To the Editor:

Several weeks ago, I received a campaign flyer from Mr. Tim Stanton and Mr. Glenn Schultz decrying the Democratic control of the New Scotland Town Board and calling the Hilton Barn an “economic boondoggle.”

On Oct. 17, Deane Fish, chairman of the Town of New Scotland Republican Committee, who would like to install Mr. Stanton and Mr. Schultz on the town board wrote in The Enterprise: “Mr La Grange, sell this white elephant vanity project” [Letter to the editor, Oct. 17, 2019, The Altamont Enterprise].

It seems we have a coordinated Republican attack on the Hilton Barn. Selling the “White Elephant” means it would be reduced to a massive pile of 120-year-old timbers on the ground. It sure as heck isn’t going to be moved anywhere else, given its enormous size, and the huge effort it took, primarily from Adam Greenberg and Bill Hennessy, to save it.

We appear to have a clear definition of the two parties on this issue. The Republicans wish to be the party of destruction, the Democrats the party of conservation. And what would Mr. Stanton and Mr. Schultz like to leave for their heritage to future generations on the Hilton site? Another farmstand? A little satellite of Atlas Copco?

The Hilton Barn was built in four days by James Hilton, son of Joseph Hilton, and by builder Frank Osterhout, only six months after the original Hilton barn burnt on Jan. 7, 1898.

On June 25, 1898, one-hundred-and-sixty men showed up to the call for the barn-raising. It was supposed to take only two days to raise, but it took four days, due to its massive size. There was an apology in The Enterprise for the extra days of effort.

It is one of the largest barns in the state: 120 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 60 feet high. It has 60 tons of slate on the roof.

I am really surprised at Mr. Stanton’s position on the Hilton Barn. He is a farmer who knows the enormous effort it takes to make a living from the land.

What a remarkable accomplishment it was to log, mill, and transport all that lumber to the site (by bullock cart) and have 160 of your fellow farmers show up to build it.

Do we have a better memorial to what our amazing hard-working ancestors were able to accomplish than the Hilton Barn? Is there no project that so dramatically defines our farming heritage, but may cost money, worthy of some sacrifice? Are all our taxes just for road repairs, town salaries, and snowplowing?

I, too, am frustrated that the Hilton Barn does not yet have a new Vermont slate roof  to preserve it for another 100 years. We thought it would happen this year but the additional costs of repairing the roof infrastructure and making it safe to host large crowds in the 21st Century, added a lot more expense to the grant process than was originally anticipated.

What Mr. Stanton and Mr. Schultz perhaps don’t realize is that it was almost $300,000 of private money that made the Hilton Barn/Park project happen, with the help of Jennifer Hilton, Mark King of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, and an anonymous donor, and not one penny came from the town  of New Scotland.

If a new slate roof, and rough-sawn siding to clad the walls can be  accomplished for 2020, we will have a remarkable structure, of which we can be very proud. It will most assuredly be a major tourist destination for the Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail, but also the entire Capital District.

It  should have a public restroom, and a  huge internal space that could be used for performances, public gatherings, craft fairs, farmers’ markets and whatever else the  New Scotland community can imagine. Perhaps even a restaurant.

It will take money, most of which will come in the form of grants, but it would help enormously if the far-sighted citizens of our town felt it was a project that they could personally contribute to.

Peter Kelly

New Scotland

Editor’s note: Peter Kelly worked with Adam Greenberg and William Hennessy to help save the Hilton Barn.