Carleton Island Past & Present - The Wyckoff Villa

No one ever said life is easy, but I believe by giving yourself permission you will find you have more control over your life than you realize. I'm Julie. I hope you will join me by taking responsibility for yourself, by only controlling the things you can and letting go of the things that you can't. By doing this you will have discovered the secret to having happy, healthy and more fulfilling relationships. This is Nearest and Dearest Podcast. I'm Julie Rogers and you are listening to Season 2, episode 12, Carleton Island Past and Present - The Wyckoff Villa. This is the second episode in my special series about Carleton Island. Located in Northern New York, surrounded by the mighty St Lawrence River, this almost three-square-mile island has quite a bit of mystery that has been a huge part of New York State's history.

William Ozmun Wyckoff was born in Lansing, New York, on February 16, 1835. His parents were farmers. His earlier ancestors came to the US around 1675 from Holland, settling on Long Island, New York. During the Civil War, William served two years in the 32nd New York Infantry, going in as a private and rising to the rank of captain. He was always interested in law. He received a diploma from Ames Business College in Syracuse. By 1866, he became an official court stenographer of the Supreme Court for the Sixth Judicial District of the state and remained in that position for 16 years. The Remington Typewriting Machine in 1875 got his attention. He started with them as a salesman for the Remington Standard Typewriter Company out of Ilion, New York. Due to the prosperous venture, around 1882, he established the firm Wyckoff, Seamans and Benedict with around $20,000 of capital along with a signed contract with E Remington and Sons taking over their sales department. So successful in their sales that by 1886, they bought the whole plant in patent rights. Wyckoff was president of this company, which now manufactured and sold the Remington Typewriter Machine. He married Francis Ives on October 20, 1863. They had two sons, Edward, who was born in 1867, and Clarence, who was born in 1876.

The Thousand Island region was starting to become a summertime paradise for the wealthy by the end of the 19th century, known as the Gilded Age. The Industrial Revolution that was erupting in the U. S. created the desire for the well-to-do families looking for a peaceful and serene vacation spot. Plenty of wealthy businessmen and politicians flocked to this natural, scenic and mesmerizing backdrop of the Thousand Islands. In May of 1893, William bought land from Henry M Folger for $11,440 on the head of Carleton Island. He constructed a $6,000 boat house known as the finest on the River and was getting ready to build a cottage designed by famed architect William Henry Miller. The beginning cost was said to be $25,000, but later changed to well over $100,000. That would be like spending almost $3.4 million today. The villa would be the first of such splendor among the Thousand Islands and be included amongst other landmarks such as Boldt Castle and Emery Castle. It has been said that Wyckoff enjoyed being on the island and overseeing all the construction, spending most of his time there during the process.

Sadly, five weeks prior to its completion in 1895, William's wife, Francis, passed away back home in Brooklyn. Just five weeks later, on July 11th, William passed away after only spending one night in his new villa. He was 60 years old. Reportedly, both Francis and William died from heart failure. Here's an excerpt from the Cape Vincent Eagle newspaper - Mr. Wyckoff had been in poor health for the past year, being afflicted with heart trouble. About five weeks since his wife died at the family residence in Brooklyn, and immediately after the sad event, Mr. Wyckoff with his two sons arrived at Carleton Island. It was hoped that the refreshing air of the river would improve and better his condition, but he gradually failed. Medical aid was summoned from Brooklyn, but every effort put forth to save his life proved futile.

The Wyckoff family would retain ownership of the villa for nearly three decades. Before 1910, the Carleton Villa would start appearing for summer rentals in publications such as Country Life In America, along with thousands of high-end rentals across the United States. It was described as fully furnished and made of Gouverneur Marble. Gouverneur New York by 1902 was ranked third in marble production in the US. The marble was especially desirable because it was of a higher quality and popular due to its durability, brilliance and uniformity of color.

In the 1920s, William's son, Edward, began selling some of the land associated with the estate Soon after the property was put up for sale. The Great Depression undoubtedly was a factor in both the decision to sell the villa and the fact that there were no buyers interested in purchasing it, with no offers over the span of several years. By 1928, the villa would be put up for auction along with a large amount of personal property. Listen to this list. It included livestock, 70 tons of hay, wagons, sleighs, over 2,000 books, rugs, guns, game trophies, a skiff and an ice scow, which is a large flat-bottom boat with broad-square ends used for transporting bulk materials like huge blocks of ice. When the villa was sold in the auction for $15,000 in 1928 to a bank out of Ithaca, New York, Carleton Island itself was discussed as being turned into a historical site for tourism on one end of the spectrum, while on the opposite end there was a lot of talk in the New York State Senate among some members to build a federal prison for habitual criminals. This idea, proposed by Senator Love of Brooklyn, would be greatly defeated due to the bitter responses from wealthy property owners in the Thousans Islands and Northern New York in general. Personally I'm glad that a prison was never established, but always thought perhaps a historical site for tourism would be a better option for such a beautiful island.

By 1930, general Electric was showing some interest in purchasing the majority of the island for creating a new summer recreation camp for their employees. According to the Watertown Daily Times newspaper, the General Electric Company is also understood to have bought the Wyckoff estate. Later that summer, GE began their buying spree of land from property owners on Carleton Island. They had plans including three golf courses, an elaborately illuminated camp, an assembly room and theater that would seat 500, a large mess hall, 38 Cottages, tennis courts, a baseball diamond, sewer systems, docks and canals. Due to the Great Depression that was happening by 1934, GE completely abandoned their grand ideas for Carleton Island. Their attention was focused more on Association Island, a 65-acre island located at the northern tip of Stony Point, a peninsula on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, which is part of Henderson, New York. Perhaps due to National Electric Lamp Association's ownership and establishment of a summer camp for their employees back in 1906, according to an article by Jonathan Croyle from NYUp. com, GE decided to put their money and efforts on the smaller island. The makings of a retreat was already started when GE took over the National Electric Lamp Association in 1912. So by 1927, GE developed the island into a full-scale company retreat and conference center.

In 1943, W. E. Dodge bought the property from General Electric and due to his salvaging some of the other properties on Carleton Island, including wanting to salvage the Wyckoff Villa, according to the Watertown Daily Times, it was reported on August 12, 1943, that the intention was to take down the villa in order to save on property taxes. However, that never happened and over the years, both the interior and exterior have been picked over with major signs of decay and disrepair. Memoryln. net was a great source of information for me when I was researching the villa. The spelling is M-E-M-O-R-Y-L-N. net. Thank you to Jim for sharing his knowledge about not only the Wyckoff Villa but all the wonderful history surrounding Northern New York. I'll share a link in my show notes for you to check out the interesting facts and photos MemoryLn has created.

The future of the Carleton Villa lies in the hands of Ron Clapp and Janaina Leite. In the summer of 2022, they felt compelled to rescue this magnificent piece of American history. They knew, by purchasing this crumbling landmark, that it would not be an easy road ahead. In the fall of 2022, Ron and Janaina, along with some friends, started the huge undertaking of cleaning the basement and first floor of this four-story 15,000 square foot villa. Ron shared on his Facebook page, Carleton Villa, a virtual walkthrough. The original architectural drawing of the villa no longer exists, so they used technology by using a 3D drone to scan the exterior and used a special 360 camera for the interior. This allowed them to create a 3D model, a floor plan and an elevation drawing which included a 360 walkthrough. I'll share the Carleton Villa links in my show notes on my Nearest And Dearest Podcast website, and you will also have access to the links from wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm excited to meet Ron and Janaina in person very soon. We have been staying in touch. I want to interview them for my next episode in this series. I'm hoping to take our boat over and get a chance to walk around the property and learn more about their plans, which have included restoring the villa with a possible bed and breakfast inn and restaurant.

When I first met Woody back in the summer of 2012, I remember going out on his boat named Knot For Sail. There's a play on words with the spelling K N O T S A I L. It's a 1974 Thompson 21-foot fishing boat that he modified by himself into a pleasure boat. His Aunt Julia left the boat to him. She knew he would take great care and keep it at camp to use for family and friends. So that summer I'm out on the boat and we are cruising around Carleton Island. It's my first time experiencing both the boat and the island up close. You can see the villa from our riverfront property, but seeing it from the advantage point by boat, strolling by was fascinating. I remember thinking it looks like a haunted castle. I felt sad for the villa that was deteriorating and wondered if anyone was going to try and save this historical Landmark? Woody shared with me some of the history he heard from coming up to camp with his family about the villa and the Old Fort. He has memories of seeing the last of the old chimney stacks that once stood where the Old Fort was built near North Bay.

Part of our boating on the St Lawrence River Includes taking the boat around Carleton Island and if the wind conditions are right, we will ride into North Bay just around the bend at the head of the island. Sometimes our friends will join us and we tie the boats together and enjoy the shallow water for swimming and relaxing. It's absolutely one of my favorite boating outings to do. It's nostalgic for me because I always look forward to seeing Carleton Island so close. It's like visiting an old friend who is welcoming me back every year.

The summers go by so very fast, every year faster and faster. It's a chance to slow down, put all your worries away and truly enjoy the natural surroundings the River offers, the massive ships that come and go around the island, sailboats that glide by with their sails fluttering in the wind, children enjoying being dragged on tubes, hearing their laughter and just being in the moment. The views and opinions expressed by Nearest And Dearest Podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Nearest And Dearest Podcast. Any content provided by Julie Rogers or any other authors are of their opinion. They are not intended to malign any religion, ethnicty, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything. Thank you!