Historic Environments

After a trip to the beautiful Locust Grove, we drove down Route 9 to Academy
Street and stopped at the Springside historic site. From 1850-1852 Matthew Vassar worked with Andrew Downing to create his rural estate that is today known as Springside.  As we pulled up to Springside, the first thing we saw was a statue of Matthew Vassar similar to the one on Vassar’s campus.

None of us knew what to expect as Professor Beisaw told us that she couldn’t even figure out Springside and that it’s like walking into a maze! She was not wrong! We separated into two groups with the intention of meeting at the cottage foundation. We were instantly confused. Although the map had numbers where different sites were supposed to be, the signs on the property did not correspond to the site, and the sites did not correspond to the map.

Above you can see the map we were given, a few signs with numbers and pictures, but no historical sites, and definitely no cottage ruins! Finally, after walking a bit further we stumbled upon what we think were the ruins!

It was pretty cool to finally find something in the maze that is Springside! Despite all the chaos that Springside may be, I enjoyed exploring the area and learning more about Matthew Vassar’s past. Further, even though Joan provided us with a ton of expert information about the site; as a tourist, it was weird to have no idea where we were going or what we were seeing at any given time.

I think Springside is a pretty good example of a place that could use a lot of volunteers to bring it back to life and create a pretty awesome historical (and environmental) site!!

I am also going to briefly blog about our other adventures after Springside. We first stopped by Maple Grove, a mansion from the 1950s and  then the old cider mill right near the THs (where our van got stuck!).