Long After Revolutionary War, House Is Still a Battle Scene (NY)
PHILIPSTOWN, N.Y. — A fight is brewing here over a house where George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette plotted their defense of the Hudson River.
Robert M. Perry in Philipstown, N.Y., outside Mandeville House, where George Washington and a parade of historic figures sometimes gathered.
The house, named Mandeville House, was left in trust by Margaret Allan Gething, a character actress and an interior designer, with the intent that it become a museum. But more than three decades after Miss Gething's death, it remains largely out of reach to the public.
Instead, a lawyer from Texas, who was her friend and now heads the Texas foundation that owns the house, lives in it several weeks each year. Otherwise, it is locked up.
"Once in a great while, it is open to the public when he's here, but otherwise, the house is just sitting there," said Robert C. Bickford, a lawyer and former president of the Putnam County Historical Society. "It has no business being under the control of a Texas foundation."
Mr. Bickford has filed two formal complaints with the New York State attorney general, whose office said it was reviewing them. Mr. Bickford said he would like to see Miss Gething's intentions honored and the house placed under local control.
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Robert M. Perry in Philipstown, N.Y., outside Mandeville House, where George Washington and a parade of historic figures sometimes gathered.
The house, named Mandeville House, was left in trust by Margaret Allan Gething, a character actress and an interior designer, with the intent that it become a museum. But more than three decades after Miss Gething's death, it remains largely out of reach to the public.
Instead, a lawyer from Texas, who was her friend and now heads the Texas foundation that owns the house, lives in it several weeks each year. Otherwise, it is locked up.
"Once in a great while, it is open to the public when he's here, but otherwise, the house is just sitting there," said Robert C. Bickford, a lawyer and former president of the Putnam County Historical Society. "It has no business being under the control of a Texas foundation."
Mr. Bickford has filed two formal complaints with the New York State attorney general, whose office said it was reviewing them. Mr. Bickford said he would like to see Miss Gething's intentions honored and the house placed under local control.