Hill Hold Museum in Campbell Hall, NY

[vvcarpio]

The main attraction at the Hill Hold Museum is the Thomas Bull House. It is a brick house of Georgian architecture built in 1769. Exactly two hundred years later, in 1969, the house was donated to the county by the last direct descendant. Today it is a publicly-owned museum where schoolchildren regularly go for field trips.

We went there on a Sunday afternoon. We were the only visitors. A slender woman came out of the ticket office to greet us.

The tour started at a small building called the “one-room schoolhouse” followed by a tour inside Thomas Bull House.

The house is adorned with furnishings from the 17th century onward. One might notice the proliferation of candlesticks as we were told that even as late as the 1920s (if I remember right) electricity did not reach the house.

Canopied beds we were told gave the impression of luxury when in fact they served a useful purpose. Things dropped from the ceiling all the time -- wood chips, scraps of paint, ceiling debris, mites and animals heaven forbid -- and the canopy acted as shield to prevent you from choking on them while you slept.

During the tour I mentioned that my wife and I were photography hobbyists and we post pictures we take in our website. She seemed enthusiastic about the idea so she gave us her e-mail address.

She also showed us a picture of three of her children -- a daughter and two sons -- who recently got back from Iraq. They are in the military. With some unease she said one son wanted to go back. When she asked why, her son replied to save lives. She told us this with what we perceived as profound concern as we surmised no mother would want to see her children in harm’s way.

I wondered how anyone could donate something as expensive as a house. An heir could find it useful or if none, perhaps a friend. Most people dream of owning a home but few ever do. So I suppose the last owners felt a calling and maybe even thought about schoolchildren who would one day visit to learn about history.

Perhaps to many of us, knowing that everyone within our fields of vision is healthy is enough. We could sit back, kick off our shoes, and thank our blessings. And there is nothing wrong with that. But it is comforting to know, too, that like the last descendant of Thomas Bull or the tour guide’s son who wishes to go back to a troubled land in order to save lives, there are those among us who are driven purely by the greater good.

#1) Thomas Bull House.


#2) Living room.


#3) Dining room.


#4) Backyard garden.


#5) One-room schoolhouse.


#6) Outhouses by the schoolhouse.


Thank you for looking. C&C welcome.

[gjtoth]

Another fine educational and interesting series, VV. Nicely done!

[vvcarpio]

Thank you, gjtoth!

To all, I added two more:

#7) Classroom.


#8) Kitchen.

[DSProtection]

Very interesting and of course beautiful shots as always from you.

Best regards/Daniel

[vvcarpio]

Thanks, Daniel. For each of the indoor pics, I only took three handheld bracketed shots. The tour was going on so I and my wife had to hurry our shots. I used barrier posts for support. It's good that both our cameras (Sony A350 and Nikon P90) have vari-angle LCD viewfinders. We didn't have to crane our necks when the support is low.

#9) Bible in the bedroom.


#10) One room schoolhouse again. The schoolhouse wasn't originally located there. It was moved from elsewhere in the region. The #6 on the door isn't the address on the road it's on.

[ronin2307]

very nice set from you as always

[vvcarpio]

Thanks a lot, ronin2307.

#11) Barn at the entrance and by the parking lot.

[cmoy]

NICE shots!

[R.A.Smith]

Nice stuff as always, vvcarpio. It does amuse me that in #3, the message “practice penmanship” is in lousy penmanship.

[vvcarpio]

Thanks, cmoy and R.A.Smith.

Haha, yes "penmanship" is written in a mix of upper and lower case, too.

#12) Here's another classroom pic. Notice the calendar says 1924.