A unique Orange County estate will now add to its history by becoming a haven for the suffering.
The former Islemere Farm, owned by Schuyler Schieffelin, was bought by inner-city Ukrainian, Russian and Eastern European immigrants, coming upstate to beat the heat during the post-World War II years. They renamed the property Arrow Park, and soon grew its membership to nearly 2,000 shareholders from as far away as California. Its president, Manya Simak, has been taking care of the park”™s operations for 20 years. Now, she”™ll broker the $6.9 million sale to two buyers: New York State and a private investment group spearheaded by Paul Dolan, executive director of ABC”™s international business and network agreements division.
The 350-acre Arrow Park is a blip on the radar screen as you drive down Orange Turnpike on the outskirts of Monroe. Surrounded by Sterling Forest State Park, its entrance is dwarfed by the trees surrounding the property. Once you pass through its stone gate, you”™ll drive down a sloping road where rows of stately oak trees line its path and pass the Poet”™s Park built by its current Slavic owners. The road ends at the gate of the concrete and stone mansion built in the early 1900s, complete with a 52-acre manmade lake and beach.
New York state previously purchased 147 acres of Arrow Park for Sterling Forest in 2003. It is now readying to purchase the remaining portion of the property ”“ 222 acres ”“ and incorporate it into the existing Sterling Forest parkland, which abuts the property. NYS has committed $5.5 million to the purchase, $495,000 of which is coming from Orange County”™s open space acquisition fund. The remainder of the funding is coming from various sources, said Dolan.
A separate 56-acre parcel with the mansion, bungalows and recreation areas built by Arrow Park”™s shareholders will be purchased separately and become what Dolan envisions as a “place for healing ”¦ not just physically challenged, but for those suffering emotionally ”“ children of Sept. 11 victims, EMS workers, pediatric oncology and burn center groups. We”™ll reach out to hospitals, hospices and veterans”™ organizations.”
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Dolan is well acquainted with Arrow Park. He”™s hiked the Appalachian Trail for more than two decades. Part of the trail traverses Arrow Park and leads back into Sterling Forest, and Scheifflein”™s mansion had piqued Dolan”™s interest and imagination. He became a member of the Sterling Park preservation committee and has now been an active participant for 21 years. Two of his three children had serious physical disabilities: one born with Down syndrome; another had open-heart surgery at 15 months. Hiking gave Dolan plenty of time to reflect on his personal story and what he might do to help others, saying: “My wife and I met a lot of parents whose kids didn”™t survive.”
Dolan”™s youngest son ”“ the child who went through the open heart surgery ”“ “just turned 16 and will start driving this week,” said Dolan. “That reflects our plans for Arrow. It”™s a gift back.”
In 2002, when Dolan and his family were on hand at Arrow for the arrival of the 18-foot totem pole donated by Lummi Indians as a 9/11 memorial, he spoke excitedly about the potential the park had for the disabled. Dolan”™s original vision for the mansion and its grounds ”“ a place for the developmentally disabled ”“ began to grow and extend to others in crisis.
“Out of September 11, a tremendous need for healing has grown,” he said. “So many people that have gone through a traumatic experience ”“ death, war trauma, and the victims left behind ”“ are just not being dealt with. We hope we can bring together programs to meet these critical human needs.”
Dolan sees the creation of the healing center as “almost organic ”¦ It should be a national model in that it will connect people to their landscape. The events of Sept. 11 shaped the future of the park. It”™s been an important resource for EMS workers in the post-9/11 world.”
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Arrow Park”™s mansion and outbuildings, which include access to the lake, are architectural gems, said town of Monroe historian Jim Nelson. “The mansion was built of concrete rather than plaster because Schieffelin wanted a fireproof building,” Nelson said. “Some of the intricate details, including decorative fireplaces and gargoyles, can”™t be replicated today.” The 16-bedroom mansion already has a built-in elevator shaft, said Dolan, which will make it much easier during renovation to make it compatible with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Dolan downplays his media position and considers himself to be just a “dedicated volunteer who has spent 21 years working to save Sterling Forest for open space.” Dolan and his group of celebrity investors, which include Newman”™s Own, Carvel, Walt Disney, Variety (its children”™s charity group) and others who wish to remain anonymous, have contributed financially to the cause.
The soon-to-be Center for International Grieving, as Orange County Land Trust executive director James Delaune called the property, is in the final stages of purchase. (Dolan has stated there is no formal name proposed for the property as yet; once the purchase is completed, a board of directors will be chosen, along with a name.)Â Delaune, the economic director for the city of Newburgh from 1979 to 1999, took over as the Land Trust”™s executive director in October 2006. Now, he”™s busy putting the final pieces of the financing puzzle together.
Dolan spoke with Hudson Valley Business prior to leaving for a trip to the Far East. He is hoping for a July closing on the property.
“The intention is to have the property managed by 10 different nonprofits once it is acquired,” said Dolan. “We”™ll prepare a six-month master plan and look at architectural safety. The state has committed $5.5 million to the purchase. We are working to get the state to raise its stake.”
Calvary Hospital (in the Bronx) has been using Arrow Park for its hospice patients for nearly a decade, said Dolan. “The New York City Fire Department has used it for children and family programs,” Dolan said “and it would be available for other first-responder groups in Orange County and the region.”
Manya Simak knows the property from its vacation roots. She toured the mansion with Hudson Valley Business on June 2, pointing out features: handcrafted beams, porcelain fireplace fronts, the large kitchen and dining area overlooking the lake and surrounding landscape. For her, selling Arrow Park is “difficult, but many of our original members have died or are too old to come and enjoy it, and their children are no longer interested in coming here. My parents were among the first shareholders, coming up from Avenue D in Manhattan, and my daughter”™s been coming here since she was 2 years old.”
Simak still maintains a residence in Monroe, and she says Dolan has been “wonderful to work with. He”™s got an amazing vision and great dedication to making this work for the community.” Simak said Arrow Park”™s new owners will allow the former Arrow Park shareholders to come and visit their Poet”™s Park, which features larger-than-life busts of Alexander Pushkin, Taras Shevchenko, Walt Whitman and Yanka Kupala.
Financially, she predicts the town of Monroe will lose a chunk of Arrow Park”™s current $80,000 annual tax bill, according to Simak. There will be some PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) made to the town, said town Supervisor Sandy Leonard. Town Assessor Dorothy Post says the full tax impact will not be known until the property changes hands and deeds are filed.
For Dolan, who has spent 32 years with ABC, the time he”™s donated to making Arrow Park part of Sterling Forest State Park and the acquisition of the mansion and its outbuildings for use as a healing place for the suffering has been just as rewarding and challenging as his career in journalism. He sees Arrow as “a special place for the region. It will serve a unique purpose and be the first location in the country to have a center built into a park system that will have this kind of outreach to hospitals, hospices and veterans. It grew out of listening and learning from the people who live in the region.”
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