LOCAL HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF HADLEY
SARATOGA ROSE
Katherine's House Judge Jeremy Rockwell, a participant in drawing up the New York State Constitution, attracted interesting people to the town. Many of these had money to invest. His son, Charles, was instrumental in getting the attention of businessman Meyer Van Zandt from New York City. The newcomer saw the advantages of Hadley's waterpower and the plentiful wood supply in the southern Adirondacks. Often, he visited the Rockwell home and, over sumptuous meals, the two men plotted the construction of a mill. It was there that Van Zandt met Rockwell's daughter Katherine, who became the love of his life. Rockwell, hoping to find her a good husband, did not have to throw the two together. When their eyes first met, Van Zandt and Katherine fell deeply in love. They pledged to one another that they would have a big, beautiful home and fill it with children. Rockwell built them a spacious Victorian home on a hill facing his own house when they married in 1885. The Van Zandt fortunes grew, and the happy home became the setting for joyous social events. Then came tragedy. Van Zandt developed an illness and quickly died, leaving Katherine broken hearted. Adopting black dress, as was the mourning custom, she withdrew from social life in the community. Katherine died soon after World War I. Around 1919 the house was purchased by business people interested in promoting the health benefits of Adirondack mountain air and "the Kellogg diet," which was based on grain consumption and abstinence from meats. The Hudson River Health Sanitarium now looked out over Katherine Van Zandt's lawns. Many such institutions and mountain cabins were popular among city folk, seeking to escape the foul atmospheres of the industrial cities to the south and east. Many came there to regain lost health. When the days of sanitaria passed, the building became a funeral home. Rockwell Street was off the beaten tourist path. When high-speed roads bypassed Hadley, only summer campers came through. Eventually, the old house sat abandoned. Then Katherine began to "show her stuff." There is a tale of two "city people" visiting Hadley one summer.
Seeing a "For Sale" sign in front of the old mansion, they couldn't believe their luck. They walked up the hill and onto the spacious porch. Looking through a large front window, they were surprised to see an elderly woman in a white dress sitting on a sofa. Hoping to see the house's interior, they tapped on the glass. When the woman turned toward them and saw them "she flew up to the ceiling," they told a later owner. They didn't stay to see the interior. In a few months another couple spotted the house and made an appointment with the realtor to see the house. They arrived at Katherine's house a half-hour early and strolled about the unkempt lawn, dreaming of how they would restore it. Then, venturing onto the porch, they tried the front door and were amazed that it opened for them. The morning sun illuminated the interior and they commented on the still-beautiful parquet floors. Moving into the rear dining room (as the building is configured today) they heard a noise - the realtor? Walking into the front room again, they were surprised to see and elegant coach and horse team just coming to a halt in front of the big front window. Iron rim wheels slowed to a stop, ending their racket. A tall man in top hat and Victorian dress entered the front door as they watched. Then an elegant woman in a long white gown descended the staircase in the front foyer. Joining hands, the man and woman walked through the couple! The realtor arrived to see the two prospective buyers running across the lawn to their car. No sale. But some local people, Jim and Peg Mandigo from Corinth, and Jim's cousin, Tom Gamache, did buy the building and turned it into High Clere, a bed and breakfast and restaurant. In 1982 they heard the wagon wheels on the front drive, but saw nothing outside. Noted Adirondack artist, Cate Mandigo, grew up there and often helped in running High Clere. Her husband was bussing tables at the evening meal once, when he looked into the front foyer just as a woman in a long white gown came down the stairs. "Boy, we have some classy people here tonight," he thought. "I wonder what table she is at." Taking his tray to the kitchen, he returned to the dining room, but could not find the woman again that night. The restaurant closed in 1983 and Tom lived there alone for a while.
He noted that some of his knick-knacks mysteriously continued to fall off shelves. When he wanted to take a bath he started water running in the tub in his room. If he left the room and returned, he often found the faucet turned off. Water was running in another tub in another room, though. Jimmy Mandigo had warned him, "Tom, you have to share space with a ghost." The next owners were Tony and Nancy Merlino, who did considerable restoration and opened the house in 1987 as "The Saratoga Rose," a restaurant and bed and breakfast. As they readied the building for its debut they worked long hours One night Nancy, exhausted, had gone to bed. Tony worked alone in the front parlor on a stepladder. He heard their chime clock strike midnight. In a split second every light in the house went out. As the twelfth chime sounded, all the lights came back on. Another major irritation during that period was the disappearance of tools. Sometimes they were found again, and sometimes not. During a pause in his labors, Tony sat on the front porch reading a newspaper. His peripheral vision caught sight of a woman in a white dress disappearing around the corner of the house. He quickly ran to that corner, yet no one was visible along the long side of the building.
Drop in at Katherine's house for a quiet gourmet meal or stay the weekend in one of the delightfully restored bedrooms. See if she likes you well enough to appear to you.
This web site was prepared for the New York State Department of State Division of Coastal
Resources with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund.