Yesterday morning I visited the site of the Coldenham ruins with Suzanne Isaksen, Town of Montgomery Historian and John Yrizarry, naturalist and interested citizen. Since we were with Suzanne it was a legal entry onto the property and we were able to make a leisurely tour of both the building and surrounding 8 plus acres. Following the current site map we saw the mansion and barn ruins and the remains of a cook house and various wells. We also walked around to all four edges of the property and discussed the various natural elements such as the wetland with narrow leaf cattail, the osage orange trees which must have been planted a good while after the house was built and debated which trees and plants should remain on the site. Since the Colden Mansion Heritage Park is only at the beginning stages many decisions such as the ultimate appearance and focus of the site have yet to be made. My interest in the property is as a piece of the original patent of Jane's father Cadwallader. I'm assuming many native plants included in Jane's botanical manuscript continue to grow in the area and it will be interesting to compare her list with what we find in the ground. It would also be interesting to find out if any of the seed exchanges between the Coldens and other botanists have yielded offspring which continue to thrive.
As we finished our tour we stood looking at the northern property line when John noticed a tree standing on the lawn of the warehouse next door. He believes it to be a chestnut oak and speculated it was as much as 300 years old. While I'm not certain what type of oak it is, I would like to believe his estimate of its' age because it would be the only thing I've seen thus far that existed when Jane lived.
