Colden Mansion Ruins

The future Colden Mansion Ruins Heritage Park will be at the site of the ruins of the Cadwallader Colden Jr. estate. Cadwallader Colden Jr. was a brother of Jane Colden and built this home for his family on the grounds of his parent's farm. According to the historic marker it was built in 1767 which means Jane, having died in either 1760 or 1766 (there seem to be two dates) could never have spent time here. With what remains of the house, it's hard to imagine what it once looked like but it's possible to get some sense of the interior by visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the woodwork from the first floor west parlor has been preserved. It wasn't possible for me to walk around the ruins as they have been recently fenced off due to vandalism. I don't know if that was a problem before, but I imagine the new big green sign has encouraged this type of activity.

Coldengham/Coldenham

There still is a town of Coldenham near the Colden ruins although it doesn't consist of much more than the intersection of Coldenham Rd. and Rte. 17k. The most obvious traces of the family name are the Coldenham Fire Department and the Colden Manor, a banquet facility located at the traffic light. There were a few guys working on a car in the parking lot of the Fire Department and after taking pictures of the gleaming row of trucks, I asked them where the name Coldenham had come from. They didn't seem to know but one of them said there was something going on further down 17k and I should keep a look out for a big green sign. It's always interesting how names are absorbed into a community and while some people are interested in preserving local history, others are living their lives, in their town, no matter what the name.

Coldenham Preservation and Historical Society

The project Looking for Jane Colden officially began when I attended the May meeting of the Coldenham Preservation and Historical Society which took place in Montgomery, NY near the ruins of the Colden estate. Montgomery may very well sit on land that was part of the original 3000 acre farm that belonged to Jane's parents, Alice and Cadwallader Colden in the 1700's but I neglected to ask any of the well informed people attending the meeting. Our time was spent listening to an interesting lecture by Sara Stidstone Gronim titled What Jane Knew. It appears Jane knew a good deal, especially for a young woman of that time period, and my interest is in finding traces of that knowledge and of Jane herself.