Name/Title
1972 Bull Stone House newspaper clippingEntry/Object ID
000556Tags
Bull FamilyScope and Content
And there's still life in the house
[Article Body]
HAMPTONBURGH
"Late at night after my wife and children are asleep, I read about
my ancestors or I just think. Here I am living in this house that so many
others have lived in, and I meditate about the life that has gone before."
Michael K. Brown was sitting in a lavender-painted bedroom with
his three daughters on the third floor of the Bull Stone House. When he
was a child, it had been his bedroom. "I slept in a sleigh bed right here," the handsome, bearded redhead said, pointing to the middle of the room. "The bed is up in the attic now, but I think I'll resurrect it when some of the children go out on their own." Brown is the 36-year-old father of seven, ranging in age from 7 to 17. He is raising his family just as he was raised, in the oldest house in Orange County. The house is larger inside than it appears from the outside. It dominates 100 acres that haven't changed very much since Sarah Wells and her husband, William Bull, built it 250 years ago.
There was a stirring air of excitement Friday as everyone was
preparing for Saturday's annual Bull Family picnic. Because of the
anniversary, a pageant was being planned along the lines of one
performed 50 years ago during a bi-centennial celebration.
The Browns are seventh generation off-shoots of the first white
marriage in the county. Brown was explaining the attitudes of many of the hundreds who visit the house annually: "When people drive down that lane to the house, they expect another world, and they get that, at least partially.
"Yes, there are modern conveniences, but the spirit of the house is
constant." The house is a lived-in museum. There are portraits, fine fireplaces, family Bibles, artifacts, letters leftover from other times, and a
splendidly-preserved wedding gown (white, decorated with flowers and
figures), that Sarah Wells wore when she married William Bull 254
years ago. What is it like running a modern family in a very old house?
The first thing that impresses a visitor is the complete sense of
order, both in surroundings and people. The Browns are a Christian
family, and live each day "according to God's mercies."
Breakfast, as every other meal, begins with the family holding
hands, and praying. "That is one way we express our community as a
family," Brown said. And that in itself, is enough to set this family apart from many others. As Mrs. Betty Brown cheerfully served a sumptuous breakfast of bacon and eggs and juicy coffee cake, she said she performed the
housework "one floor at a time. "I do everything that needs to be done, starting at the top. You see when you live in a historic place, you have to be ready to open up your doors everyday. People are always knocking at the door an asking to look through." (Continued on Page 90)
Michael K. Brown helps Kimberly Seman down from a tree he planted when he was a boy growing up in the Bull stone house.
[Caption - Right]
Kimberly is the eight-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Seman of Campbell Hall.