Stony Hollow [Rear View]

Art

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New Castle Historical Society

Stony Hollow [Marshall Estate]

Stony Hollow [Marshall Estate]

Name/Title

Stony Hollow [Rear View]

Entry/Object ID

1987-4-7

Description

Framed watercolor painting of Stony Hollow, rear view, Chappaqua, by W. Stuart Archibald, 1938, modern gold frame.

Artwork Details

Medium

Watercolor on paper, Watercolor

Context

W. Stuart Archibald (1910-1987) grew up in Chappaqua and may have been among the first graduates of the new Horace Greeley School in 1929. He attended Antioch College and then became a professional artist, specializing in watercolors of landscapes and marine subjects. In 1938, he was commissioned by Mrs. Marshall to paint a series of watercolors of Chappaqua subjects, mostly the Quaker meetinghouse and Mrs. Marshall’s own home, the historic Stony Hollow farmhouse on Quaker Road. Stony Hollow, is the old farmhouse at 478 Quaker Road, just north of Fair Ridge Cemetery. The property takes its name from a reference in the New Castle annual town minutes of 1823 to “Stony Holler.” At that time, it was part of the large Brady family farm, which extended along Quaker Road all the way to Hardscrabble Road. The house may have been a subsidiary building on the farm, and it may have been in existence even earlier, as the hand-hewn beams of its framing suggest. Like many old houses, it was built in several stages over the years. For several decades of the nineteenth century, the thirty-some acre farm was owned and operated by the prominent Quaker family of Elijah and Eliza Collins. At the turn of the twentieth century, it became home to members of the Bedell family; Edwin Bedell was the editor of the local newspaper, The Item. In the 1920s, it came into the possession of Mrs. Mabel L. Marshall, who in 1938 commissioned artist W. Stuart Archibald to paint three portraits of the house. These were in turn bequeathed to the historical society by Mrs. Marshall’s daughter, Gladys Marshall. In 1978, Stony Hollow was listed on the national Register of Historic Places, as part of the Old Quaker Village Historical District. In the 1980s, after Gladys Marshall’s death, the farm property was subdivided and developed for individual residences. But the old house remains, as a well-preserved relic of New Castle's early history.

Made/Created

Artist

W. Stuart Archibald

Date made

1938