⭐️RE-RELEASE-Carleton Island Past & Present - Renovation of the Villa - Nearest And Dearest Podcast - Bridging Family Dynamics

Episode Transcript
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Julie Rogers (00:02):
Hey, this is Julie .
This episode re-releaseCarleton Island Past and Present
Renovation of the Villa is themost recent one from my special
series about Carleton Island,which, by the way, is directly
across the river from my summerhome.
I'm going to continue with thisspecial series, with new

(00:24):
episodes along with my regularones.
I have noticed that the subjectmatter that goes with the
history of this significantisland seems to interest you.
That's why I re-released themsince I came back to New York.
I will be interviewing Ron andJanaina soon to get an update on

(00:44):
what's been happening behindthe scenes of this monumental
renovation and share what theplans are presently that will
keep this heartfelt projectmoving forward.
B ecause I can see the villaclearly from our deck, I can't
help but feel a connection to it.

(01:09):
To be able to witness therenovation in real time will be
amazing to see.
I don't know if you havenoticed, but under each of my
episodes there's a hyperlinkunder the show notes that reads
hello, send me a text message,tell me what your thoughts are
about this episode.
I have this here with the hopethat you will take a moment and
let me know your thoughts aboutthat particular episode.

(01:32):
Just the other day I received atext.
She's from Rochester, New York,and she wrote, " I just
listened to the re-releaseCarleton Island Past and Present
.
I totally enjoyed listening tothe history of this amazing
island that is right across fromour river house.
I'm looking forward tolistening to your other podcast

(01:54):
episodes.
I'm Carol, who met you whileyou were on a walk and I was
digging around my lighthouse.
Then she put a smiley faceemoji.
This was so cool to hear fromher.
I had just met her on one of mywalks in my neighborhood and

(02:15):
she was outside working on hercool lighthouse lawn ornament
and we just started chatting.
So I mentioned my podcast toher and told her I was
re-releasing my special series.
So, carol, if you are listeningnow, thank you so very much for
sharing your thoughts.
I still have my hyperlink formy email address, which is

(02:36):
julierogers@nearestanddearestpodcast.
com, if you would like to shareyour own story, or maybe you
have a good idea for a subjectthat I should talk about.
Really, it's a way to let mehear from you.
As always, you can share yourname or be anonymous.
I would love to share what youhave to say on a future episode.

(03:01):
There's also another hyperlinkat the very end of my show notes
and links.
It's speakpipe.
com backslash nearest anddearest podcast.
If you click that, you canleave me a quick voice message.
You will have 90 seconds and Ican send you one back.

(03:21):
I would be happy to share yourrecording on a future episode
too, if you are okay with that.
You might be thinking toyourself why should I take the
time to reach out to you?
It's simple.
I value you and your opinion.
I want to make sure theepisodes I create are adding

(03:44):
value for yourself.
Without you, I wouldn't have areason to even make this podcast
.
The ability to connect with youfrom wherever you are gives me
the opportunity to share my lifeexperiences, which, as you know

(04:11):
, have been challenging but alsoso full of true gratitude.
I appreciate you.
You inspire me to keep Nearestand Dearest podcast going.
One more thing before youlisten to the re-release of
Carleton Island, P past andPresent.
If you know anyone who enjoyshistory, please feel free to

(04:32):
share this episode.
Thanks.
No one ever said life is easy,but I believe by giving yourself
permission, you will find youhave more control over your life
than you realize.
I'm Julie.
I hope you will join me bytaking responsibility for

(04:54):
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
happy, healthy and morefulfilling relationships.
This is Nearest and DearestPodcast.
I'm Julie Rogers and you arelistening to Season 2, episode

(05:17):
15, C arleton Island Past andPresent Renovation of the Villa.
This is my first ever interview.
This episode is the third in myspecial series about Carleton
Island.
This huge undertaking is beingdone by Ron Clapp and Janaina

(05:40):
Leite.
A special thank you to myhusband, Woody.
Not only is he my life partner,but he is my captain and
co-producer for my podcast.
I couldn't do this without hisunconditional love and support.
Woody and I, along with ourfriends Ron and Janaina, took

(06:08):
our boat Knot For Sail over toCarleton Island to get a
personal tour of the CarletonVilla, once famously known as
the Wyckoff Villa.
This interview is recordedright here on this historic
property.
Never before has this been done.
I'm excited to talk about thisinspiring journey that they are

(06:31):
undertaking.
Welcome, R ron and Janaina.

Ron Clapp (06:35):
Thank you, thank you, thank you for having us.

How did you come across the sale of the Wyckoff
Villa Ron?

Ron Clapp (06:43):
Well, because I've been involved in real estate for
quite some time, I get emailsfrom realtorcom, just, and it
was a seasonal one in regards toHalloween and it was basically
own your own haunted house orsomething like that.
And so not that I was lookingfor a haunted house, but I was
just kind of checking out thedifferent houses and I saw this

(07:03):
one and it just caught my eyeright off the bat, not only
because of it was just kind ofchecking out the different
houses and I saw this one and itjust caught my eye right off
the bat, not only because it wasjust cool structure, but then
it was also on water and, beingfrom Florida, you always want to
be on water, so it's alwaysgreat.

Right.
So have you ever been up hereto the northeast of New York
before?

Ron Clapp (07:21):
We had never been here at all.
So I was born in Massachusetts,but basically I've been a
Floridian since I was five yearsold.

So wonderful, all right.
Can you share about yourexperience?
When you came here for thefirst time, Janaina was with you
, right.
How?
How was that feeling Like whathappened?

Ron Clapp (07:43):
It was actually.
It was really a surrealsituation, because there's a
walkway that comes kind ofthrough the woods and you can't
see the villa as you'reapproaching the house and then
all of a sudden, basically thewoods end and then there it is,
and the very first instant whenI saw the house, there was

(08:06):
actually a graffiti up in one ofthe upper windows and it
actually had my name, Ron.
That's crazy.
And so I immediately stopped,um, and I just turned to Janaina
and I says you're never goingto believe this.
And uh, basically pointed up tothat top window and and uh, it
was you know, because the househas that um, haunted kind of a

(08:29):
story behind it.
Yeah, but as a Christian, I gotsuch a piece about the, the
house it's, it was you know.
Yes, it was very cool to see to, to see my name, but it was
just more of a positive sign.
That's why.

I love that there always are signs.
You just have to pay attentionto them.
Right?
Yeah, absolutely Okay.
What other projects have youdone before that were
challenging?

Ron Clapp (08:58):
Well, I've, so I've been involved in real estate for
now 20, 22 years, so so, uh,I've had lots of renovations
along the uh the process.
Nothing to the scale, um, butI'll say I was bored in 2018 and
, uh, and I went out to, uh.
I had gone to Hawaii, uh, theyear before and was just

(09:19):
intrigued by this open, vastland that was, um, at the bottom
of Kilauea.
Basically, the whole area hadgotten devastated with lava and
it was just covered with blacklava, with an ocean front and
the Kilauea volcano in the back.

Janaina Leite (09:35):
It had a beautiness to it, for sure, wow.

Ron Clapp (09:41):
And so basically I said somebody's got to own this
land.
So I kind of began my researchfrom there and actually I built
in 2018, I built a cargocontainer duplex basically out
of three 40-foot containers andit's all off-grid so it has a
catchment tank for water andsolar powered.
But once you actually go insidethe cargo container, you'd

(10:04):
actually have no idea that youwere in a fully dry wall.
You know, fans in the window,fans in the ceilings and
beautiful decor.

Wow, that's lovely .
So that's open.
Is it like an Airbnb or VRBO?

Ron Clapp (10:19):
It's a vacation rental, so it's on Airbnb and
VRBO.
What's that site?
Homeonthelava.
com.

Nice.
I'm going to add that on myshow notes so that my listeners,
if they're interested, they canlook at that.
Absolutely Wonderful, all right, what's your goal for this
renovation, and can you explainwhy it's a renovation and not a
complete restoration?
What's the difference?

Ron Clapp (10:45):
Well, that's a really good question, because the fact
is that it is a renovation, butit is also a restoration in the
fact that we want to keep asmuch of the integrity of the
look and feel of the villa ofits original, you know wonderful
that we want to keep as much aspossible, but we also want to
add those, you know, modernthings like electricity For sure

(11:06):
, Flushing toilets.
So this, you know, and we'regoing to.
You know, yes, we're going tomake it our own, but it's also
it's going to be.
You know, our goal for theproperty is to, uh, the original
thought was to have it as a bedand breakfast, and then I
realized that I had to feed thepeople that are here, because

(11:27):
you can't just be hungry and gogo down the corner to the street
.
So we have to have a restaurantto some, to some degree, and I
figured that that was actually agreat opportunity, because the
boating community is so huge uphere that there's going to want
to be people that are just goingto.
You know, come here for the,for the restaurant.
The other aspect of that, uh,or the uh, another bonus of

(11:51):
being a restaurant, is the factthat not everyone is going to be
able to or want to stay, uh,stay the night in the bed and
breakfast, Um, and so therestaurant opens it up for more
opportunity for people to tocome and visit and experience
the villa in what will be allit's, you know, grandeur.

So, absolutely well, Woody, and I will be one
of your first ones to do that.
Just saying, so, you bought theproperty from Charles and
William Miller, correct?
They still have a home andproperty here as well, right,
correct?
Why do you think that theychose your offer to buy this
villa?

I think it was timing.
I think a lot of it was alsotiming for them, right.

Ron Clapp (12:37):
Yeah, it had been for sale for a number of years.
Yes, you know, frankly, I don'tknow why nobody else bought it
years.
Um, you know, frankly, I don'tknow why nobody else bought it.
Um, you know, yes, it is a bigendeavor, it's, and this is not
for the faint of heart.
Um, I just, I just know that Ican do it, um, and it's just
let's, let's go, let's, uh,let's move forward.

(12:58):
Um, but I think that they, youknow, they want to see it come
back to life.
You know, they actually grew upnext door, right, their
families have been.
You know, they actually, theirhouse was built in 1879.
So it was actually so manygenerations.

It was built before.
Yeah, built before the villa.

Ron Clapp (13:21):
Right, so so I think that that was an important
aspect too, but, um, you know,as far as why they accepted our
offer, I think we got, we made,the biggest offer that you know
and

And they probably saw the timing and that you have
that drive.
They they could see that youwere serious about undertaking
this right, absolutely.
How has the community here inCape Vincent been supportive?
Have they shown that to you?

Ron Clapp (13:47):
You know, coming from, you know not to downgrade
Florida at all because I loveFlorida, but the community up
here has been incredible,Absolutely incredible.
There's that's great to hear,and it's not just because of the
supporting of the villa, right,it's, it's.
They've just been really greatneighbors and that's you know.

(14:07):
That extends to, to everywhereI mean we're.
We're playing pickleball withpeople up here, and it's just
you know, such a welcomingenvironment here.

And just everyone goes over and above to help
everyone else.

It's a tight knit community for sure.

Yeah, and they're so excited, uh, about what
we're doing and they're justit's been wonderful yeah.

Ron Clapp (14:30):
Everybody has seen the villa.
You know if, if they're fromhere, they've seen the villa
over the years.
Um, and a lot of you know andwe've we see the feedback on on
Facebook and Instagram uh of youknow that they're sad about the
decline.
Um, and, yes, I wish that therewas somebody that came before
me that you know had stopped thedeterioration, but

(14:53):
unfortunately there wasn't.
But they're just so gratefulthat the deterioration is going
to stop.

Yeah, and Woody and I, you know, when we saw
that it was sold, and thenreading more about you guys and
following you on Facebook andseeing your determination and
all of that was just sorefreshing because we never
thought that somebody was goingto first buy the property and
then try to save the villa,which is a whole nother thing to
take on.

So because it's one thing to buy the property
just to own it and to have it,yes.
It's another thing to actuallyrestore it, slash, renovate it.

Exactly, which is so great, because you can do
both.
Right, there's no rules aboutthat, so awesome, all right, you
guys are not afraid to getdirty.
Last fall, you began cleaningup the basement right below
where we're sitting right now,and when I saw that, that spoke
volumes about your tenacity,your willpower and the vision

(15:49):
that you both have to make thisrenovation possible.
You are true visionaries to me.
Thank you.
What keeps motivating you?

Ron Clapp (15:59):
Well, it's not done yet.
So that's the majorcontributing factor.
I got finished.
You know, in in Florida I haveyear round, you know, perfect
weather work, um, and so this isdefinitely an interesting
different animal in the factthat I can only really work from
May to maybe October.

(16:22):
You know, end of October, um,on things.
So, uh, you know that makes itan extended schedule all by
itself, not counting that it'sgoing to take time to do this.
Um, you know, I would love tohave this done in three years.
You know is going to take fiveyears, baby, I don't want it to
take any longer than that.

(16:42):
I want it.
I want it up and running andbeing able to be in three years.
I think that's great.
I think all of the things thatwe're doing right now, um, you
know, a lot of people are seeingit and saying, well, I don't
see any change yet.
Well unfortunately that takes alot of planning to get to that
point.
Um and I I've really hoped tobe, you know, swinging hammers

(17:02):
next, next year.

And to only have six or seven months to get to do
things you know is definitely aproblem.
It's half the time, like yourproject's in Florida, right
Because of the, or even Hawaii,right Because of the weather,
for sure, correct, which leadsme to this next question.
So we know the process is ahuge undertaking.
You've done 3D drone scanning,a full property landscape survey
, diving into the river tosurvey the bottoms of North and

(17:33):
South bays.
So tell us about thosehappenings and why it takes all
of that to even get you startedon this blueprint.

Ron Clapp (17:37):
Well, because of the original.
I would have loved to have hadthe original drawings of the
home of the villa, but from whatwe understand they were burned
in a fire somewhere along theway.
We don't know if that happenedat Cornell or if that happened,
because basically the originalarchitect was basically the

(17:58):
first architect of Cornell, andso he did a number of properties
.

That was William Miller, right, William Miller
Yeah, yep, um, and actually oneof his uh descendants has
reached out to me.
Yes, oh, how wonderful onsocial media and basically he
was, he was excited to to see itand he's like our family had
forgotten about this one kind ofthing, because he's done a lot
of oh, sure, sure, um, so it'swas cool to have to cool to have

(18:24):
that Um and we've had a lot ofthe Wyckoff's reach out to us
too.
Yes, yes, I've been able to uh.
I'm an.
I'm an honorary member of theWyckoff association on uh on
Facebook.
Yes.

Ron Clapp (18:38):
And uh, so I've been able to, you know, share the
process with them as well.

That's great to have all that support from all,
all across the board.
So you've talked about yourFacebook page and you have
Instagram, which has allowedviewers a chance to see what you
guys have been doing, and Ithink it's great that you're
sharing that process firsthandbecause it gets people excited.
They want to see the progress.
Um, do you think you're alsoreaching a broader audience

(19:03):
besides the Thousand Islands?

Ron Clapp (19:05):
Absolutely, and actually we've had people that
have reached out to us fromAustralia, from Texas, from, you
know, all over the UnitedStates, that basically have said
, hey, we're following theprocess and the other thing,
that and why.
You know, I was not on socialmedia prior to owning the villa.
I was proud to say that I neverwent on Facebook and I had a

(19:27):
page but I never did anythingwith it.
It was nothing Right.
But because of the significanceof the villa, the what we've
discovered about the communitywanting to know about it, share
the things, but what it's also,you know, kind of my tagline for
the Carleton Villa is givinghistory a new life, and I want

(19:49):
other people to realize thatthey can do this process.
You know they don't need to goto this scale to this grand.
But they can say let's take thatstep, let's renovate that house
, and you know.

Yeah let's preserve it.
Let's just take actions andsteps forward to to.
it is yeah, and all of myrenovations that I've done, um,
you know, I've never had to do a3D uh scanning.
You know, with a drone flyingaround the property I never had
to do the.
You know the special camerasthat we had go inside to create

(20:25):
the um, you know the floor plansand that kind of stuff.
But basically that's what.
Why we did those 3D scans andthe special photography was
because we needed to create andthat's the great part about
technology, which again is greattiming for the renovation of
this property because, otherwisepeople would have had to be
painstakingly measuringeverything to create new floor

(20:47):
plans.
But because of technology, thesedays, with a drone flight, it's
just phenomenal.

It is amazing to see all that technology and how
that can make that happen.

Ron Clapp (20:57):
It's really down to an eighth or a quarter of an
inch accuracy which is justincredible.

It's mind blowing, isn't it?

Ron Clapp (21:04):
So and then, even with we just recently had, like
you said, the we did atopographic survey and a
bathymetric survey for the baysum, that we use the LIDAR that
was on a drone flying over theproperty and and giving us the
you know that topographic, thetopography of the land, and

(21:30):
again, never did that before,but I'm sharing it online, so
people can understand it and seethe process and that is can be
done.
It can be done.
That's wonderful.
Okay, you guys camped in a tentovernight recently right here.
I mean not inside, but outsideI wanted to do it inside.

(21:51):
I understand, girl, I totallyget it, and you had some friends
that came along as well.
It's a two-part question First,was it spooky?
And second, what else did youdiscover while you guys were
here for that Almost a day and ahalf, basically?
Actually, we spent two nights here.
Two nights, okay, perfect.
So it was really two and a halfdays that we're here.
Basically, we camped out on theside yard, you know, because of

(22:15):
the story about, you know, thevilla that basically the the
original owner, uh, William, uh,Wyckoff you know, he basically
sadly, he, his wife, died themonth before it was complete.
Yes, and he died um after thefirst night staying here.

It's such a tragedy, such a tragedy.

Ron Clapp (22:35):
So we took the opportunity that you know we
needed to, to confirm that wewere going to make it after.

That's why I'm like was it spooky at all?
Because you know all thathistory right.

Ron Clapp (22:47):
I wasn't worried.

I wasn't worried, I didn't feel like it was
spooky.
I felt, I felt like it wasactually beautiful.
You can see from the tent, youcan see the top of the villa,
the silhouette, oh yeah and uh.
You know, I didn't see any eyeslooking back at us no negative
vibes or anything like that.

Ron Clapp (23:08):
Like you said, we had some friends out that that came
out.
Uh, you know, one of the day,one of the nights, and uh, we,
you know, set up a little fireand and just just had a good
time.
I just ate, had had some dinner, you know, cooked on there.

Anything, it was extremely serene and it was
really beautiful and peaceful.
And then, uh, you love it.
It was really great.

Ron Clapp (23:29):
And we've got some really cool night shots.
You did.

Those stars were just magnificent.

Ron Clapp (23:34):
Cause you're you're far enough away from you know
not, that Cape Vincent has a lotof light pollution.
Right, you definitely don'thave any light pollution out
here on the island.

No, you're even more removed from it because of
the water surrounding it.
To have that clear view.
I mean, it's just, they werebeautiful, it was beautiful.

Ron Clapp (23:51):
It was great.

Awesome.
Did you discover anything new?
Oh yeah, yeah, what did you discover?

Ron Clapp (23:58):
One of the other days we had the tree survey being
done.
Yes, and he actually, matthewfrom Ramshorn Surveying.
He basically came out with hisfamily and so he and his wife
worked together in regards todoing the tree hugging and
measuring the trees.
Basically, we were surveyingtrees that were 12 inches or

(24:20):
greater, sure, but his kids,they were actually down by the
water in the North Bay and umand the beach just enjoying it,
which was great for me becauseof the fact that, you know, just
having seeing families, youknow happy, and just kind of
just the kids having a good timeall on their own, without you
know, without any issue and uh,so that was great.

(24:42):
But they also we didn't know it, but they were, they were being
little treasure hunters andthey, they found a whole bag of,
you know well, they created abag of just different pieces of
pottery and different pieces ofstonework that they just found,
uh, found on the.
They took it upon themselves todo that.

Wow, I love.
Wow, they sure did I love that.

So it was cool, the little ingenuity there.
Yep, yeah, absolutely.
And North Bay is special toWoody and I and our friends and
a lot of the locals here.
We will take, you know, not forsale in some of our other
friends' boats, and we will goand hang out for a couple of
hours and picnic on the boat andlisten to a little music, to
little music.
And it's a special bay, right,you know.
It has that really serene vibeto it, absolutely.

And what I loved, what I discovered personally
during that trip out here, isthat there are a lot of berries
and grapes all over the place.

I love that.
Yes, the natural fruits.
And it's still here growing,Sure, all on its own.
Nature has a way of doing that.
It will always find a way tostill survive so.
But the villa needs help.
So that's what you guys aredoing so.

Ron Clapp (25:48):
That's great it does.
that's true, but you can stillsee that vision of knowing that.
That's why you guys are suchvisionaries.
So here's my last questionwhat is the biggest challenge at

(26:11):
this moment that you're dealingwith?
You know it's kind of a toughquestion.
There's no right or wrong,because I'm sure there's a lot
of them but like what reallykeeps you awake at night?
Nothing keeps me up at night, because I really have,
um, you know, my faith hasbrought me here and so my faith
will bring me all the way.
So that's, I really have agreat piece about it.

(26:31):
You know, um, you know I do mymorning devotionals, uh, in in
the morning over at East endpark, um, while we're up here
and and I just look over here,and it's his plan.
So it may be a slower schedulethan what I'd ideally like to
have, but it's God's timing, notmine, and I'm going to try to

(26:55):
help facilitate that timing asmuch as possible, but that's
what it is.
I have a great piece about theproperty and I, and so many
things over this time periodhave, you know, I'll say,
green-lighted this, this wholeprocess, and just shown that
it's that this is where we're,what we're supposed to be doing.

(27:16):
So, so, really, you know, willthere be stresses down the line?
Yes, um, but is it, is it overconsuming me?
No, not right now.

That's wonderful to hear, because you don't.
You don't want to be stressedabout.
You know it's going to be anundertaking.
You're you're saying threeyears, but maybe it'll be five
years, but it doesn't matter.
Every day you're, you'reworking on something, even if
you can't see it, you're workingon behind the scenes, and
that's what's important.
That's what you got to do everyday.
Keep moving forward and, beforeyou know it, you know those

(27:47):
three years will pass and you,or even a year from now, and
you'll say wow, look at whatwe've accomplished.
Even you guys coming back thisspring and summer and seeing the
work you did last fall Right,right, like you know, you did
that.

Ron Clapp (28:07):
And it was instrumental and it was really
important that we did last year,you know again, we had never
done 3D scanning before.
So I wanted to try to clean upas much as possible, because I
didn't know what the cameraswere going to pick up Exactly.
And and we, just we just did it.
You know, we had tried to, youknow, get a few contractors out
there um to do some cleanupprocess.
Couldn't line them up.

Right?
Um, so you know what we will doit.
We'll do it ourselves.

Ron Clapp (28:26):
I mean, we're here to , we're here for this project,
yes, so that's.
You know, that's what I'm herefor.
If I, if you know, I'm not bigon swinging hammers in regards
to the, the, the work, but ifthat's what it's going to take
to get certain things done, thenso be it.
This is what we're doing, butwe're actively working on it.
We're hopefully having a kindof a land ramp for barges to be

(28:51):
able to come in in the comingdays.
So there's things that aremoving forward to get us ready
for next spring, so we can dosome things.
That's wonderful and I'm abeliever of any project.
Even if it's your own home thatyou're going to live in and
it's an older home, you have togo in and do the work, like you
have to start with a foundationof, like whatever needs to be

(29:11):
cleaned up or whatever.
So the house knows, or thisbeautiful villa knows, that you
guys are in it for the long hauland that's the connection.
I think that you guys have.
One more thing.
I guess cause this is remindingme when you showed us around
the property when you guys camethat first day and you looked up
can you tell my audience whatyou saw when you looked up, when

(29:32):
you, when you, when you firstwalked that path and you looked
up first saw the villa.
Yes, oh, I saw my name spray painted in the upper
window.
Yes, it was definitely a verysurreal situation, but again, it
was just a sign that we weredoing the right thing.

We'd like to know who the Ron from 82 is.

Ron Clapp (29:53):
There's an 82 in the middle of the O of the Ron.

We need to put that out there, maybe on your
Facebook and Instagram.
Say listen, anybody remember1982 Ron doing that?
And you'll be surprised.
Now with social media, youmight be able to, and that's
kind of cool.

Ron Clapp (30:08):
Yeah, we have discovered that because
everybody's.
There's a lot of pictures ofthe inside with the graffiti and
there's a Pablo was here overthe staircase.
We have confirmation.

We have confirmation.

Ron Clapp (30:20):
We have confirmation that there was no Pablo.
His name wasn't Pablo.
They just had white paint andthey painted it on the wall.

We found the culprit and his name was not
Pablo.
Just being funny.
They were just being funny.
But just the fact that, with it being abandoned
for so long, you know, theinside was covered in graffiti.
So for the for that to be thefirst, first seriously piece of

(30:51):
graffiti that we saw, that wasactually just perfectly written.
It didn't really even comeacross as graffiti, no, and it
was on the outside.
It's projected from the outside.

And it's bold.
Like those letters are boldRight.

I mean just say, Ron, I didn't be within the
first 10 seconds of seeing thevillain in person.
That was just overwhelminglyamazing.

I can imagine.
I can imagine.
Well, is there anything elsethat either one of you would
like to share with my listeners?
How about this?
Is there anything like ifpeople want to help out, or are
you doing any kind offundraising or anything like
that that you're thinking aboutin the future?

Ron Clapp (31:34):
I'll let her start if she wanted to say something.

Well, I wanted to thank everybody.
I wanted to thank the Millers,I wanted to thank all of the
people that live here on theisland, the Kernans, the Kernans
you know all of the people thatlive on this island, everyone
in Cape Vincent, for yoursupport and for your kindness,
and that really goes a reallylong way, and that really goes a

(32:02):
really long way.
Being from Florida, the lastthing that we wanted to do was
come in and disrupt a town thatis so tight-knit and so
beautiful.
That's the last thing we wantedto do, and so that, to me, is
just.
I'm so grateful for that and Iwanted to thank them, thank
everyone,

(32:26):
Well, we can feel that, wesense that and we thank you guys
too, because you know, timingis everything and for you guys
to come in and keep doing somemore things to make our little
community even better for ourlocals and for tourists coming
in, and we're a special littletown and you guys are fitting in
perfectly.
So we thank you for coming inand believing in us.

Ron Clapp (32:47):
Thank you.
Yeah, you mentioned in regardsto you know what's what's coming
up and what's you know is therefundraising aspects?
Yes, there, there is certainlya component to this of the
fundraising.
You know, and just because ofthe, I want to be, as, in tech,
have as much integrity inregards to the process that this
is why some of the planningstages of what we've been doing

(33:10):
to show that this is really youknow, there was, there was
actually GoFundMe pages createdway before when, when they were
trying to just buy the, to buythe property.

Oh really, and they never knew that.
Okay.

Ron Clapp (33:24):
Where that money went , I have no idea, but I didn't
want to do fundraising too earlyon because I wanted to
basically be able to demonstrateand show that this is actually
really going to happen andyou're committed.
And that's been a great partabout people that have reached
out already to volunteer theirtime.
Unfortunately, it's almosttough to have volunteers here on

(33:48):
the property, just for safety'ssake.
Oh absolutely.
But there's definitely going tobe that component for
volunteering.
We want to involve thecommunity with this project.

And so many people want to help so many
people have offered their helpfrom all over the place.
So we're working on some thingsto um, uh, to, to help, uh,
help.
Start to raise some funds.
You know whether it be you know, we've had some t-shirts made

(34:20):
and people are like oh well, canI, can I buy one of those
t-shirts?
I hadn't made them yet, but I'mgoing to.
Uh, we actually just justfinalized a new logo, um, for
the Carleton Villa.
So that's been one of.
That's actually that when you'dmentioned, has there been a
challenge?
Ironically enough, that's theonly one that I found to be a
little tough is finding theright logo that represents what

(34:45):
this beautiful, beautifulstructure.

Cause that's branding and you want that cause
, that'll be it, and they'llalways t-shirt, bumper stickers,
whatever right?
So it is a big to do to makethat decision.

Ron Clapp (34:56):
But there's going to be, you know, I want to say that
in the, in the back of my mind,for all the different ideas and
that kind of stuff.
I think there's going to beopportunities for, um, you know,
uh, we'll say a major donor tobe able to name a room.
You know that's uh within thevilla, so that's it's really
there, it's there, it's there.

People will love that.

Ron Clapp (35:16):
So I think that there's different you know, we
can certainly do the bricks andthat kind of stuff that we can
have.
You know, people put their,their names on it and those are.
Those are the things that youknow we're we're going to do.
But, um, you know, there's anopportunity, there's potential
that we're going to try to buildsome cabins, uh, and that will
be able to allow people, whilewe're in construction, to be

(35:36):
able to actually experience theproperty.
There's a great big wooded areathat's behind our property that
we do own, and so that's in theworks as well, that we're
trying to figure out.
If we can do it.
That's fantastic, but it's theway that somebody is going to be

(36:00):
able to say, okay, let me give.
Let me give to the CarletonVilla, because I know that it's
going to the restoration, but Igot, I also get a night stay.

It's a bonus, right, yeah, we want to make
because of those other Gofunding pages and stuff like
that.
We might just make sure we'reclear with everyone.

Absolutely.
Cause is it nine,
6.9, 6.9 acres and basically weback up right up to um Fort
Haldimand.
There's also that tie in too inthe fact that people are going
to.
You know not that there's muchup there as far as you know the
fort structure and everything,but you'll be able to experience
the uh, the height of, you knowof what the fort was

(36:38):
overlooking.
You've got incredible views upthere.
Yes, there are still someremnants of the chimneys that
are up there yeah.
But you can see some of theshape of the fort and that kind
of stuff.
Absolutely.
Well, for the history buffs andthere are a lot out there, and
Woody and I are definitelyhistory buffs I mean for Fort
Haldimand to be your neighborand to make that more accessible
.
You know, I'm sure that thatcould be done in the future.

(37:00):
What a great opportunity.

Ron Clapp (37:01):
And from what we understand, there are artifacts
from from the fort that are inmuseums that are not anywhere
remotely close to here, and soyou know if we can bring some of
those items back to the villafor display.
Oh yeah, I think that justhelps to tie it all together,
you know the museums um.

(37:23):
You know, at Cape Vincentmuseum um has a great little
display for the Carleton Villain there but they've got lots,
there's a lot more to CapeVincent as far as the history.
Absolutely, it just allows morepeople to get involved in in
the history.
And so, yes, there's, there'slots of opportunities that are
going to be coming.

Wonderful.
Well, I can't thank you bothenough for letting me interview
you here.
I mean, it makes me feel like Idon't know, it's a surreal
moment.
I'm still like in shock aboutit.
So I thank you for allowingthat today and we're just
looking forward to all theprogress that keeps happening
and we support you guys so much

And the only thing I was going to say is to
look out at night towards thevilla and island.
It's a little secret to lookout, during the winter, I guess,
and starting in October.

Yes, it's a surprise, awesome, awesome.
And one more thing I guess youwant to see a little bit of snow
maybe before you go back toFlorida.
Right, I'm staying until we seesnow.
It could happen in October,probably not, but it could you
never say never when it comes tothe North

(38:45):
I've been consistently tellingher she only needs to see it one
night.
This is already, you know,considerably colder than what
you're used to.
Exactly, exactly, all right, t Thanks again, guys.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Be sure to check out my shownotes and links on my website,

(39:05):
Nearest And Dearest Podcast, orfrom wherever you listen to my
podcast.
There you will find hyperlinksfor more information about this
episode.
Thank you for listening.
The views and opinionsexpressed by Nearest And Dearest
Podcast are those of theauthors and do not necessarily

(39:27):
reflect the official policy orposition of Nearest And Dearest
Podcast.
Any content provided by JulieRogers or any other authors are
of their opinion.
They are not intended to malignany religion, ethnic group,
club, organization, company,individual or anyone or anything

(39:49):
.
Thank you you.

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⭐️RE-RELEASE-Carleton Island Past & Present - Renovation of the Villa

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