Fisher Hill – Once an
Adirondack Estate [ Today ]
In 1882, metals magnate, Thomas B. Coddington began the construction of
a “summer cottage” on a hill outside of Elizabethtown.
The site, formerly farmed by the Fisher family, offered a panoramic
view of the Adirondack High Peaks to the west and an ideal place to catch
the summer breezes wafting off the river valley below.
Coddington’s “cottage” took nearly two years to build and
when completed provided a magnificent country retreat for this wealthy
Manhattan family. Photos in the archives of the Essex County Historical
Society in Elizabethtown depict a three story, clapboard and shingle
residence with a wide front verandah and drive perched on the brow of the
hill and surrounded by landscaped lawn and trees and with a well defined
entrance drive lined by maple trees.
The Coddington daughters,
Fannie and Marie, helped establish the first Elizabethtown public library
which stands today close by the Bouquet River at the foot of the hill.
Following the marriage of Fannie Coddington to the son of Elizabeth
Barrett and Robert Browning, a friend of the family’s, John Stevens,
bought the summer retreat. The
John Stevens family from New Jersey founded the world famous Stevens
Institute of Technology. After
the untimely death of Mr. Stevens, the estate changed hands several times
before being bought by Frank Munsey, an eccentric, wealthy entrepreneur
who began life as a farm boy in Maine and went on to become the
millionaire owner of major New York City newspapers (the NY Herald Tribune
was born at Garondah) and the owner of real estate in New York City and
Washington D.C. Mr. Munsey expanded the Victorian summer cottage to create a
mansion with 12 master suites and baths, several living rooms, a great
kitchen, and outside, vegetable gardens, a formal sunken garden, a
greenhouse, tennis courts, a Gaming Cottage, a guest house, barns and
outbuildings. He also named
the estate “Garondah”, a word with several possible origins including
an Indian word meaning “a meeting place or a gateway”.
Following Munsey’s death in 1925 of
a ruptured appendix, the entire estate was left to the Metropolitan Museum
of Art. The Metropolitan sold
Garondah in 1927 to Sol Goldberg of Chicago, inventor of the bobby pin.
The Goldbergs spent a few weeks every summer at the estate and continued
to run it in the lavish style of their predecessors.
Following the death of Mr. Goldberg, the estate was sold in 1960
for $65,000. Thereafter, a
series of owners entertained dreams of country clubs, golf courses, indoor
swimming pools, and later a convention center, which were never realized.
As the funds, energy and dreams dwindled, Garondah fell into an
increasing state of disrepair. By
2003, roofs and supporting timbers had rotted, the grounds were unkempt,
the landscape bleak and forlorn. Only
the original setting with its magnificent views remained.
In 2004,
Garondah was purchased by a couple from nearby Essex, N.Y.
A massive cleanup and site restoration were begun. The Gaming Cottage and another smaller outbuilding were
stabilized, the formal entrance drive lined by sugar maple trees was
restored and the site was renamed Fisher Hill in memory of the original
farm family. A small
residential development with significant space to be held undeveloped
“in common” was planned. Fisher
Hill today is destined to return to its former standing as a remarkable
Adirondack site with views of the High Peaks, environmentally sensitive
planning and architectural restoration and select residential sites.
Fisher Hill has come full circle and enters a new era at the outset
of the 21st century.
