Casperkill Watershed Oral History Project

The Casperkill along Old Farms Road in 1955

Dr. Melody Mordock has lived on Old Farms Road for about 18 years.  The Casperkill, which runs through her backyard, is an important feature of her property.  To begin with, there are the floods:

Flooding is pretty common. The last major flood came up and just smiled at us, like a half an inch before coming in into our downstairs porch, that’s how close it gets.

Right here (points beneath a tree in a picture) is where we buried our cat.  It really seemed safe enough because it was a beautiful lily pad there.  Well, I saw it floating down the Casperkill. I couldn’t stop that cat.  That’s the worst story…I haven’t really told the kids that one.  We’ve learned since that anything we plant that far down is a goner.  Needless to say we’ve had tons of furniture down there.  A nice swing, hammock, chairs, and we never know who inherits all this but they are gone (…) we started to chain our furniture up, but now we just give up.

Here are the kids actually tubing.  That was a big thing growing up, the kids would all just come to the yard.  Now this kid (pointing to someone in another picture) came to visit once, he was from Spackenkill High School.  When anyone came, I checked that they had swimming experience and parental permission.  So I had something signed, but I guess he fudged the signature because (…) as he’s pulling away he said, ‘I forgot to tell you, I can’t swim.’

So, next thing I know he’s out of the tube and he’s hanging onto a branch.  And this water—even though it’s not deep—it was the force.  He’s hanging onto the neighbor’s tree.  I had just gotten out of the shower and did not want to go in the stream, but I said ‘oh my god, he’s drowning.’  Meanwhile I’m screaming for my husband, but he says ‘oh they’ll be fine, don’t be overprotective.’  I said, ‘No, no, no, you don’t get it, you need to come now.’  And so next thing we know, the kid’s moved from the branch and he’s hanging onto my neighbor’s swing set.  And the current is just whipping him; he’s hanging on for dear life.  My husband and I both had to go into the current and get him off.”

Despite the floods and all of the unfortunate things they bring, Melody told us that for her family the Casperkill was still “the impetus for staying in this area.”

I would say the beauty of it is that it’s like a playground for young people…There was one day when my son happened to have his camera out and he said ‘gosh this is like National Geographic:’ there was an owl in the tree; there was a raccoon trying to get in the garbage; there was a chipmunk on the porch trying to get the cat food; there was a squirrel that was hanging off this umbrella trying to make a leap; and then of course there were the deer, every year they get my irises.

It’s also aesthetic. I just recently went out to put rocks in the stream to make a ripple sound, and it’s just peaceful. There’s something about the energy of the water passing that you just feel revitalized.  I mean, if there’s anything that I feel is healing, it’s being around water and just having that so close.  And then of course it draws: it draws children to it when they visit; it draws young adults, there’s something about the splashing and wanting to be wet; and it’s kind of like the great equalizer, water.  It just never disappoints.”

A bit further downstream, the Wellbrocks told us that the Casperkill has been an asset for them as well.  The Wellbrocks moved to Old Farms Road in the 1950s, when only a few speculation houses had been built on what was previously Hagan Farms.  With so few houses around, their sons were able to really explore and have fun in the creek.

Mrs. Wellbrock told us:

I know that the kids have had a lot of fun rafting, sleigh-riding.  I’ll never forget the time my son Dirk and his brother were taking the sled up to the top of that little hill over there and just sliding across.  The crick froze, or partially froze.  They came down the hill and hit a tree and Dirk went psh, right in the crick.  And everything below his waist was gone.  So he came in the house fast, frozen.  That was so funny.  Wasn’t funny at the time, though…”

The sledding hill was also apparently a good place to find arrowheads.  Mr. Wellbrock said that they’ve always thought that this area was “some sort of compound or village or something.”

In addition to the increase in the number of houses in their neighborhood, the Wellbrocks also say that they have noticed wildlife changes. “When we first came here, Dirk (their son) brought a huge fish, a carp, from the stream.”  They haven’t seen fish for many years, but they have noticed an increase in the number of deer around. “We have upwards of 6 or 8 in the yard at one time, and that’s a fairly new thing, we didn’t used to have deer here (…) It’s changed a lot over the years that we’ve been here.  It just is a different place now.”

The Casperkill along Old Farms Road in the winter of 1973

Special thank you to Melody Mordock and Anton Wellbrock for letting us use pictures from their personal collections.