Driftwood

Further round the bend at look what is there.

It's bigger and in better shape than the house, completely made out of Pennsylvania field stone.

I am not a hoot. I am a quick footed blond female that was quick on my feet, years ago. Remember I was raised in Las Vegas so New York was amateur land...End of story ...The names have been changed to help the innocent. Not a LOL....

The sign says it's under management by the Fed who is trying to restore it as it is the biggest known stone barn in the county, possibly the state.

I kept walking....

sk, We Philadelphians are slower than New Yorkers.

This is the most magnificent Sycamore I have ever seen.

Can you believe the size of these limbs?

This is a knot on one of the limbs.

I'm so happy it was not pruned.

If the Fed wasn't involved, I'd chop this junk off.

None of the trees around it stands a chance. There are a number of them split in half from the weight of these limbs.

I personnaly don't think this somewhat restored structure is safe from it.

Here's it's trunk.

Don't know what this building was, the fed must be using it for offices. There's an old wild Rhodo off to the side. The fieldstone is starting to come through.

If you see a "Do not Enter" sign, don't wait 40 years to check it out!! Sorry, Pirl. Didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Stay in touch with the property, see how progress goes with restoration.
These are great photos.
I think the sycamore knot qualifies as a driftwood object so no pirating as far as I can see.

Sorry to drift from the subject LOL
I just couldnt decide where this project belonged.
My garden hose guides are made of rebar( dangerous and ugly)
I have been working with fused grocery bags and all things plastic.
I have made bags mostly but treid some cone shapes for trees.
I modified them to cover the rebars and made plastic guides for the hose.

Stormy what an adventure. Those pics are great. The size of that tree is truly impressive. What beautiful old buildings.
ge, those hose guards look like party hats leading us to the party. LOL
I will have to search fused grocery bags. I don't know anything about that craft.

When I saw that huge sycamore tree, I was reminded of the song we used to sing when I was a child...

Zacchaeus was a wee little man

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.
And as the Savior passed him by, He looked up in the tree,
And he said, "Zacchaeus, you come down from there;
For I'm going to your house today, for I'm going to your house today"

Zacchaeus came down from that tree, as happy as he could be,
He gave his money to the poor, and said: "What a better man I'll be."

stormy - you're welcome to hijack anytime with photos as you've posted. Loved the sycamore, of course! I think the small building may have been a caretaker's cottage. There were many huge estates, mostly in Nassau County (twenty minutes to NYC), for the very wealthy people of the 20's when the area was called The Gold Coast. I've seen many of them on Decorator's Showcase tours but none had a barn like the one you showed us.

The barn is magnificent. It deserves saving!

This piece hangs in the stairway to the second floor right next to the front door. It is not quite 3ft long and although rather plain I love the lines. It hangs over the coat rack that Ric made for me several years ago. The coat rack is made from oak boards that use to line of the horse stalls and the coat hooks were used to hang the bridles from.
BTW. Those are all hand painted ceramics that I made years ago.

This message was edited Nov 29, 2009 11:40 AM

Here is my Bahamanian watercolor. I just laid a few pieces around the edge to get an idea of what it will look like. I plan on matting it with a woven mat maybe something grassy or a material like burlap. Then a plain wood frame (maybe Ric will make that) and then add the drift wood. I have a lot of small driftwood in 5 gallon buckets for craft projects like mobiles and Ric reminded me that there is a wheelbarrow full down in the barn that came home from the beach on our last trip.

Really special rack Holly
The painting is great.It wouls seem assembling driftwood for a frame is like working a jugsaw puzzle.

That is a lovely shaped piece of driftwood above the coat rack, Holly, and your ceramic pieces are great as is Ric's work.

I agree with Jo Ann that it will be like a jigsaw puzzle but great project for a grey winter day...or two or three.

What an adventure to be able to explore that old estate. Beautiful trees. Gave me goose-bumps. I love, love, love old houses of all kinds. This was really a treat to see. And what beautiful country where you live.

Ge, I love your hose guides. They look very festive and will be especially appreciated this coming drab winter. Hose guides drive me nuts. I tried 4 types, before settling on one and now don't have enough.

Holly, I love your driftwood and ceramics. I need a big ceramic turkey. I had one before, but sold it when I lived in the high rise. Not enough room there for so much "stuff".

I imagine you will spend a lot of time sorting your driftwood for that painting. I think it's really neat when people make great frames to compliment art work. I once had a really nice octagonal painting frame made out of barn wood. But every time I dusted it, it gave me hand splinters, so I got rid of it.

Stormy, You don't dust picture frames made from barn wood. You just let the dust pile up for a more authentic look. LOL
Josh and Jen made several very nice rustic frames from the old grey sawmill oak boards that had at one time been the old chicken house we still have some of those boards stored for future projects.
Here are a few more pieces some of them were used in the frame picture. The big piece is pretty interesting it is about 18 in. X 12 in. X 12 in. I've been thinking about polishing it with tongue oil and seeing what it looks like.

Oops,

UniqueTreasures, I like your song.

Polly, I've wanted to see those estates in Suffolk County. I've seen some of the ones on the Hudson, but haven't seen any of the beach ones on Long Island. I'd really like to see them in the winter and fall as it wouldn't be so crowded. I remember touring the ones in Newport in August and the lines were terrible.

There are barns on all of these, because most of the barns were added in the 1840's, the era of the Gentlemen Agrarians. It was the time of scientific farming, practised by educated wealthy folks of other professions, who were compelled to carry on the family tradition of farming. Each of the owners of these estates were several generations of lawyers, judges, legislators, industrialists, scientists and nation builders. I can remember these lands all being actively farmed as recently as 10 years ago. A lot of the fields were rented out to other farmers. Even parts of the main section of VF Park were still farmed, but not anymore, other than to grow straw and hay for the deer.

Willowwind, Thank you. The East Coast of the US has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. We are so lucky to live here. Your part of the world is pretty spectacular too. Ours is just on a much smaller, gentler scale.

I found this old painting of the estate on the web this morning. Seems all of our forefathers were enamored of the Greek Revival style. If the British hadn't captured Philadelphia, the Capitol would probably still be here and most of our city would probably be done over in this style. It's interesting that the part of the house that is still standing is the oldest stone farm house portion, before the addition of all of the grand embellishments.

http://www.twofrog.com/walnuthill.html

Holly, Forgive me, I can't stand dust!! That neat piece in the right foreground would be great with some of those parasite plants growing on it, or used as a display for some tiny nice collectibles.

I love all the posts here about the ruins and the wood.
Many of those pieces look like diseased bones.
verry interesting

If we ever get the Greenhouse built I'm sure I'll be able to use some of them in there I like the idea of using them for parasite plants.

I love all the driftwood pieces, Holly! The more you stare at them the more you think of uses for them. I do that much too often as I'm collecting pieces at one of our beaches.

Bought a new Dust Buster...with a cord and several attachments and it would be ideal for dusting that frame! I wanted it for the sunroom/porch since there are always falling leaves from all the plants in there and it's great...much better than the battery operated type we have in the mud room.

My favorite estate is Coe Hall - all English Tudor and reminds me of my former home but on quite a different scale! http://www.plantingfields.org/ourstory/StoryMain.cfm

It must have been the day for tree adventures Stormy. After church we went out to the old cottonwood I'd seen the other day and tromped around taking pictures and picking up interesting pieces of wood. I found several to lay along the edges of flower beds I think. I'll have to get them cleaned up a little and have a better look.

What an absolutely great exploration you must have had with that old mansion. It's fascinating to hear the history that goes with it. The painting of it in earlier days really shows the grandeur you can still probably feel when around it. Those trees are enormous...much bigger than mine, but for Kansas this one is quite huge. It surprized us as we first drove past to see the east side of it completely hollowed out. It's probably still 40' -50' tall, and still full of buds up in the top, but has at least a 3' diameter hole in the base that goes to the ground. A bear could live in there except we don't have them in Kansas. My granddaughters thought it was fun to pose in, though the oldest was a little worried about what might come out of it. The 3 yr. old, shown below wasn't worried a bit.

Holly, your driftwood and ceramics are beautiful together, and that painting will look wonderful with that framing. Be sure you post pictures when it's done. Isn't it amazing what the Lord leaves around right at our fingertips if we just take time to see the beauty!

Willow

What a huge tree and what a gaping hole! I love how three year old children aren't afraid of much. She's adorable.

Willow, What a wonderful photo!! I don't think I've ever seen a Cottonwood Tree in person. Don't believe they are native here. My father's family farm on the praries of southwestern Ks. There are probably not more than 50 trees in a hundred square miles there. When they visit here, they feel like they've entered another world.

There is a cypress swamp about 35 miles from here just across the Delaware state line. I bet that would be a great place to look for driftwood. There is often quite a bit in our creeks and rivers. I have been wanting to get some ever since I saw this arrangement at the Burpee/Fordhook Farm.

Pirl, Thanks for that link. I will have to study it.

It appears from the photo that the sections of bark are protecting something. Do you have any idea of what it might be?

I use a lot of big bark pieces for clematis, roses (for protection of the bud unions) and just for decorative purposes. Sometimes I even use good looking or interesting logs to set off a photo.

Here's the west side and you can see from here the long branch that comes down and reaches clear to the other side of the little creek it's by. I had a hard time keeping my daughter from trying to climb across on it, as I would have probably tried some years ago. There was a lot of wood washed up along the fence from flood waters that had crossed here and it yielded a few interesting pieces.

That tree has very nice bark. Pirl, You are full of good ideas.