Before the Woods Reclaim It: Save the Story of Holiday House

What’s at risk today:  Invasive plants and unmanaged growth are slowly overtaking the Holiday House foundation.  As the forest closes in, the physical evidence of Holiday House and the story it holds becomes harder to see, harder to understand, and easier to forget. You can change that by donating to the Ruins Garden project today.

This article was first published in Steep Rock’s newsletter, VISTA, in Spring 2016.

The Valley Station Bridge, The Van Ingen Family and Holiday House

By Louise van Tartwijk

Louise van Tartwijk wishes to thank  Stephen Bartkus, for his help with this piece. The postcard photos included with this article are from the author’s collection.

In 2015, Steep Rock Association celebrated the “Year of the Bridges” with the completion of the Thoreau Bridge, a new stairway for the Reich Bridge and the restoration of the Hauser Bridge. Whether made with a sophisticated steel construction or from simple wooden planks, bridges hold an attraction for young and old alike. There is something special about walking over rushing water and an allure to discovering what lies on the other side. Bridges have always had a distinctive place in Steep Rock’s history. One such bridge, built at the end of the 19th century, was constructed specifically for young women, who labored in the factories of New York City, to cross the Shepaug River and experience a dream-like summer holiday. Each Steep Rock bridge has its own unique story, and in this case, even though the bridge no longer exists, the story around the Valley Station Bridge, and the people who used it, still captures our imagination. The growth of industrialization at the end of the 19th century resulted in an increase of personal wealth so extraordinary that the era is known as “The Gilded Age.”

In 1892, The New York Times reported that there were 4,000 millionaires in the United States, many of whom lived in New York City and the borough of Brooklyn-Heights. One of these wealthy individuals was Edward Hook van Ingen, the founder of the wool-importing firm of E.H. van Ingen. In 1872, the Shepaug Valley Railroad arrived in Washington Depot making Washington an easy train ride from New York City. As a consequence, Edward van Ingen and his wife Mary Mclean became the first of what was to become many wealthy Brooklynites, who decided to make the small rural Connecticut town their weekend and summer retreat. The Van Ingens eventually owned over 1,000 acres around the Washington Green, some purchased from Frederick Gunn.

Other wealthy industrialists, their fortunes made from textiles, shipping, trade and manufacturing, followed the Van Ingens to Washington in the 1880’s & 1890’s. Several purchased land from Van Ingen and built Ehrick Rossiter designed “summer cottages” near the Washington Green. Many of these men had been students of The Gunnery School of Washington [now  Frederick Gunn School], established in 1850 by Frederick Gunn. Some of the women had attended the Judea Seminary, a school for girls, run in Washington by Mary Brinsmade, Frederick Gunn’s wife’s sister. Others were connected through their businesses, their Brooklyn churches and their exclusive social clubs such as the Hamilton Club, The Century Club, the Holland Society of New York, the Brooklyn Blue Book and the Long Island Society Register. These weekenders who came to Washington were friends who shared a common appreciation for the unique beauty and idyllic surroundings that the small rural town provided and shared a strong commitment to philanthropy and civic duty.

The Holiday House was one such philanthropic under-taking, but it was also an incredible act of private generosity that rose from great private grief. Edward and Mary van Ingen lost their daughter Jeannie at the age of 16 to scarlet fever. The establishment of Holiday House was their way of honoring Jeannie’s memory. In 1892, Van Ingen commissioned his friend and neighbor, architect Ehrick Rossiter, to design a country hotel that would serve as a vacation retreat for young working class women affiliated with St. Bartholomew’s Church, the Van Ingen’s place of worship in New York City. Rossiter worked together with Charles Prindle, a local carpenter, to build an imposing 3-story clapboard and gabled structure that would accommodate 65 young women. Set on a hillside of the Van Ingen’s expansive estate, the building, surrounded by sloping manicured lawns, offered dramatic views of the Shepaug River below.

The Holiday House was open during the summer from June 1 until Labor Day. For $8, the women received a roundtrip ticket and two-week stay at the hotel. Arrival at the Holiday House was considered quite an event. The Holiday House had its own private “whistle stop” along the Shepaug Valley Railroad Line, which passed through a part of Van Ingen’s property. This stop was known as Valley Station and it was connected to the other side of the Shepaug River by a picturesque bridge, that every girl arriving at the Holiday House had to cross. The bridge was reported to be the smallest suspension bridge ever built by Washington Roebling, a friend of Edward Van Ingen, and the son of John Roebling who introduced suspension-bridge design to the United States and built the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883.

It was said that Mr. Van Ingen would take his carriage from his home on the Washington Green, travel along a tree-line path that ran through his estate down to Valley Station and welcome the girls upon their arrival. Once disembarked, and the river crossed, the girls would walk the short distance up the hill to the Holiday House where they would be greeted by Mrs. Van Ingen and two deaconesses, Miss Ella Taylor and Miss Mabel Hobart. They would be cared for by waitresses and chambermaids who were African American students from the Hampton Institute in Virginia, now called Hampton University.

Their vacation days would begin at 7:00 sharp when the girls joined the deaconesses for morning prayers. Girls of all religions were welcome and they were able to attend the different churches in town on Sundays. To fill their hours of holiday making, the girls were offered a wide variety of activities that included croquet, bowling, archery, and baseball. There were picnics, walks in Steep Rock and carriage rides to Lake Waramaug or to the Clam Shell. Inside the Holiday House there was a ballroom for dancing, two pianos for playing and singing and opportunities for play acting, tableaux or games of charades. Strictly forbidden, however, was interaction with men. If a Holiday House girl was caught with a man she was immediately sent back to New York. The Van Ingens created the Holiday House experience to offer the young ladies first and foremost an escape from the harsh realities of factory life in New York City. At the same time, a sojourn at the Holiday House was seen as an opportunity to experience gracious living. Meals were served on fine china at tables covered with crisp white linens and decorated with vases of wildflowers. They slept in brass beds, enjoyed hot baths, enjoyed open windows with warm sun and summer smells and breezes. The experience would leave girls with both a wonderful memory and a way of life to aspire to.

The Holiday House only existed for 27 years. Ironically, Charles Prindle, the very man who built it, dismantled the structure in 1920. There has been speculation as to exactly why the Holiday House closed its doors. Originally it was thought that the First World War had negatively impacted on Van Ingens’ financial resources and that lack of money had been the reason. Recent research has shown, however, that Van Ingen died a very wealthy man. This, combined with the fact that he died in 1920, lends credence to the belief that both Edward and his wife were simply too old to continue to oversee the running of Holiday House. As the vacation retreat had been created as a loving memorial to their daughter, they did not wish to sell it and no local institution desired to take it over. Even in ending the Holiday House project, the Van Ingen’s remained philanthropic and civic minded. Stones from the building found a new life in other Washington buildings and the silverware and china was given to St. John’s Episcopal Church, some still in use. The stone foundations of both the Holiday House and the Valley Station Bridge are all that remain of this charitable venture that brought a great deal of enjoyment to numerous young women. Today, when one looks at the two stone abutments that once supported this fairy-tale-like bridge, it is not hard to imagine the young factory girls, in their white dresses, stepping off the train, giggling with excitement and anticipation as they crossed over the Shepaug River and into another world.

The Holiday House property remained in private hands for several decades after it had been dismantled. In the 1920’s, the Van Ingen estate, was sold to another Washington summer resident, Alfred Severin Bourne of the Singer Sewing Machine fortune. In 1957 the Steep Rock Association acquired the Holiday House ruins as part of a 62-acre parcel purchased for $17,500 from Alfred’s wife Louise Barnes Bourne. That same year, Steep Rock trustees voted to hold a picnic on September 20 on the grounds. 

A Look at Holiday House

Join the List of People Who Care

The project is led by Merlin Ennis, Steep Rock’s Trails & Preserves Manager, and Chris Koppel, a botanist and SRA Trustee, with assistance from a team of student volunteers from the Frederick Gunn School. SRA extends its gratitude to the Gunn Memorial Library for sharing critically important information about the Holiday House, and Lazlo Gyorsok for use of the modern black and white photos.