She’s Ours!

Yesterday, August 13 (missed Friday the 13th this year by a day, but it pleases me to think that we will be celebrating this on such days in the future), we closed!

We are now the official owners (well, key and loan holders, more accurately) on the estate. We are utterly thrilled and scared like little bunnies…such a grand adventure, such a responsibility to a magical place…

We are beginning to meet people who can tell us stories of its history, of the people who have loved it, of what the gardens looked like in its glory… Piece by piece, we will be doing our best to remember what came before us even as we imagine a vibrant new future for the place.

(And if you happen to wander by this site and have old knowledge of the place, please don’t be shy! We’d love to hear from you.)

But, now, in this moment, our deep thanks to everyone who helped push to make this actually happen. Special thanks to:

• John Tufillaro and Sue Doig from Coldwell Bankers Timberland Properties
• Barbara Puglisi,  as well as the rest of the staff and the Board of Directors at the Catskill Watershed Corporation
• Small Business Advisor Sam Kandel
• Our attorney Gary Rosa
• CWC Attorney Robert McLaughlin and the seller’s attorney, Carey Wagner
• Stand-in Attorney for signing (yes, there are a lot of attorneys here!), Dennis Metnick
• Insurance Agent Cecil Davis with Bramley Insurance
• Fleischmanns Village Mayor Todd Pascarella, and Board Member, Ben Fenton
• Fleischmanns Village Planning Board:  Chair: Larry Reilly
  Board Members: Bill Innella • Don Kearney • R. Patel • Bud Sife
  Delaware County Planning Board Liaison: Kent Manuel
• Middletown Code Officer, Patrick Davis
• Peg Ellsworth and staff at the MARK Project
• Jim Tompson, Glenn Nealis, and the Board of Directors from the Delaware County Industrial Development Agency.

As well as family and friends who have been tireless cheerleaders as we’ve worked to get this far…

We thank all of you, so much. And as soon as we have plumbing, dinner is on us!

Stay tuned — now the exciting stuff begins as we help Sleeping Beauty awake from her dreaming…

Best,

Leigh

leigh@spillian.com

PS: This is pretty cool, now that we’re safely closed…Forbes Magazine, “9 Giant Homes for Bargain Basement Prices.” (and it isn’t going to be quite the deal suggested once we get renovations done, but still cool…)