PHOTO: "The Black Mansion," a/k/a ruins of "The Crafts Mansion," Leon Levy Nature Preserve, South Salem, NY. CREDIT: Anonymous blogger at Reddit.com.
Black Mansion ruins remain silent in preserve
By Reece Alvarez on October 2, 2014
Lewisboro Ledger
Not far from the entrance of the Leon Levy Preserve in South Salem are the ruins of the Bell estate, known as the “Black Mansion.” Hardly resembling a residence, the ruins are more like the remnants of an ancient stone castle, with only a few pieces of free-standing wall and empty window casings to remind the generations of what once stood.
After many years of sitting idly in the preserve, what is to become of the Black Mansion? Town officials said this past spring that approvals are in place for repairs to the site, but work has yet to begin as time continues to pass the ruins by.
Black Mansion history
According to Town Historian Maureen Koehl, the mansion was developed along with many of the other structures on the property by an organic chemist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. James Mason Crafts, after he bought the property around 1890.
Among the structures built were a laboratory, ice house, coach house, and garage with six bays and a grease pit. A history of the mansion is included in Ms. Koehl’s book Lewisboro Ghosts: Strange Tales and Scary Sightings.
While the mansion is shrouded in overgrowth, many in Lewisboro can recall its past and its contribution to the character of the town, from the home of an eccentric organic chemist to a spontaneously and completely intact abandoned home that became a private hangout for teens.
“It was sketchy,” said Kevin Finney, who grew up in Lewisboro and currently works for the town’s Maintenance Department. “It was overrun and falling apart. It was a grand old home at one time, you could tell.”
Like Mr. Finney, police Chief Frank Secret was a teen when the mansion was still standing abandoned, and he can recall scaring friends around the mansion.
In 1923 Mr. Crafts sold the property to Abram Kaplan, who along with his family preferred to live in another residence on the property, leaving the main house unused, fully furnished and the target of curious adventurers and reclusive teens.
“Perhaps it was during this period that the mansion started being known as the Black Mansion,” Ms. Koehl wrote. “It was if the family had just decided to go for a walk and forgotten the way back home. No one knows if they even bothered to lock the doors when they left. Before long, the mansion became a place of mystery and intrigue. Kids playing in the woods would walk through the empty halls and rooms wide-eyed, staring at the broken elevator and remnants of large wall hangings and paintings. As the years progressed, times, attitudes and leisure activities changed. The Black Mansion became a hangout and getaway place for pot smokers and overnight campouts.”
Ms. Koehl suspects that it was these activities that led to the mansion’s downfall, with a ravenous fire on Jan. 28, 1979, that burned for nearly six hours and required 37 firefighters from South Salem, Goldens Bridge, Vista, and Ridgefield to put out the flames.
Keeping history alive
The ruins have rested on the hilltop property ever since, and according to the Westchester Land Trust, “conservationists in town identified the property as a priority for preservation as long ago as the 1970s, when a townhouse development was proposed for the site.”
In 2005 a partnership between the town, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation, in addition to a $5-million gift from the Jerome Levy Foundation, made it possible for the town to acquire the nearly 100-acre Bell property and designate it a permanent nature preserve inside the 370-acre area that is today the Leon Levy Preserve.
But what is to become of the ruins, which, outside of Ms. Koehl’s history and the memories of longtime residents, remain a mystery?
Town Supervisor Peter Parsons told The Ledger that, first and foremost, he would like to see the ruins made safe, possibly with some buttressing to support the free-standing walls, and would ultimately like to see some signs that recognize the history of the mansion and educate visitors to the preserve.
In May he said at a Town Board meeting that all necessary approvals for repairs and stabilization of the old mansion had been received, and as recently as last month he reiterated his intention to see the site stabilized.
The future of the ruins, Mr. Parsons said, will ultimately be determined by the primary benefactor of the preserve — the Leon Levy Foundation.
Board trustees and administrators for the Leon Levy Foundation could not be reached for comment for this article, but according to Mr. Parsons, the group has shown an interest in his vision for the ruins, yet he noted that any work done on the site would likely need to wait until winter sets in to protect the grounds of the preserve from excess damage from construction vehicles.
“The town’s vision is to ensure that we both make it safe and enhance the experience of being in the preserve,” he said.
Related posts:
http://www.lewisboroledger.com/14846/black-mansion-ruins-remain-silent-in-preserve/
Lewisboro Ledger
Not far from the entrance of the Leon Levy Preserve in South Salem are the ruins of the Bell estate, known as the “Black Mansion.” Hardly resembling a residence, the ruins are more like the remnants of an ancient stone castle, with only a few pieces of free-standing wall and empty window casings to remind the generations of what once stood.
After many years of sitting idly in the preserve, what is to become of the Black Mansion? Town officials said this past spring that approvals are in place for repairs to the site, but work has yet to begin as time continues to pass the ruins by.
Black Mansion history
According to Town Historian Maureen Koehl, the mansion was developed along with many of the other structures on the property by an organic chemist and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. James Mason Crafts, after he bought the property around 1890.
Among the structures built were a laboratory, ice house, coach house, and garage with six bays and a grease pit. A history of the mansion is included in Ms. Koehl’s book Lewisboro Ghosts: Strange Tales and Scary Sightings.
While the mansion is shrouded in overgrowth, many in Lewisboro can recall its past and its contribution to the character of the town, from the home of an eccentric organic chemist to a spontaneously and completely intact abandoned home that became a private hangout for teens.
“It was sketchy,” said Kevin Finney, who grew up in Lewisboro and currently works for the town’s Maintenance Department. “It was overrun and falling apart. It was a grand old home at one time, you could tell.”
Like Mr. Finney, police Chief Frank Secret was a teen when the mansion was still standing abandoned, and he can recall scaring friends around the mansion.
In 1923 Mr. Crafts sold the property to Abram Kaplan, who along with his family preferred to live in another residence on the property, leaving the main house unused, fully furnished and the target of curious adventurers and reclusive teens.
“Perhaps it was during this period that the mansion started being known as the Black Mansion,” Ms. Koehl wrote. “It was if the family had just decided to go for a walk and forgotten the way back home. No one knows if they even bothered to lock the doors when they left. Before long, the mansion became a place of mystery and intrigue. Kids playing in the woods would walk through the empty halls and rooms wide-eyed, staring at the broken elevator and remnants of large wall hangings and paintings. As the years progressed, times, attitudes and leisure activities changed. The Black Mansion became a hangout and getaway place for pot smokers and overnight campouts.”
Ms. Koehl suspects that it was these activities that led to the mansion’s downfall, with a ravenous fire on Jan. 28, 1979, that burned for nearly six hours and required 37 firefighters from South Salem, Goldens Bridge, Vista, and Ridgefield to put out the flames.
Keeping history alive
The ruins have rested on the hilltop property ever since, and according to the Westchester Land Trust, “conservationists in town identified the property as a priority for preservation as long ago as the 1970s, when a townhouse development was proposed for the site.”
In 2005 a partnership between the town, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation, in addition to a $5-million gift from the Jerome Levy Foundation, made it possible for the town to acquire the nearly 100-acre Bell property and designate it a permanent nature preserve inside the 370-acre area that is today the Leon Levy Preserve.
But what is to become of the ruins, which, outside of Ms. Koehl’s history and the memories of longtime residents, remain a mystery?
Town Supervisor Peter Parsons told The Ledger that, first and foremost, he would like to see the ruins made safe, possibly with some buttressing to support the free-standing walls, and would ultimately like to see some signs that recognize the history of the mansion and educate visitors to the preserve.
In May he said at a Town Board meeting that all necessary approvals for repairs and stabilization of the old mansion had been received, and as recently as last month he reiterated his intention to see the site stabilized.
The future of the ruins, Mr. Parsons said, will ultimately be determined by the primary benefactor of the preserve — the Leon Levy Foundation.
Board trustees and administrators for the Leon Levy Foundation could not be reached for comment for this article, but according to Mr. Parsons, the group has shown an interest in his vision for the ruins, yet he noted that any work done on the site would likely need to wait until winter sets in to protect the grounds of the preserve from excess damage from construction vehicles.
“The town’s vision is to ensure that we both make it safe and enhance the experience of being in the preserve,” he said.
Related posts:
- Leon Levy plant restoration gets $48,500 grant, town approval
- Town turns attention to trails
- Town participates in drug disposal program
- Town enters closure fracas
http://www.lewisboroledger.com/14846/black-mansion-ruins-remain-silent-in-preserve/
