Kingston
May 12
Dear Carl,
Came up here late last night and have tried to clean up my notes to you to date.
Are you coming here on Monday? I expect to a catch the Hardenburgh sheep flock at Stone Ridge. Also to talk to maybe an old timer or two. A guy who deals in antiques and is really smart will spend Tuesday going around with us. He wrote a few of those squibs in the paper. He is smarter than this Derringer kid and more thorough in what he gets. I am afraid the Derringer kid m is a kind of bum and would do most of his research in bars.
I expect to go north either tonight or early in the morning. But you can reach me at the Governor Clinton as Kingston, New York as I will returns here to meet you either Sunday night or Monday morning. I am staying around the corner from the Governor Clinton at a rooming house.
Tomorrow I will be around Catskill so if you want me or want to get a message to me in a hurry you can wire me care Western Union at Catskill, New York.
I am trying to move more north because I think, don't you, that we ought to go over the ground quickly and then think over what we know about and then go back to get a more thorough bunch of details.
So far I have made arrangements for the antique guy to go with us on Tuesday. I think it better that you visit Eagle's Nest yourself and Grahamsville. Also Noel Armstrong would be good for you to meet and Kelly the Kingston newspaper guy who knows the present day set up and Gruver who wrote to you. Several people have suggested that I see the Hudson River Captain Gruver wanted you to see. His name is Murdock but we can wait and let Gruver do it for you. Also I think you ought to go to Rosendale with me and actually see the cement mines and talk a little to Jake Snyder yourself. I keep feeling that a lot of this stuff may loose guts being passed on though the medium of these rapidly written notes. So I’ll see you Monday as we planned. Otherwise be sure and wire me Friday, Western Union, Catskill NY.
Photograph: Govenor Clinton Hotel Building, Kingston, 2009, Lucey Bowen
I think the Eagle's Nest may refer to a location west of Kingston called Eagle's Nest Hill. Or the house of Ned Buntline. The Eagle-Nesters were a group of mixed Native, African and Dutch people who lived in the area. There is a marvelous collection of stories based in the area called "The Old Eagle-Nester: The Lost Legends of the Catskills" by Doris West Brook. She has another book I'd love to get, but it's difficult.
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