March Will Always Have a Special Place in Our Hearts
The month of March will always have a special place in our hearts. We celebrated the first anniversary of the Town of Greenburgh closing title to Odell House on March 4. When it happened last year, we were so excited for the work ahead and then everything shut down in New York with Covid-19’s arrival on March 12.
One year later, after countless hours on zoom meetings and email exchanges, we are starting to see the days of isolation end and can now celebrate another important milestone: the shoring of the house.
On March 15, the shoring process started at Odell House. The work will create an interior framing structure to protect and support the building during the full restoration. During the process to write the full RFP for this work, some good news came to light. The stone section, built in 1855, has a solid foundation. As part of the shoring, the firm awarded the contract, Abbott & Price, will remove the floorboards, put a moisture barrier over the dirt underfloor, replace the support beams with new beams and then install a temporary plywood floor. That means that this section of Odell may be useable sooner than expected! Our next newsletter will give you a full update. During all of this process, Garrett Duquesne and the Greenburgh Town Board have shown their constant support for the Restoration of Odell and we give them our heartfelt thanks!!
To allow the shoring crew to start their work inside the house, our board members and a few dear volunteers helped remove the contents from the basement and the first floor. Among the items removed there were furniture, books, china, glass, fabrics and framed objects. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Department of Public Works under the direction of Mike Broder and the Friends’ volunteers, these items are now safely kept in a storage facility being paid for by the Friends. The Friends will begin to catalog and photograph everything in April. This will be a long term project and we will need trained volunteers to help. All these artifacts will stay in storage and wait for their special spot in the museum. Our special thank you to Andrew Bordwin and Fred Charles for documenting this important step; Marc Cheshire, Thomas Hay, Adam Hutter, Vaneska Pasqua, Sandy Morrissey, David Seal, Susan Seal and Susan Werbe for sorting, packing and moving the contents and their crates.
Edna, the great-granddaughter of Colonel John Odell, was born in Odell House in 1874. She followed her family’s path of service to her country and went to France during WWI as an American Red Cross nurse. Her life tells the story of women in the late 19th and early 20th century seeking their independence and a fulfilling life.
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