This past winter, we invited our neighbors, Claudine and Chris Klose of Echo Valley Farm, and our mutual friend Emily Majer, a historic carpenter from Tivoli, to walk through the house and barns with us. All three serve on the Board of Historic Red Hook and are all extremely knowledgeable about local history and architecture. It was wonderful to hear their stories and memories, particularly those pertaining to Rose Hill Farm. We learned from the Fraleigh's stories and from the Klose's historical piece, The Passing Scene, that the farm hosted boarders and vacationers seeking a farm stay with fresh air and pleasant views - a tradition that traces back to the early 1890s.
While exploring the attic in the farmhouse, we discovered a small book perched on the rafters. After removing some of the dust and cobwebs we found that it is a Rose Hill Farm Guest Register spanning the years 1928-1947. We scanned a few pages of guest names, their hometowns and dates they visited the farm and attached them below!
Towards the back of the Guest Register we found several intriguing lists. The first includes guests from a Christmas party held at Rose Hill Farm in 1947. The second is a list of weddings held at Rose Hill Farm including the marriage of Curtis and Fannie Fraleigh! Curtis and Fannie were Dave's grandparents and were part of the fourth generation of Fraleighs at Rose Hill Farm. Dave mentioned that his father, Elmore Fraleigh, officiated weddings at the farm in the mid 1900s during his 20 year role as Red Hook Town Justice. Dave also recalls his father Elmore officiating a wedding for cousin Jay Roberts in the farmhouse parlor, and his Aunt Ruth marrying Sid Roberts in the back yard garden behind the farmhouse. In 1977, Karen's sister, Jennifer, and Bob Nappa were married and celebrated their reception adjacent to the pond in front of the farmhouse.
More recent weddings at Rose Hill Farm include the 2012 marriage of Danielle and Josh, friends of the family, on the top of the hill just west of the grape vines with stunning, sweeping views of the Catskills, and the 2015 marriage of Allison and Tom during a lovely ceremony on the lawn in front of the farmhouse. We look forward to learning more about prior weddings and special events hosted at Rose Hill Farm!
Between the pages of the Register was a postcard from the early 1900s, around the same time that Curtis Fraleigh expanded fruit production at Rose Hill Farm. We were delighted to discover the beautiful rose emblem and it inspired us to incorporate it as our new Rose Hill Farm logo.
Below and left is a scan of the rose emblem. The center image shows a cleaned up version and on the right is our new logo. We searched for and selected a font that is as close as possible to the postcard text. Our goal was to establish a classic, timeless logo that reflects the rich history and legacy of Rose Hill Farm. We hope you like it!
