Thomas Capuano likened it to a miracle.

We share his joy and wonder at the turn of events that may save the Doctor Crounse House.

We commend Capuano and the small band of citizens that read on these pages the long-neglected historic house was to be demolished, and dug in to lobby for its salvation.

The early 19th-Century house that perches on the knoll at the edge of Altamont is part of the fabric of the community. It was the home and office of the area’s first physician.

The village of Altamont and the town of Guilderland bought it, in foreclosure, more than a dozen years ago, buoyed by the vision of then-Mayor James Gaughan. He thought it would make a grand entrance to the village and a place to let residents and visitors alike learn of Altamont’s heritage.

But the empty building, which had been purchased for back taxes from the county, continued to languish until the municipalities had it condemned and planned to demolish it.

The miraculous part occurred when Jay Cougar White Cloud entered the picture. When we spoke with him last week, we were impressed by the passion with which he pursues his work. He said from the time he was 3 until he was 6, he lived at the home of a Japanese teahouse master where he learned, “Everything has a soul.” This was his first exposure to timber framing along with the work his mother did in historic restoration.

Then from the age of 13 to 23, he apprenticed with the Old Order Amish as a Barnwright. He has since used his skills as a Timberwright on many impressive projects.

With the help of a nascent group of citizens called Historic Altamont Inc., White Cloud plans to restore the Crounse House to its former glory, using the same methods and materials its original builder used.

The village and town boards last week voted to adopt an agreement that will then allow White Cloud to build his home on a lot to be formed at the back of the Crounse House property. He told us he will build a replica of the ell, the addition on the back of the Doctor Crounse House, for his own house.

“It will be a comparison for students of architecture — the same footprint, the same design, built on stone,” he said, but with elements from both the Middle East and Asia.

Now the real work begins. It will take a community to save this house.

A parallel example can be found in the nearby Altamont Free Library, which now calls the village’s historic train station its home.

When the passenger trains that built the village stopped coming to Altamont, the station had no purpose. It could have been torn down, save for the vision and work of a committed group of citizens. They spent money from their own pockets to buy and save it.

The late Ed Cowley, a well-known artist who made Altamont his home, helped save the train station. His son this week shared with us an essay his father had written that speaks to us forcefully from a half-century ago.

“We are frequently characterized as a nation of plumbers,” Cowley wrote, “and the notion of how things look or what our environment might be like is often the last problem to be considered; very few communities ever get around to doing anything about it.

“The goal set in Altamont is a continuing search for the values that have dignity and imagination. There is a subtle educational system that operates in such a situation. Many people are involved and they learn, not as a captive audience but as contributing members.”

So the building survived, and many years later was bought by the library. Then many different factions of the community — those who loved books, those who loved history, those who loved trains — came together to restore and refurbish the building that once again is the heart of the village.

It is there that the recent miracle occured. According to Capuano, White Cloud was in the Altamont library, looking up books on restoration, when he talked with the library’s director who linked him to Capuano.

We call now on our many diverse readers to join forces with Historic Altamont to make the restoration of the Doctor Crounse House a reality. This may include members of Altamont Community Tradition, an active group that promotes community with a wide variety of events — from a summertime strawberry social to a wintertime Victorian holiday.

It may include people who are active in the village archives and can see what a splendid space the Crounse House would be to display such treasures. It could be people who have recently moved to Altamont, drawn by its historic charm, and wish to preserve that history. Or by people whose families have lived here for generations, with relatives delivered by Doctor Crounse himself.

The draw of the Crounse House is larger than the village. Doctor Crounse was active during the Anti-Rent Wars, supporting the Helderberg Hilltown farmers — many of them, his patients — as they fought the feudal patroon system. We know many descendents of those farmers still live in the Hilltowns and may well take an interest in restoring the Doctor Crounse House.

Beyond that, the house could be a draw for those who have an interest in Civil War history.  During the war, the 134th regiment camped in front of Dr. Crounse’s house as he stayed up all night, helping the regiment doctor with the sick and wounded soldiers.

Two years ago, Bob Keough, a representative of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, brought to the village board a resolution passed by members of his chapter of the organization, the George L. Willard Camp 154, stating that they would like to see the Doctor Crounse House, or as much as it as possible, preserved.

Keogh said the building was one of “very few places in the North where we know Civil War events happened.” He added, “When history is destroyed, it’s gone.”

He is right. We’re so glad this particular piece of history now has a chance to be saved.

We must commit ourselves to see that it does. The vision shared by Capuano and White Cloud is one of a “living history site” that would educate people for years to come.

“We’d have programs on 19th-Century crafts and building techniques,” Capuano said. “There would be community gardens, a picnic area, maybe a farmers’ market, gallery space for local artists, a place for 19th-Century music to be performed — music was a rich part of the culture — and for Civil War reenactment.”

That would be the very sort of learning that Ed Cowley had written about where people learn not as a captive audience, but as contributing members.

White Cloud has an even deeper sense of how the project could bring about change. He uses traditional tools when he builds, as of old, with green wood, and is eager to teach others of their worth.

“We have a chance to waken the spirit in the next generation to change the face of America,” he said, “and once again build structures that are both enduring and sustainable and put an end to the transient and throw-away architecture that we now have.”

“Even though it is often a difficult task,” Cowley had written more than a half-century ago, “it should, however, be realized that the struggle itself is often lively and entertaining. This is not a condition of culture being forced from the outside, but rather an effort to discover our heritage and its possibilities, and then to actually impress it on ourselves.”

Let’s seize this chance and enrich our community.
— Melissa Hale-Spencer