More on George Fiorentino

I just found a book about The Colony Restaurant that is full of wonderful stories of the previous owner of DeJoux house. When the book was written, in 1945, George Fiorentino was a partner in the restaurant with Gene Cavallero a larger than life character with a whole chapter entitled "The portrait of the owner, Gene Cavallero, a most remarkable man" dedicated to him . At the end of the chapter is a single paragraph:

"One could not write a chapter on Gene's partner, George Fiorentino. I have known him for years but I know him little. While Gene is an extrovert, George is an introvert. He is a quiet man, and not very strong. Some time ago he was ill, but possessing a good constitution, he soon returned to the Colony, cured better than one of their famous Parma hams. After nearly thirty years of friendship he is still fascinated and mesmerized by Gene, and loves to have the latter dominate the stage. There are many habitues, though, who swear by quiet and gentle George. He is married to a French lady, and the childless couple live devotedly for each other. George's happiest day is Sunday. His wife is a famous cook, and all week long George, existing only on morsels, saves up his appetite to feast at home."

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Paradox farm

If you wander along Springtown Road, past DeJoux House, you will see our mailbox opposite the front door. It's not especially distinguishable except it is rather large and sits on an old tree stump. It's a rusty old thing but it seems to have survived the snow plows and drunk drivers of Springtown Road. It has always bothered me that on the side of the mail box you can see the vague outline of the words "Paradox Farm" which was clearly a name that DeJoux House was more recently referred to. Occasionally when wondering the fields I would stumble across some incongruity and wonder if that was indeed the "paradox" that the farm was named after. Yesterday morning, for some unknown reason, I decided it was time to resolve the paradox. I sent a quick email to the previous owner June Finer to see if she knew anything of the Paradox Farm ghost on the side of the mailbox. This was her reply: once upon a time we, (myself and russell gilmore---my ex), met a

Inspiration for the future look

Daniel has found some wonderful reference materials for keeping the history and character yet not making it a museum. I love the big kitchen table plan for the kitchen inspired by Lutyens and some "behind the scenes" pictures of victorian kitchens. He also showed me some country houses from Axel Vervoordt that I really love. http://bit.ly/uX1eW Simple, authentic yet modern. We discussed putting a full length plate glass window in the old hay loft window on the end of the house. Wow. I can't wait.

A long silence broken

It has been over 18 months since I posted an entry on the DeJoux House blog. Why? I'm not sure. The renovations were held up for a while as we enjoyed a working, if unfinished house. Looking back there was frankly very little news of note. Lots of socializing. Lots of enjoying the bounty of the land. Lots of swimming in the pond and Ice Skating...but you'd seen all of that in the old posts. Today, I am inspired to write a post because I have uncovered some news about the history of the house. Since we bought the house we have always been told that the house was built in 1740. That's what the town of New Paltz have in their records. That's what the previous owners told us and well, we had little reason to disbelieve it. However, we have very little proof of when the building of DeJoux House started. This puzzle was further heightened when a gentleman from North Carolina contacted us with the following request. Mr. Flebut - I am a professor at the University of N

DeJoux House

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