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June 12, 2024 20 mins

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Embark on a historical journey as I unfold the intriguing tale of  William Ozmun Wyckoff, a man who rose from humble beginnings to build an architectural masterpiece on the serene Carleton Island. This ⭐️RE-RELEASE episode promises to immerse you in literally rich history, breathtaking scenery, and inspiring stories of preservation.
Learn about
Wyckoff's rise to prominence in the typewriter industry, his opulent villa, the tragic fate that his family endured, and the villa's interesting history - including nearly becoming a federal prison 😳 and being considered as a summer camp ⛱ 🏕 for  General Electric Company 💡employees.
The past doesn't always determine the future...Let's step 🩴🩴 into the present as we navigate through the tranquil beauty of the
Mighty St. Lawrence River 🌊, taking a boat ride  🚤 around the island. Feel the nostalgia and tranquility as we watch life ebb and flow on the river. So, come along and lose yourself in the captivating narrative of  Carleton Island's past and present!

I would like to credit the nature sound effects titled waves hitting the rocks - (Cagan Celik)
https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/waves-hitting-the-rocks-16680/ birds singing/calm river - (Sounds For You) https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/birds-singing-calm-river-nature-ambient-sound-127411/ small waves onto the sand (DennisH18) https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/small-waves-onto-the-sand-143040/ all via Pixabay https://pixabay.com/ Thank You! 🤩

LINKS!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Julie Rogers (00:05):
No one ever said life is easy, but I believe by
giving yourself permission youwill find you have more control
over your life than you realize.
I'm Julie.
I hope you will join me bytaking responsibility for
yourself, by only controllingthe things you can and letting
go of the things that you can't.
By doing this you will havediscovered the secret to having

(00:30):
happy, healthy and morefulfilling relationships.
This is Nearest and DearestPodcast.
I'm Julie Rogers and you arelistening to Season 2, Episode
12, C arleton Island Past AndPresent - The Wyckoff Villa.
This is the second episode inmy special series about Carleton

(00:53):
Island, l ocated in N orthernNew York, surrounded by the
mighty St Lawrence River.
T his almost three-square-mileisland has quite a bit of
mystery that has been a hugepart of New York State's history
.
William Ozum Wyckoff was bornin Lansing, N ew York, on

(01:16):
February 16, 1835.
His parents were farmers.
His earlier ancestors came tothe US around 1675 from Holland,
settling on Long Island, N ewYork.
During the Civil War, W illiamserved two years in the 32nd New

(01:37):
York Infantry, going in as aprivate and rising to the rank
of captain.
He was always interested in law.
He received a diploma from AmesBusiness College in Syracuse.
By 1866, he became an officialcourt stenographer of the

(01:58):
Supreme Court for the 6thJudicial District of the state
and remained in that positionfor 16 years.
The Remington T ypewriting Machine in 1875 got his attention
.
He started with them as asalesman for the Remington

(02:19):
Standard Typewriter Company outof Italy and New York.
Due to the prosperous venture,around 1882, he established the
firm Wyckoff, Seamans andBenedict with around $20,000 of
capital along with a signedcontract with E Remington And

(02:41):
Sons taking over their salesdepartment.
So successful in their salesthat by 1886, they bought the
whole plant and patent rights.
Wyckoff was president of thiscompany, which now manufactured

(03:01):
and sold the Remingtontypewriter machine.
He married Francis Ives onOctober 20, 1863.
They had two sons, E dward, whowas born in 1867, and Clarence,
who was born in 1876.

(03:22):
The Thousand Island region wasstarting to become a summertime
paradise for the wealthy by theend of the 19th century, known
as the Gilded Age.
The Industrial Revolution thatwas erupting in the US created
the desire for the well-to-dofamilies looking for a peaceful

(03:46):
and serene vacation spa.
Plenty of wealthy businessmenand politicians flocked to this
natural, scenic and mesmerizingbackdrop of the Thousand Islands
.

(04:13):
In May of 1893, W illiam boughtland from Henry M Folger for
$11,440, o n the head ofCarleton Island.
H he constructed a $6,000boathouse known as the finest on
the river and was getting readyto build a cottage designed by
famed architect William HenryMiller.
The beginning cost was said tobe $25,000, but later changed to

(04:38):
well over $100,000.
That would be like spendingalmost 3.4 million dollars today
.
The villa would be the first ofsuch splendor among the
Thousand Islands and be includedamongst other landmarks such as

(05:00):
Boldt Castle and Emery Castle.
It has been said that Wyckoffenjoyed being on the island and
overseeing all the construction,spending most of his time there
during the process.
Sadly, five weeks prior to itscompletion in 1895, W illiam's

(05:26):
wife, F rancis, passed away backhome in Brooklyn.

(05:51):
Just five weeks later, on July11th, W illiam passed away after
only spending one night in hisnew villa.
He was 60 years old.
Reportedly, both Francis andWilliam died from heart failure.
Here's an excerpt from the CapeVincent Eagle newspaper - Mr.
Wyckoff had been in poor healthfor the past year, being
afflicted with heart trouble, about five weeks since his wife
died at the family residence inBrooklyn, and immediately after

(06:16):
the sad event, Mr.
Wyckoff with his two sonsarrived at Carleton Island.
It was hoped that therefreshing air of the river
would improve and better hiscondition, but he gradually
failed.
Medical aid was summoned fromBrooklyn, but every effort put

(06:41):
forth to save his life provedfutile.
T the Wyckoff family wouldretain ownership of the villa
for nearly three decades.
Before 1910, the Carleton Villawould start appearing for
summer rentals in publicationssuch as Country Life in America,

(07:05):
along with thousands ofhigh-end rentals across the
United States.
It was described as fullyfurnished and made of Gouverneur
M arble.
Gouverneur, N ew York, by 1902,was ranked third in marble
production in the US.
The marble was especiallydesirable because it was of a

(07:30):
higher quality and popular dueto its durability, brilliance
and uniformity of color.
In the 1920s, W illiam's sonEdward began selling some of the
land associated with the estate.
Soon after the property was putup for sale.

(07:51):
The Great Depressionundoubtedly was a factor in both
the decision to sell the villaand the fact that there were no
buyers interested in purchasingit, with no offers over the span
of several years.
By 1928, the villa would be putup for auction along with a

(08:13):
large amount of personalproperty.
Listen to this list.
It included livestock, 70 tonsof hay, wagons, sleighs, over
2,000 books, rugs, guns, gametrophies, a skiff and an ice

(08:35):
scow, which is a largeflat-bottomed boat with broad
square ends used fortransporting bulk materials like
huge blocks of ice.
When the villa was sold in theauction for $15,000 in 1928 to a

(08:55):
bank out of Ithaca, N ew York,C arlton Island itself was
discussed as being turned into ahistorical site for tourism on
one end of the spectrum, whileon the opposite end there was a
lot of talk in the New YorkState Senate amongst some
members to build a federalprison for habitual criminals.

(09:18):
This idea, proposed by SenatorLove of Brooklyn, would be
greatly defeated due to thebitter responses from wealthy
property owners in the ThousandIslands and N orthern New York
in general.
Personally I'm glad that aprison was never established,

(09:42):
but always thought perhaps ahistorical site for tourism
would be a better option forsuch a beautiful island.
By 1930, G eneral Electric wasshowing some interest in
purchasing the majority of theisland for creating a new summer

(10:04):
recreation camp for theiremployees.
According to the WatertownDaily Times newspaper, the
General Electric Company is alsounderstood to have bought the
Wyckoff estate.
Later that summer, GE begantheir buying spree of land from

(10:25):
property owners on CarletonIsland.
They had plans including threegolf courses, an elaborately
illuminated camp, an assemblyroom and theater that would seat
500, a large mess hall, 38cottages, tennis courts, a

(10:47):
baseball diamond, sewer systems,docks and canals.
Due to the Great Depressionthat was happening by 1934, GE
completely abandoned their grandideas for Carleton Island.
Their attention was focusedmore on Association Island, a

(11:13):
65-acre island located at thenorthern tip of Stony Point, a
peninsula on the eastern shoreof Lake Ontario, which is part
of Henderson, N new York.
Perhaps due to NationalElectric Lamp Association's

(11:36):
ownership and establishment of asummer camp for their employees
back in 1906, according to anarticle by Jonathan Croyle from
NewYorkUp.
com, GE decided to put theirmoney and efforts on the smaller
island.
The makings of retreat wasalready started when GE took

(11:59):
over the National Electric LampAssociation in 1912.
So by 1927, GE developed theisland into a full-scale company
retreat and conference center.
In 1943, W.
E.
Dodge bought the property fromGeneral Electric and due to his

(12:24):
salvaging some of the otherproperties on Carleton Island,
including wanting to salvage theWyckoff Villa, according to the
Watertown Daily Times, it wasreported on August 12, 1943,
that the intention was to takedown the villa in order to save

(12:47):
on property taxes.
However, that never happenedand over the years both the
interior and exterior have beenpicked over, with major signs of
decay and disrepair.
MemoryLn.

(13:07):
net was a great source ofinformation for me when I was
researching the villa.
The spelling is m-e-m-o-r-y-l-ndot net.
Thank you to Jim for sharinghis knowledge about not only the

(13:29):
Wyckoff Villa but all thewonderful history surrounding
Northern New York.
I'll share a link in my shownotes for you to check out the
interesting facts and photos,MemoryLn has created.
The future of the CarletonVilla lies in the hands of Ron

(13:55):
Clapp and Janaina Leite.
In the summer of 2022, theyfelt compelled to rescue this
magnificent piece of Americanhistory.
They knew, by purchasing thiscrumbling landmark, that it
would not be an easy road ahead.
In the fall of 2022, R on andJanaina, along with some friends

(14:17):
, started the huge undertakingof cleaning the basement and
first floor of this four-story15,000-square-foot villa.
Ron shared on his Facebook page, C arleton Villa, a virtual
walkthrough.
The original architecturaldrawing of the villa no longer

(14:42):
exists, so they used technologyby using a 3D drone to scan the
exterior and used a special 360camera for the interior.
This allowed them to create a3D model, a floor plan and an

(15:04):
elevation drawing which includeda 360 walkthrough.
I'll share the Carleton Villalinks in my show notes on my N
earest A nd D earest P odcastwebsite and you will also have
access to the links fromwherever you listen to podcasts.

(15:27):
I'm excited to meet Ron andJanaina in person very soon.
We have been staying in touch.
I want to interview them for mynext episode in this series.
I'm hoping to take our boatover and get a chance to walk
around the property and learnmore about their plans, which

(15:52):
have included restoring thevilla with a possible bed and
breakfast inn and restaurant.
When I first met Woody back inthe summer of 2012, I remember
going out on his boat named Knot For Sail, there's a play on
words with the spellingK-N-O-T-S-A-I-L.

(16:15):
It's a 1974 Thompson 21-footfishing boat that he modified by
himself into a pleasure boat.
His Aunt J ulia left the boatto him.
She knew he would take greatcare and keep it at camp to use

(16:35):
for family and friends.
So that summer I'm out on theboat and we are cruising around
Carleton Island.
It's my first time experiencingboth the boat and the island up
close.
You can see the villa from ourriverfront property, but seeing

(16:56):
it from the advantage point byboat, strolling by, was
fascinating.
I remember thinking it lookslike a haunted castle.
I felt sad for the villa thatwas deteriorating and wondered
if anyone was going to try andsave this historical landmark.

(17:22):
Woody shared with me some ofthe history he heard from coming
up to camp with his familyabout the villa and the O ld F
ort.
He has memories of seeing thelast of the old chimney stacks
that once stood where the O ld Fort was built near North Bay.

(17:43):
Part of our boating on the StLawrence River includes taking
the boat around Carleton Islandand, if the wind conditions are
right, we will ride into NorthBay just around the bend, at the
head of the island.
Sometimes our friends will joinus and we tie the boats

(18:06):
together and enjoy the shallowwater for swimming and relaxing.
It's absolutely one of myfavorite boating outings to do.
It's nostalgic for me because Ialways look forward to seeing
Carleton Island so close.

(18:32):
It's like visiting an oldfriend who is welcoming me back
every year.
The summers go by so very fastevery year, faster and faster.
It's a chance to slow down, putall your worries away and truly
enjoy the natural surroundingsthe river offers, the massive

(18:53):
ships that come and go aroundthe island, sailboats that glide
by with their sails flutteringin the wind, children enjoying
being dragged on tubes, hearingtheir laughter and just being in
the moment.
The views and opinionsexpressed by Nearest A nd

(19:15):
Dearest Podcast are those of theauthors and do not necessarily
reflect the official policy orposition of Nearest A nd Dearest
Podcast.
Any content provided by JulieRogers or any other authors are
of their opinion.
They are not intended to malignany religion, ethnic group,

(19:36):
club, organization, company,individual or anyone or anything
.
Thank you.
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