New group has growing concerns

CONSTABLEVILLE — Members of the newly formed Constable Hall Garden Club have cultivated a plan to return the garden to its original glory.

Constable Hall, about 13 miles south of Martinsburg, has been preserved as a historical museum — providing a glimpse of what life was like in Lewis County's early years — since it was sold by the Constable family in the 1940s.

The Constable Hall Association has operated the museum since 1949. The hall is fashioned after stately homes in the Constables' native Ireland. Construction began in 1810 and took nine years to complete. The hall and its garden area are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Its garden is an example of American environmental design during the Georgian/Baroque period. Roses, poppies, lemon lilies and southernwood are believed to be descendants of original plantings, surviving since the hall was built. Club members call it the oldest formal garden in the state.

Many of the plantings in the garden are not original,and that's part of the task the new garden club will tackle.

"Over the years, the garden has become less of a historic part of Constable Hall," said Barbara Brown, who co-chairs the garden club with Dorothy Duflo. "Plants have been added that don't fit in with the time frame of the original home."

Club members are making a list of what perennials belong in the garden and which do not. Mrs. Brown said they are being assisted by a study of the garden done by a landscape architectural firm in the early 1980s. The study noted the plantings in the garden, but not much action was taken.

"The plan has fallen by the wayside, and we're trying to get it back," Mrs. Brown said.

The garden is 185 feet long and 100 feet wide. It is separated into four areas — each one divided into four triangle shapes.

The central axis of the garden contains a sundial of slate and granite designed by James Constable, son of William Constable Jr. and Mary Eliza McVickar Constable. His name and the year 1872 are engraved at the base.

Club members will also address the "sunken" aspect of the garden.

"The first thing we have to do is to take out all the plant materials," Mrs. Brown said. "The plant areas should be above the paths. Now, they are sunken below."

The project will require lots of work by the volunteers, who are seeking more people to help out. The group is also forming a list of perennials for the garden that could be donated by local gardeners.

For more information, contact Mrs. Brown at 376-7392 or Mrs. Duflo at 376-3839.

THE DETAILS

WHAT: The recently formed Constable Hall Garden Club.

PURPOSE: To restore the garden to its original aspects.

MORE INFO: Contact club co-chairwomen Barbara Brown or Dorothy Duflo at 376-3839. The Constable Hall Association Inc. is also accepting monetary donations for the project.
Constable Hall is at 5909 John St., Constableville, just east of Route 26 and on the north side of the road.

ON THE WEB: www.constablehall.org

HOURS: Constable Hall opens this year at 10 a.m. May 30. It will then be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Hall is preserving a noble past

CONSTABLEVILLE — Constable Hall preserves the memories of seven generations of the Constable family, beginning when William Constable Jr. moved into the mansion in 1819.

The mansion is constructed of hand-cut Trenton limestone blocks quarried at nearby Talcottville.

The father of William Constable Jr. was an Irish nobleman who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After the war, he became a wealthy merchant. In 1791, he and two others joined in the largest real estate transaction in the history of the state.

The Macomb Purchase was 4 million acres and included all of Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Franklin and parts of Oswego counties.

William Constable Jr. died during a construction accident when the mansion was nearly completed. He never recovered and died at age 36 in 1821. His widow, Mary Eliza McVickar Constable, was mistress of Constable Hall for the next 49 years until her death in 1870.

The structure was restored in 1948-49 and began operating as a historical museum on July 19, 1949.

Constable Hall is at 5909 John St., just east of Route 26 and on the north side of the road.

Source: "Constable Hall — A Story," Martha Constable Murray/ Constable Hall Association