SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

In August 1898, the United States government opened Camp Wikoff at Montauk, Long Island, for soldiers returning from the Spanish-American War in Cuba and Puerto Rico. The camp had a primitive field hospital flying a yellow pennant to signify contagious diseases. An estimated 80 percent of the soldiers were ill with contagious diseases such as yellow fever, diphtheria and typhoid fever.

During that summer, Camp Wikoff received over 29,000 Spanish-American war veterans, and a nurse from Saratoga Springs volunteered to tend these soldiers. She was Reubena Hyde Walworth. Ruby, as she was called by her family, calmed the soldiers, cooled their fevered brows, and in many instances, hers was the last face they saw before they died.

By October, Reubena began to show symptoms of typhoid fever. Her mother moved her daughter to New York City’s Presbyterian Hospital, but Ruby, who was only 31, died on Oct. 18, 1898, the only nurse at Camp Wikoff who succumbed to an infectious disease. Her mother pressed a golden lock of Ruby’s hair in her diary on the page for Oct. 18 and wrote “Ruby at her last.”

Upon her death, The New York Times printed a poem that eulogized this angel of mercy:

“No storm of praise will be bestowed upon her; Sweet nurse, yea angel, gentle minister. And, yet she served her flag, not as a man. But better still, as only woman can.”

More than 50 years later, on an evening in 1952, at Pine Grove, the Walworth ancestral home in Saratoga Springs, Clara Grant Walworth was dying. She was the last descendant of a prominent Saratoga Springs family and the only niece of Reubena Hyde Walworth. In her final hours, Clara was attended by a nurse and Evelyn Barrett Britten, a friend and local historian. Britten, the author of Chronicles of Saratoga, described Clara’s death as almost a phantasmagoric event.

“We stood transfixed. There in the glow of a blessed candlestick, we saw the figure of a nurse: blond, blue-eyed and smiling, an old-style cap and uniform marking her of another generation. She bent over the last mistress of Pine Grove and we watched speechless. She was gone and we were alone with a burning candle… and a patient whose sufferings had been eased…”

“Who was that?” the attending nurse inquired. Was it the self-sacrificing Reubena, returning to nurse and say goodbye to her niece? A specter? Or just the vivid imagination of a devoted friend and historian?

Reubena Hyde Walworth was a member of an illustrious family that resided in Saratoga Springs for over 100 years. Her grandfather and namesake, Reuben Hyde Walworth, was a New York State chancellor, the highest judicial position in the state at the time.

Her mother, Ellen Hardin Walworth, was the daughter of an Illinois politician who was a Mexican war hero. She was a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln and an early preservationist who helped save Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home.

Reubena’s mother, Ellen, instilled a sense of patriotism and love of serving one’s country in her daughter Ruby, the second youngest of her five living children. Ellen, who was a historian, educator, writer, civic leader and one of the founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution, called Ruby “my little Puritan” for her simple fashion and manners. She was her mother’s constant companion. Ruby’s father, Mansfield Tracey Walworth, a lawyer and novelist, was described as an alcoholic, and a madman who provided little or no emotional and financial support to the family.

When Ruby was 6 years old, her eldest brother, Frank, committed patricide, to protect his mother and little sister from the threats and ravings of this mad husband and father. Young Ruby was raised in a home of mental illness and domestic abuse.

Despite all this, Reubena was remembered as sweet, reserved and artistic. She was an 1896 graduate of Vassar College, where she was class poet; a student of the Art Students League of New York City; and an advocate for women’s suffrage.

When the Spanish American War began, Ruby trained as a nurse at Saratoga Hospital and then moved to Fort Monroe in Virginia. Ruby’s mother, Ellen, who was director of the National War Relief Association, said that her Ruby had the simplicity of a saint and the effectiveness of a scrubwoman as she attended the sick. While at Camp Wikoff, Ruby wrote about the soldiers in a poem:

“We are burying our boys when the cannons passed by, whom care might have saved, we have brought home to die.”

Reubena’s death had a great impact on many, including the veterans whose lives she touched. They wrote to her mother describing her compassion. The Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument in her honor at Greenridge Cemetery in Saratoga Springs.

Health, history, horses … haunted? It’s just another reason to love Saratoga Springs.

Not all ghosts are spooky. If you believe that most people are good, and well-intentioned, then maybe the idea of a spirit is just a gentle “hello” from beyond.

HAUNTED SARATOGA
Joe Haedrich tells the stories of the people who once lived in Saratoga Springs and whose spirits live on. Haedrich’s book, Haunted Saratoga, available this fall, is a collection of these stories.

On his Haunted Saratoga Ghost Tour, which includes a stroll down Broadway, he stops at the Arcade Building and tells of a terrible fire and a couple who tragically perished in each other’s arms, their beloved cat by their side. Many decades later, a woman who had her business located there, recounts the recurring, very real feeling of something brushing up against her leg. After mentioning it many times to many people, she learned of the fatal demise of the couple and their pet and decided to relocate her business to another spot in Saratoga. Go to hauntedsaratoga.com or call (518) 832-3796 for information on the tours and the book.

CANFIELD CASINO
Are there ghosts in the Canfield Casino? People have seen the roulette wheel spinning on its own, heard angry voices when no one was there and crystals chiming in the hall with no logical explanation. A credible Saratogian has seen an apparition in a flowing dress on the third floor.  The historic building in Congress Park, which is also the site of the Saratoga Springs History Museum, reportedly has had so much paranormal activity that the Ghost Hunters team from the Syfy channel checked it out in June 2010. Watch season six, episode 18, and decide for yourself if there are spirits inhabiting the beautiful brick building once frequented by the rich and famous.

When asked if the casino is really haunted, Saratoga Springs History Museum Director Jamie Parillo says, “It’s residual. To be haunted means there is some kind of energy still here, associated with an object in the museum, something to do with the building, or someone who built the building.”

“When we do our ghost tours, there is nothing hokey,” Parillo says. “We just try to tell of the things that we have experienced, whether or not we are experiencing something out of our imagination, or something that is really happening.  I know that I have had some strange experiences here that I cannot explain. Personally I think that something has to be here, but what it is… I could not tell you.” For information on the Canfield Casino Ghost Tour, go to saratogahistory.org or call (518) 584-6920.

CEMETERY TOUR
“Madness, Murder, Untimely Deaths and Strange Coincidences,” the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation’s Twilight Cemetery Tour at Greenridge Cemetery on Lincoln Avenue, is another unique opportunity to learn about Saratoga’s history.

With its park-like atmosphere and beautiful funerary art, you can view the tombs and monuments of some of Saratoga’s best-known residents.
“Greenridge Cemetery tells the story, not only of the people who lived here, but of the city and our country in their time,” says volunteer docent Gloria May. “There are congressmen and clerks, babies and those who came for the healing springs. There are jockeys and trainers, doctors and lawyers and soldiers who have fought in every war from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan.”

It is a final resting place for prominent families, those who have made contributions to the community, and Saratogians who were and still are well loved.

“Every stone has a story of a life,” says May.

When asked if she had experienced any unusual or unexplainable occurrences there, her response was simply, “No, I don’t really believe in ghosts.”
Ghosts or no ghosts, this event is held just once a year, and something you shouldn’t miss. For more information, go to saratogapreservation.org or call (518) 587-5030.

YADDO GHOST TOUR
Yaddo, the Saratoga Springs artists’ retreat, offers Ghosts in the Yaddo Garden tours on Fridays and Sundays at 5 p.m. from mid-September through Oct. 30 for $10 per person, no reservation required.

The Trask cemetery at Yaddo goes by many names: “Circle of Friends,” “Holy Hill” and “Tel-Almukaddas.” It is the spot Katrina Trask loved and selected for her burial site prior to her death in 1922. Though husband Spencer Trask’s stone is marked “Guardian Spirit Ever Here,” he and their four children rest in peace at Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery. For more information, go to yaddo.org or call (518) 584-0746.

An astounding number of important people and fascinating folks have lived and died in our area.

Over the years, some of their stories have faded; others are murky. Many live on as the names of our hotels, restaurants and historic sites.

As the days darken and Halloween ghosts fly in the night, we dug up some of these tales and tiptoed around a few tombstones.

Here’s what we found:

GRAVES OF GREENRIDGE

Greenridge Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Saratoga Springs, opened in 1844. Hilly and dotted with tall pines, it’s the final resting place for poets, statesmen, philanthropists, businessmen and several Native Americans.

The cemetery has entrances on Lincoln and Vanderbilt Avenues and is open from dawn to dusk.

George Sherman Batcheller

1837-1908

Yes, George is the gent who built the eye-catching Batcheller Mansion, above, in the heart of Saratoga Springs.

But he didn’t spend much time there, as he was appointed to high government posts in Egypt and Portugal.

His wife, Catherine, died in Egypt in 1903 and was buried there for a year until her body was shipped home and interred in the Batcheller mausoleum, a huge pink granite monument in the style of a mastaba, an ancient Egyptian tomb. George joined her in the tomb after he died in Paris five years later.

Charles F. Dowd

1825-1904

How strange it is that a train killed Mr. Dowd, the Saratoga Springs gentleman known as “The Father of Railway Time.”

Train travel was in full steam across America in 1869 when Dowd was the first person to propose a system of standard time zones for North America.

In 1904, he was walking home at dusk after visiting a friend on North Broadway. A locomotive struck him as he crossed a track and he died instantly.

Sam Hildreth

1866-1929

Hildreth was one of the great thoroughbred trainers of the 20th century.

During his 43-year career, he won seven Belmont Stakes. Twice he won more races in a year than any other trainer in the United States. Nine times, he held the record for the top money-earning trainer, and he held that claim to fame for 60 years. It was shattered by D. Wayne Lukas in 1992.

The co-author of The Spell of the Turf, about the history of American horse racing, Hildreth lived at 28 Union Ave. in a Queen Anne-style mansion that is now the Empire State College Foundation.

He died at age 63 and was posthumously inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1955.

Buddy Ensor

1900-1947

Thoroughbred jockey Buddy Ensor set the world on fire when he was still a teen.

In 1918, he won the Saratoga Special Stakes and a year later, the Travers Stakes. He won five races in a single day twice, in two years.

But Ensor, who lived in Saratoga Springs, got into trouble when alcohol abuse and misconduct got him kicked out of the Jockey Club.

E. Lavelle “Buddy” Ensor died in 1947 and was posthumously inducted into the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. He’s buried next to his wife Daisy.

Katrina Trask

1853-1922

The grieving mother and writer who dreamed up Yaddo, an artist’s retreat on her Saratoga Springs estate, is buried in the woods beyond her mansion, at a place she picked out three-and-a-half years before her death.

Lady of Yaddo, a book based on Katrina’s memoirs by Lynn Esmay, tells us that Katrina, whose four children died at young ages, found the spot while she was walking with a Greek archbishop from Syria. Katrina and her friend both felt a mystic presence, a sense of peace, on this hillside.

She called the place “Holy Hill” and named a “circle of friends” who she hoped would rest there with her in body or spirit.

Katrina’s humble gravestone is surrounded by five, undated pink granite markers. George Foster Peabody, her second husband, is buried there. There’s a marker for her first husband, Spencer Trask, but he and their children are buried in Brooklyn.

Go for Wand

1987-1990

Oct. 27, 1990 was a heartbreaking day in the world of thoroughbred racing. That’s when the champion Go For Wand took a nasty fall at the Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park and was euthanized.

The ill-fated filly is buried in the infield at Saratoga Race Course, the site of two of the greatest triumphs of her short career: the Test Stakes and Alabama Stakes.

Go for Wand is not the only horse buried at the track. Fourstardave, Mourjane and A Phenomenon were laid to rest in the Clare Court area on the backstretch at Saratoga.

Jane McCrea

1752-1777

Poor Jane. Not only was she killed while on the way to visit her boyfriend, but after her death her body was moved three times.

Blame it on the Revolutionary War. Jane was in Fort Edward, en route to Fort Ticonderoga, when an advance party for British commander John Burgoyne, led by Huron-Wendat warriors, ambushed the village.

How Jane died is a mystery. According to legend, she was scalped. In another story, she was hit by gunfire from Americans pursuing the warriors. The scalping tale became propaganda for the patriots. In some accounts, her hair was flaming red and three-and-a-half feet long.

In 2003, when her body was exhumed, her skull was missing. Today, Jane rests in peace (we hope) in Fort Edward’s Union Cemetery.

Lemuel Haynes

1753-1833

In the Washington County town of Granville, you’ll find the grave of the Rev. Haynes, who started life as an indentured servant doing farm work. He later made history as the first African-American ordained in a mainstream Protestant church and the first African-American to receive an advanced college degree.

Born to a Caucasian mother and a father who was of African descent, he was a minuteman in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he was known for his writings against slavery.

Rev. Haynes served the all-white congregation at Rutland’s West Parish Church, now West Rutland United Church of Christ, for 30 years. In 1804, he received an honorary master of arts degree from Middlebury College.

After his death at age 80, he was buried in Lee-Oatman Cemetery. The Lemuel Haynes House in Granville is a National Historic Landmark.

Ulysses S. Grant

1822-1885

The remains of our 18th president and his wife, Julia, are in New York City, in Grant’s Tomb, the largest mausoleum in North America. But the actual bed upon which the famous Civil War commander took his last breath is a few miles from Saratoga Springs, in a tiny cabin on top of Mount McGregor.

For more than 130 years, the room where Grant died of throat cancer has been carefully preserved. At the U.S. Grant Cottage Historic Site in Wilton, even his funeral flowers, dry and colorless, are on display.

When Grant was diagnosed with cancer in October 1884, he started writing his memoir in New York City. In the spring of 1885, his friend, Joseph Drexel, who built the Balmoral Hotel on Mount McGregor and the narrow gauge railway that took people from Saratoga Springs and up the mountain, offered his private cabin to the ailing president.

The 63-year-old Grant spent his final six weeks in the cottage completing his memoirs, before his death on July 23, 1885.

If the ancient walls of the Old Fort House could talk, they would describe fascinating accounts of visits by future presidents George Washington and James Madison. They would recall the venue playing host to both American and British forces during the Revolutionary War, including celebrated generals such as Philip Schuyler and John Burgoyne, as well as the infamous Benedict Arnold. They would also remember a charismatic young musician named Solomon Northup living here for a time and even getting married on the grounds.

Fortunately, the walls are not relied upon to pass down the rich history of this iconic landmark, as the Old Fort House’s caretakers are dedicated to the singular mission of preserving its unique legacy.

“This place has had an impactful role in our history since the colonial days. There aren’t too many of those around,” says Paul McCarty, director of the Old Fort House Museum. “I like to think of it as a survivor. It’s seen a lot and been through a lot…and it endures.”

Located on five picturesque acres on Broadway in Fort Edward, the Old Fort House is much more than a relic of days gone by. Featuring numerous buildings of historical significance, including an 1850s law office, a schoolhouse from the early 1900s and an apothecary garden, the museum campus is inviting and vibrant.

“We have 18 structures on the property and we’re very proud of the grounds and the gardens,” McCarty says. “A lot of people think of us because of the connections to George Washington and Solomon Northup, but we have so many other great stories to tell. We represent the history of Fort Edward, Northumberland, Moreau and Hudson Falls. Our county government was formed right here. This place represents a lot of our heritage.”

The history of the Old Fort House dates to 1772. An Irishman named Patrick Smyth purchased the property in October 1771. Smyth built the house during the next two years from materials taken from the ruins of Fort Edward, a fortification from the French and Indian War named after Prince Edward, grandson of King George II. The fort had been abandoned following the war, which afforded Smyth the opportunity to take down the two best buildings there and use the materials for his personal residence.

Smyth’s home also served as a tavern, meeting place and boarding house from early in its history. Through the procession of time, the Old Fort House served a variety of purposes with numerous owners and residents.

On Christmas Day 1828, Northup moved into the house. He was married to Anne Hampton on the grounds and lived there until 1832. Northup, a free black man from Essex County, was drugged and sold into slavery in 1840. He spent the next 12 years as a slave in Louisiana before being freed and returning home. He then wrote the autobiographical 12 Years a Slave, which was adapted into a film in 2013 that won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Northrup’s experiences and legacy are a major part of the experience at the Old Fort House.

“The house is one of the few physical reminders of Northrup’s life, and his story is one of the most important in our country’s history,” McCarty says. “It’s essential that we do justice to his legacy.”

The Old Fort House is open from June through October. A guided tour of all aspects of the campus takes about 90 minutes. One highlight is the A. Dallas Wait Law Office. Built in 1853 by Washington County Judge A. Dallas Wait in Fort Edward, the office served as the home of Wait’s private practice. Wait practiced law in Fort Edward and Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls) before being elected judge in 1855 and serving three terms. Wait was elected as Washington County’s district attorney in 1861 and served two terms in that position.

Originally located at 1 Mechanic St. in Fort Edward, the office was scheduled for demolition before being donated to the Fort Edward Historical Society and relocated to the Old Fort House campus in 1982. During its restoration, pocket doors dividing the two rooms were discovered, as was an original tin ceiling. The building was among the first in Fort Edward to be wired for electricity. Those original fixtures remain, and the office also features period bookcases and 19th century law books.

Another popular attraction is the Riverside Schoolhouse, which was formerly of Northumberland. The one-room building was in use for nearly 65 years before being closed in the 1950s. The building was abandoned after its closure and has been part of campus exhibits since 1996.

Other buildings include the Cronkhite Pavilion, Plank Road Toll House, Water Works Barn and Doctors’ Apothecary Garden. There is also an extensive collection of area pottery and a museum shop.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of New York State approving passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, a new exhibit — “Women’s Suffrage in Washington and Warren Counties” — opened this summer.

“Washington County had some important ties in the women’s suffrage movement,” McCarty said. “We’ve also been involved with the creation of a new historical marker for Susan B. Anthony nearby in Moses Kill. She taught in Fort Edward for a couple years, and it’s another way to recognize an important piece of our history.”

With its notable roles in local and national history, diverse exhibits and educational offerings, McCarty believes the Old Fort House appeals to people of all walks of life.

“I think everyone who comes here takes away something a little different,” he says. “I think that’s a credit to the one-of-a-kind history of the Old Fort House. It’s something we’re most proud of.” S

Brien Bouyea is the communications officer at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the author of Bare Knuckles and Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life of John Morrissey.