Historic strip mines of Saugerties
When Harvey Fite bought his High Woods property in the late 1930s, he built a house with a magnificent view of Overlook Mountain, but also a view of a great scar, filled with bluestone rubble. It was an old bluestone quarry. He proceeded to reconstruct the rubble into what is now known as Opus 40, a National Historic Site and a Saugerties historic place. Did Harvey Fite ruin a historic site? Should he have been subject to a local commission’s idea of how to construct his masterpiece? Of course not. But, that is what the current effort on the part of the Historical Commission is about.
There are dozens of properties in the High Woods area that are old strip mine quarries. Are they historic? Perhaps, but only to the point that they are old history. There are six acres that include the Opus 40 sculpture, the remaining 44 acres are woodlands, with a few old quarry sites scattered about. My own 10 acres in High Woods has the same strip mines and huge piles of bluestone rubble. I wish it had never been mined. It ruined the woods for me. But the historical commission would have us believe that it must be regulated. So if I need to create a woodroad, cut down some trees, clean up hurricane damage, move my woodshed or what else, I would have to submit a plan for their approval. They then would become a big part of the decision of what I can do on my own land.
My family, then I, have been paying taxes on the land for 85 years. And so it is with the land adjoining Opus 40. It is just woodland, with some ugly scars of bygone strip-mining.
How many property owners in Saugerties own a “significant” piece of land — perhaps with a pond, a stream, a waterfall or a strip-mine? Someday you might be notified by the commission of a public hearing, designating your property as historic so they can be in control of how you should use your land. The Richards family ( Harvey Fite’s heirs), weren’t
asked, nor was a meeting held to discuss the pending designation of their property. They were just notified of a public hearing and now are passionately fighting to keep their property their own.
The Town Board can stop this from happening and I hope they will.
Hans Gunderud
Saugerties
Unanswered questionson Opus 40
This Opus 40 deal seems very complicated. The difficulty in disposing of property belonging to a not-for-profit raises complex questions about ownership of certain of the corporation’s assets. In the case of Opus 40, I imagine that much of the property is in fact art (sculptures, paintings, etc.) that may be worth much more than the real estate, perhaps millions. Normally, assets are transferred to another not-for-profit.
When secrecy and misinformation surround transactions we are forced to ask uncomfortable questions about the corporation’s assets and how they are disposed.
Bart Friedman
Saugerties
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