increasingly abundant flora and fauna that thrive in our small wildway along the Adirondack Coast. (Source: Friend or Foe: Eastern Coyote)

Popular among hunters for their tender meat, the ruffed grouse in these images are safe in Rosslyn’s wildlife sanctuary. Although Susan is a vegetarian (a pescatarian, actually), I concede a robust appetite for wild game. That said, I’m not a hunter. And when we purchased first one, and then a second adjoining lots, our intention was to preserve and rewild, to invest in a healthy and resilient wildway buffering the already significant wildlife moving along Library Brook. With acreage expanded and John Davis’s wildlife stewardship guiding our rewilding efforts, native wildlife are returning and prospering. (Source: Ruffed Grouse)

And when it comes to colorful wildlife, John fits right in!

Higher ground along the western flank of Rosslyn’s backland includes some dramatic pine trees including the handsome specimen being embraced in the photo above by our friend and affectionate wildlife steward, John Davis. Lots of love in these woods! (Source: Beyond Brook Bushwhack)

Many of the excellent wildlife photographs we have been documenting over the last couple of winters demonstrate that the trail work collaboration between our friend and wildlife steward, John Davis, and Jack-of-all-trades, Tony Foster, serves wildlife far more frequently than humans. It’s truly remarkable, not only how much wildlife is thriving in the sanctuary, but also how readily deer, turkeys, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, porcupines, etc. adopt the trails as their byways of choice. (Source: Northern Cardinal)

Exciting news to share. Today while reviewing images from one of our wildlife cameras, I came across this pair of River Otter photographs. Our first sighting ever!

Better yet? As you can see, the date stamp is April 26, 2023, my birthday. So I’m choosing to see this rare encounter as a birthday gift from our wild neighbors, from nature, heck, from the universe itself. (Source: River Otter)

Recent wildlife camera footage suggests that we just *might* be hosting a herd of Rosslyn reindeer. Or Eastern Whitetail Deer masquerading as reindeer. That handsome 8-point buck above is rehearsing his best Rudolph routine…

Captured with discretely located cameras in Rosslyn’s wildlife sanctuary, these robust whitetail deer are among a diverse population of native neighbors, thriving and coexisting in the 30-40 most private acres west of our home and barns. (Source: Rosslyn Reindeer?)

When sometimes wildlife can be problematic, we nevertheless see it as our responsibility to honor the needs of of wild neighbors.

With a keen eye to supporting our threatened Chiroptera population (white nose syndrome) and acting as responsible wildlife stewards, we scheduled around the breeding and maturation habits of the bats. Only once the young were grown and fledged did we proceed with sealing the entry points and installing one-way exit baffles to ensure that all of the beds would safely leave when they became hungry, but would be unable to re-enter. This method was, per assurance of Nature’s Way Pest Control, meticulously premeditated in the interest of preserving a healthy bat population. Hope they are right! (Source: Bye-bye, Bats)

Rosslyn’s conscientious wildlife steward, contacted me this weekend with an excited update.

Good photos on your cell cam last few days, including a Gray Fox, I think, January 11. We rarely see those.

I’d just been reviewing recent images from the camera he referenced… I had paused on the three images John mentioned, but I had concluded they were an Eastern Coyote, a much more frequent subject for our wildlife cameras. Had I judged too hastily? When I told John that I was curious why he thought the handsome wild dog a Gray Fox rather than a Coyote he pointed what I’d overlooked.

I may be wrong, but that canid looks a bit small to me and has black top tail, as Gray Foxes oft do.

John confirmed that he thought he’d seen fox tracks in that same location on Sunday. Nevertheless nature’s narrative can be mysterious… (Source: Gray Fox or Eastern Coyote?)

On May 7, 2022… John Davis made this video of a coyote pup playing in a brush pile in Rosslyn’s wildlife sanctuary. One of several he witnessed denning near Library Brook, I resisted the temptation to post this at the time in order to protect the location of this Eastern Coyote family.

John’s stewardship and oversight underpin Rosslyn’s increasingly robust wildlife population, and we’re profoundly grateful. Thank you, John, for ensuring that the Adirondack Coast is a welcoming and safe place for our native wildlife. (Source: Coyote Pup)

It’s tempting to go on sharing wildlife sightings and encounters, but it’s time to curtail this indulgence. it’s time to bring some siblings of ending (if not closure) to this wayward and circuitous look at caretaking and stewardship. 

Caretakers & Stewardship

I’ve blathered on terribly long without managing to bring my inquiry round to the idea of a caretaker’s caretaker. 

Rosslyn’s greatest gift and, I expect, her enduring legacy long after she passes into the stewardship of future homeowners, is her mysterious but nurturing energy. An enduring oasis. Nourishing. Provident. And generous. It’s been a privilege to call Rosslyn our home, the greatest of gifts! (Source: Great, Greater, Greatest Gifts)

This, perhaps, is where I should’ve started. Rosslyn is very much an oasis. A sanctuary. A nurturing safe haven of sorts. And gathering so many loose threads into one post might eventually help me move closer to exploring what it means to be a caretaker’s caretaker, what it means to have been a part of the threefold stewardship that I introduced above.

I’ll revisit anon…