Finding The Bell Cottage in Walden, N.Y.

 A Timeline and Research document by Frederick Walton, December 27, 2019

My Dad, Frederick S. Walton shared a number of family stories with me before he passed. This is one of them:

Frederick S. Walton (1930-2021), was the son of Frederick Walton (1908-1980) and Gertrude Eleanor Bell (1911- 1989). As a child he spent much time with his Bell grandparents.

In recent years, my cousin, Eric Bell, and I have discussed the the existence and unknown location of a cottage in or near Walden, N.Y. that Edgar Stanley Bell, Jr. (1873-1958), once owned and used as a country retreat. Eric and I are both great grand-sons of Edgar Stanley Bell, Jr. Vague family stories passed down through the generations have made us aware, and curious about this property. The following is an attempt to build  time line and use historical documentation to uncover this lost family story.

Bell Cottage in the countryside of "Waldon" (Walden, N. Y., near Newburgh)

Some oral family history

My Dad, Fred Walton, recalled visiting this cottage with his grandfather, Edgar Stanley Bell, Jr., as a child in the 1940’s and was able to tell me the following from memory. I have added some corroborating details in italics.

“Grandpa Bell had bought a farm in Walden, N.Y. where he planned to retire. This would have been in the 1940s”  

The Daily News, Tarrytown, N.Y. Reported on March 31, 1942 that “Edgar Stanley Bell, Chief Operator at the Tarrytown Lakes Pumping Stations will retire this year after 19 years at the station. Mr. Bell will be seventy years old on April 1” … “Bell…Plans to live on a farm he purchased near Newburgh.”

“Grandma and Grandpa Bell lived at the Tarrytown lakes above Eastview where Grandpa and his son James were the Water engineers for the Tarrytown reservoir.”

Eastview and Tarrytown Lakes

The Reservoir was located in a valley in the hills above Tarrytown and had become the hub of social activity for the large Bell clan even though most of the the children had families of their own by this time. Sunday dinner was a time when the family gathered together with the grandchildren to catch up on the previous weeks activities and keep the family communication intact. Being centrally located meant that family members would drop by and Grandma could entertain and stay involved. She loved this aspect and wasn’t happy about the prospect of being isolated in far off rural Walden.

Dad recalled that besides her family, Grandma Bell prized her modern television with it’s tiny screen and loved to watch the Milton Berle comedy hour and wrestling.  

“She would sit on the edge of her chair, swinging her fists and yelling at the T. V. “Hit ‘em!” whenever a wrestling match was on.“

The Walden farm was several hours away on the other side of the Hudson river and would not be convenient for the family, who lived clustered around Tarrytown, White Plains, Ardsley and Elmsford to drop by and visit without a special trip. 

The farm was located outside the rural village of Walden (population in 1940 was 4,262 Vs. Tarrytown 6,874). Unlike the Urban areas surrounding Tarrytown, Walden was very rural. The winding Wallkill river cut the village in two and flowed through the surrounding farmlands and orchards.

Stanley Bell planned to have a cottage built on this farm. It was to sit atop a hill with excellent views of the countryside. Down the hill from the cottage was another working farm. 

“Grandpa would send me down the hill with a pail to get fresh milk from the farmer for our breakfast.” 

Other than a few nearby farms their were no neighbors nearby, The perfect location for a country retreat, but not at all attractive to Grandma Bell. She had no interest in the property and no interest in moving!

Grandpa Bell had always worked with his hands and was very skilled at repairing and crafting things. 

My Mom recalled that Grandpa Bell made her a wicker Bassinet when she was expecting me. 

“He had the bottom on and off a million times to make sure it was perfect for his new great-grandson.” 

After I was born, he used to worry about me and gave my novice mother all kinds of advise to make sure she was taking proper care of his great grandson. 

 

But  long before the bassinet, Grandpa built a wagon, that he called his camp wagon and would take it up to the Walden farm. It was the size of a farmers hay wagon and had rubber tires for highway travel. The top had a canvas cover that looked like an old fashioned Conestoga prairie wagon.   

Edgar Stanley Bell in his home made "Camp Wagon"

Looking closely at the photo (above) of the wagon we can see the license plate 

says 1941 which is a year before his retirement in 1942 .

"Grandpa had bent metal poles to support the canvas which made it like a covered wagon. Inside were cots for sleeping and camping utensils for cooking and eating. He would tow the wagon to walden behind his car and spend the weekend in solitude. "

Freddie and Tommie are seen in this 1939 photo (right), probably taken at the Tarrytown lakes. 

They look more like gangsters than the soldiers they loved to play at the Walden Farm.

“That is unless he took us with him. Me (Fred Walton (1930-2021)) and my cousin Tommie  (Thomas J. Gallagan (1929-2006)) loved to ride in the wagon with Grandpa when he went camping in Walden. Sometimes it was just a quick trip up and back in a day, but other times he would take the wagon and we would camp out while the cottage was being built.  Grandpa would work on his cottage while us boys played soldiers in the endless woods and fields surrounding the farm. We were always up there in Walden.”

The Lakes in Eastview

Tommie and Freddie, would sometimes walk from their home in White plains, through the town of Greenburg countryside up to the Tarrytown lakes to visit their grandparents, a distance of 8 to 10 miles. Freddie's mother’s friend Sig (Genevieve Stearns) of Eastview lived halfway and was the usual stop for refreshments. 

 

This was merely part of the adventure. When they got to the lakes they would go into the woods with their BB guns and play soldier, darting from tree to tree shooting imaginary Nazi’s, that is until the Rockefeller security men spotted them and chased the off the property. The Rockefeller estate was located behind the Bell House at the Lakes. 

 Sometimes Grandpa Bell, or one of his sons  would take the boys on walks through the woods to a pump house on top of a hill to test the water. 

"One day Grandpa Bell’s son, Uncle  George was leading us: Me (Freddie); my little brother Ed (Edgar Walton (1932-2017) ); and my cousin Tommie. Suddenly a huge black snaked reared up and charged the group, scattering us boys in every direction. "

 “That snake was huge, and scared the heck out of us” Dad recalled with a shiver, almost three quarters of a century later.  

George R. Bell, saw worse things than black snakes while serving in the Navy

Uncle George stamped his foot and scared the snake off and then doubled over laughing at the unexpected turn of events.

 Although Grandpa Bell owned a car, he didn’t know how to drive and depended on his daughter Effie (1916-2018) to act as his chauffeur.

Fred recalled:  “She drove Grandpa all over in those days.”

Effie, Marion & Audrey Bell, circa 1939

After Edgar Stanley Bell retired, in 1942, he moved out of the Lakes house and bought a house in Ardsley. His Son James took over as the water supervisor and lived in the Lake House with his family. Stanley’s daughter Gertrude and her family moved in to the new Ardsley house with them and lived in half the house. This is where my dad, Fred Walton went to  high school in the late 1940’s, graduating from Ardsley in 1948. 

It soon became clear that Grandma Bell was not leaving Tarrytown. Not only did she dislike the Walden cottage and its isolation, she wanted nothing to do with the rickety camp wagon her husband took with him when he went “camping”.  It was during this time that son Watson lost his job with Otis Elevator and moved his family, Including Bob and Billy, to the unused cottage in Walden, eventually selling it and moving back to Dobbs Ferry.

Watson, Marion, and Edgar Stanley Bell at their family country cottage in Walden, NY

Lavinia Bell, She's not moving to the country!

 The  Ardsley house was destroyed and the village was greatly changed by the construction of the New York State Thruway in the 1950s, which resulted in both the loss of the Ardsley railroad station and much of the downtown business district.

Route of NYS Thruway through Ardsley

 “The construction of the Thruway, completed  in 1955 and the Ashford Avenue Bridge, which connects the village to the highways, resulted in the virtual destruction of the old Ardsley.” according to village historian Mr. Arone.''Approximately 40 buildings and structures were demolished or were moved to new locations,’"

 Once the Thruway authority evicted the Bells from Ardsley, Stanley bought a house from his sister Effie, at 148 Depyster Street in North Tarrytown. They moved in to the upstairs apartment. Daughter Gertrude and her family lived downstairs, except for Freddie, who had a bedroom upstairs. A tenant named Bob lived in the basement apartment. He was a great gardener. He would go fishing and bury his catch under a tomato plant resulting in the most magnificent tomatoes you ever saw. 

Edgar Stanley and sister Effie circa 1940s

According to his death certificate, Edgar Stanley Bell, spent the last two weeks of his life in the Tarrytown Hall nursing home in Elmsford, a long way from Walden.

Edgar Stanley Bell died in 1958 in Tarrytown. Sadly, his Walden Cottage dream was unfulfilled.

Timeline

pre 1942  Edgar Stanley Bell purchases property in Walden for upcoming retirement. (possibly as early as the mid 1930's)

1942   Edgar Stanley Bell turned 70 on April 1, 1942. plans to retire in June 1942 and live on a farm he purchased near Newburgh according to a March 31, 1942 Tarrytown Daily New Newspaper Article. 

His 1958 Obit states he retired 16 years ago…1958-16=1942

1942   Edgar Stanley Bell Purchases house in Ardsley after his retirement

1948 Fred Walton, living in the Ardsley house, graduates High School.

1952 Lavinia’s Sept 2, 1955 Obituary reported that she was a resident of Ardsley  for 10 years later residing in North Tarrytown, where she died. If they moved to Ardsley in 1942, then 10 years later would have been 1952 when they were evicted by the NYS Thruway construction. This is when they bought the 148 Depeyster Street house from Stanley’s sister Effie.

1955 Lavinia R. Bell Died at 148 Depeyster Street, North Tarrytown , N. Y.  on September 2, 1955.

Dec. 15, 1955 Ribbon cutting ceremony or opening of Tappan Zee Bridge and New York State Thruway through Ardsley. 

1958 Edgar Stanley Bell Died Sept 21, 1958.