Preserving Our Past By: Colin Speaker I excitedly walked up the stairs of the Bush-Holley House. The large white house looked extremely old. I walked up to the guide and asked, When was the Bush-Holley House built? He replied, The building was constructed in about 1730, one of Greenwich s oldest houses. This should be interesting, I thought, like an old book with many stories to tell. We passed through the main entrance and arrived in a small hallway in which you could turn left or right. Directly in front of me was an ancient looking mirror with two antique chairs seated beside it. On my right there seemed to be some sort of kitchen or bathroom, while on my left was a room with a giant fluffy bed. We were free to observe anywhere in the house. I walked further along and took a right down a long hallway. I walked down the hallway and through a tall door into a small, wood paneled room with a low ceiling. There were ten tiny cots resting on the floor. The guide walked up behind me and explained, This was the room where slaves slept. As you can see, it probably was not the most comfortable. I nodded, but thought to myself that this room is about the same size as my room at home except this was for ten people. Things certainly were different then. The Bush-Holley House is a National Historic Landmark in the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, Connecticut. It was constructed circa 1730 and in the late nineteenth century was a boarding house and the center of the Cos Cob Art Colony, Connecticut s first art colony, according to Wikipedia. It is worth recognizing and preserving these houses because it provides people in the future a look into what life was like in Greenwich in the past. According to Greenwich Historical Society, the house was originally purchased by Justus Bush, but he did not live in it. He gave it to his son, David Bush, who completely modified the house, adding an entrance hall, floor to ceiling wood paneling, and connected an outbuilding to create a back kitchen. At that time, kitchens were separated from the main body in the house. It was important to separate the buildings because cooking was done over an open flame, which often led to fires. If the kitchen was separate from the rest of the house, only the kitchen would burn down instead of the entire
house. This is another example of how studying the past makes us appreciate the advantages that we enjoy today. Our family spends a lot of time together in the kitchen, which would not be possible if we had two separate buildings. In 1848, Josephine and Edward Holley took over, also upgrading the house. This helped the Greenwich community preserve our future because without the house we would have a more difficult time learning about Connecticut s first art colony. It was made a museum and opened to the public in 1958. Because I was able to visit this landmark, I now better understand the history of my community There are many historical buildings in Greenwich. One of these buildings in the Thomas Lyon house. According to Greenwich Preservation Trust, The Thomas Lyon House is the oldest unaltered Colonial house in Greenwich. Probably built circa 1695, it remains relatively unchanged and retains a Colonial footprint established more that 300 year ago. Moved nearly intact in 1927 from its first site on the north side of Boston Post Road, this classic saltbox retains much of its original building material. The clubs who moved the Thomas Lyon house used an interesting method. As you can see in the image above from Greenwich Preservation Trust, they mounted the house on a large flatbed and transported it
from the north side of Boston Post Road to One Byram Road in 1927. Then, on June 28, 1932, the building was opened to the public (Greenwich Preservation Trust). It was a great idea to preserve this historical house instead of demolishing it, so that everyone in our community can visit and learn from it. Also, researchers can still study the building with modern technology to uncover previously unknown details of life at that time. Additionally, another important landmark in Greenwich is Greenwich Library. The Greenwich Library was formed in 1805. Nonsubscribers were first allowed to borrow books from the library in 1878 (Greenwich Library). In 1895, a library was opened where the current Saks Fifthe Avenue store stands. In 1992, the town received a 25 million dollar grant to build a new library. Over the years, the Greenwich Library has moved and been upgraded a lot, which has allowed people to enjoy all of the amenities that it has to offer today such as a peaceful reading room, a wide variety of books and movies, the Cole Auditorium, and expert librarians who are willing to help with research projects. Here is a photo that shows the Greenwich Library today, which was completed in 2000.. In this image from the Greenwich Library website, you can see the beautifully designed architecture of the building. Another way we can preserve our past for our future is by raising awareness. The Greenwich Preservation Trust has already started this cause. According to Greenwich Preservation Trust, one of their goals is, To increase public knowledge of the historic resources in the Greenwich community. This is a great goal
because it teaches people to appreciate our past, so that they will work for the preservation of our historic landmarks. Greenwich Preservation Trust has been to many schools to create awareness. Greenwich Preservation Trust says, Since 2012, the Greenwich Preservation Trust has partnered with the Brunswick School to present an education award for historical preservation to Brunswick's 4th grade students. This will encourage students to try and win this award and will also spread the word. Additionally, the Greenwich Preservation Trust has visited Parkway. I have learned about many of their current and completed projects. The Greenwich Preservation Trust has also partnered with the Town of Greenwich to work on their projects. Some of their recent projects have been to preserve the Thomas Lyon House, making sure to incorporate local historic monuments into school curriculums, providing free educational programs, and more. Here is an image of the Greenwich Preservation Trust visiting our school.
As you can see above, members of the Greenwich Preservation Trust are teaching our 5th grade about their purpose and projects. I was surprised to learn that preservation of historical landmarks is a relatively recent concept. I learned this over the summer when my family visited Athens. We took a tour of the Parthenon, which is one of the greatest historical monuments of ancient times. Shockingly, the Parthenon was destroyed in 1687, when the explosives that were stored in it by the Ottomans were set of during an attack. The Ottomans were never been concerned about the risk to the structure and it s historical value when they decided to use it as a storeroom for explosives. In addition, Lord Elgin from Britain further destroyed the building by removing and stealing all of the sculptures from the surfaces of the Parthenon. It wasn t until the end of the nineteenth century that people started consider the importance of preserving their cultural heritage. By the 1870 s, the very important site of Stonehenge in England had been severely mutilated by tourists who chipped pieces off the stones to bring home as souvenirs. The first place designated as a historic site in the United States was Washington s headquarters in Newburgh, New York in 1850. As you can see, it has only been over the last 150 years that historic preservation has become important to people. It is very easy to knock down a historical landmark and build a new shopping center or mall. It is very difficult to get the government or private donors to give money to preserve and restore a historic building. Most people do not realize that the decisions to preserve buildings are mostly made by the local government. That is why the efforts of the Greenwich Preservation Trust are so important because without local involvement, these historic sites would slowly disappear. I was interested to learn through my research that experts have shown in many states that preserving historic sites has tremendously helped the local economy. In Florida, it has been found that historic preservation adds 4.2 billion dollars to the state economy annually, and creates many jobs. In Virginia, it was found that three times as many visitors go to historic sites over beaches, and 4 times as many as theme parks. These studies have been very important to help governments decide to give more money to
historic preservation projects. I experience the truth of these studies when my family goes skiing in Utah. We go skiing in Park City, which is a historically preserved mining town with many restaurants and shops. We choose to ski in Park City even though places like Alta and Snowbird get better snow because the environment in Park City which has many restaurants and shops which has been preserved for everyone to enjoy, makes it a more interesting place compared to Alta and Snowbird. This is a good example of how historical preservation has helped the local economy in Park City. The last way I think we can preserve our past from our future is by retaining important documents, photos, and maps. According to the Greenwich Historical Society, Historical maps from 1890, 1900, 1908 and 1938 help researchers interpret property boundaries, acreage, home sales, structural footprints and who was neighbor to whom, as well as when streets were established or renamed. These maps are very important for scientists research and to residents who want to know more about the history of Greenwich. For example, I know that the street that I live on was built in the last 50 years and that the land that my house sits on was previously used for farming. Photos can help us too. According to the Greenwich Historical Society, photos can reveal information such as characteristics of what Greenwich looked like in the past, the important people of the town, and the type of fashion people wore. Here is an image of Greenwich Avenue in 1890 and in the present day.
You can easily interpret the differences between the two images. The 1890 image is black and white with horses and carriages while the present image is in color with cars. The 1890 image would therefore give people an image of what Greenwich Avenue looked like back then. Documents such as town records and reports can give people an idea of the population and town government publications (Greenwich Historical Society). All of these items help people look into the past by giving them a visualization of what it looked like. For these reasons, the past can be preserved for our future in many ways. Preserving our past is great for future citizens of Greenwich. It does not matter if we fail in preserving all buildings, but it is really important to create awareness of the importance of historic preservation, so that we can protect as many sites as possible. According to Greenwich Preservation Trust, The Greenwich Preservation Trust led an effort with the support of Greenwich Citizens, the offices of the State Historic Preservation Trust and the State Historic Preservation office but was unable to convince the Town to preserve or adaptively Re-use the 1938 Art Deco Central Firehouse. Despite receiving Zoning Bonuses for preserving the original building, the Town decided to demolish it and build a facsimile of the building that will require re-using many of the demolished building's components. This is a disappointing loss, but you will always succeed if you make the effort to try and
preserve history because ultimately all those efforts slowly do change the world for the better. In conclusion, I think we can preserve our past for our future by keeping historical buildings and monuments intact, raising awareness, and retaining important documents, photos, and maps. Works Cited 1. "Preserving All Things Greenwich." The Greenwich Historical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 2. "History of Bush-Holley House." History of the Bush-Holley House. N.p., n.d. Web. 3. "Greenwich Preservation Trust." Greenwich Preservation Trust. N.p., n.d. Web. 4. "Greenwich Library History." Greenwich Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 5. "Bush-Holley House." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6. "Historic Preservation: Value Added." Historic Preservation. N.p., n.d. Web. 7. "Historic Preservation." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 8. "Historic Preservation: Social & Economic Value." Nj.gov. N.p., n.d. Web.