HUNTERSVILLE ASSOCIATION dedicated to preserving this unique part of Yorktown
Shinglenook Farm
The farmhouse on Baptist Church Road was constructed by tenant farmers in 1741, when the entire area was part of the Van Cortlandt Manor. A map from 1872 shows the owners as Clemente, a family name found on many headstones down the road in the Baptist Church's cemetery, some dating back to the 1700's.
Later, in 1904, the farm was purchased by Ralph and Imogene Hubbard. Along with the cider mill and assorted outbuildings the property was dubbed “Shinglenook Farm.” Initially intended as a summer residence, the farm ultimately became the family’s full-time home. It originally encompassed 100 acres of pasture, orchards, hay fields and woodlots.The Hubbards maintained a large vegetable garden, and kept several cows, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese. A hired hand lived in the rear tenant house, which burned down in the 1940s. In the winter they lived in the old schoolhouse he had converted. They had sons Peter and Harry and a daughter, Barbara Hall. The family went sledding on the roads which were plowed but seldom salted. Croton Lake was nearby and the children would skate and sail on the lake.
The farmhouse remained in the family until 1948, and today still looks much as it did during its occupancy by the Hubbards
The Old Schoolhouse.
This old schoolhouse was constructed in the early 19th century and designated as District Schoolhouse #6. In 1924, the structure was moved to a new foundation at its current location on Baldwin Road. The Hubbard’s son-in-law P. Arden Hall converted the schoolhouse into a colonial home for his family. The home had four bedrooms, a bath, toilet, kitchen, pantry and large living room with a fireplace and porch.
There were many one-room schoolhouses in the area during the 1800’s. A map acquired from the Yorktown Museum indicates sixteen school “districts”. The school buildings were spaced no more than three miles apart, so that no child would have to walk more than a mile and a half each way to school
The Cider Mill House
Now reminiscent of a Tudor carriage house, this building was originally a Shinglenook farm outbuilding used to make apple cider. During their tenure on the farm, the Hubbards turned the structure into an art studio for their daughter Elizabeth. In 1918, after her marriage to P. Arden Hall, she and her new husband again renovated the cider mill/art studio to create cottage-like living quarters.
Then, in 1927, after a trip to England, Mr. Hall once again transformed the structure into the Tudor style home that exists today. The house features a large living room with a cathedral ceiling featuring hand- hewn chestnut beams from the original cider mill and an oversized field stone fireplace. Three front car bays on the lowest level have been converted to additional living quarters.
The Hall family lived in the former cider mill from 1929 to 1938, after which it was rented to an acclaimed French-Canadian pianist, Jean Dancereau and his American wife Muriel, an opera singer. The Dancereau family bought the cider mill from the Halls for $20,000 in 1941. The house was known for the parties given by both the Hall and Dancereau families.