A Glimpse at the History of Dalton Farm by Kimberly Wickes
Fact or Fiction:
1. Dalton Farm was once a prized Cattle Farm?
2. Robert Ferris was asked by Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. to officiate one of his weddings?
3.Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. had Jackie Kennedy to the Roosevelt House in the late 1960s?
4. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. was the first to import Fiats into the U.S.?
5. Dalton Farm once housed a movie studio?
1. Clove Creek Farm
Did you know when Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. owned Dalton Farm it was called Clove Creek Farm? Roosevelt purchased the farm in 1949 from Mary Fortington and first raised sheep. He then bred prized beef cattle called Herefords. On Saturday mornings, he loved to go around the farm looking at his award-winning Herefords. It was not uncommon to see him talking with the farm manager over Bloody Mary’s on Sunday mornings as well. The farm workers found Roosevelt very personable to work for. In the picture above, you can see the old cattle barn that use to sit on the now “overflow parking” area near the clubhouse. Behind the cattle barn was the sheep barn. Ann Dalton had both these barns torn down during the development of Dalton Farm.
Below is a banner from one of the Herefords shows:
An excerpt from Time Magazine, December 7, 1962, “At the 63rd International Livestock Exposition in Chicago’s pungent Union Stockyards, a gentleman farmer from Poughquag, N.Y., named Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., 49 took home a raft of ribbons. his polled (hornless) Hereford cattle, part of a herd of 300 raised on his 1,100-acre ranch 25 miles south of Hyde Park, grabbed off ten prizes, including a first and second place award. A manager runs the place, but Roosevelt, who bought Clove Creek Farms twelve years ago, spends most of his summers there and keeps in touch from his Washington law offices the rest of the year. “It’s by far the best we’ve ever done,” he gloated.”
Around 1974, Roosevelt went out of the cattle breeding business and into horses. This was due to the change in the New York Sire Stakes Program which provided incentives for Standard bred breeding in the state.
Below are 2 pages from the booklet advertising the first sale of this Herefords in 1957. The last sale was in 1973.
Roosevelt and his second wife, Suzanne, always had a riding horse. He had a big Appaloosa. They also had two Basset Hounds, Boris and Buttercup, which always trailed them when they rode. Some of you may remember that Beekman Recreation Road was not paved until the early 2000′s. Roosevelt’s had requested it stay dirt as they liked to ride their horses on it.
Be sure to look for the next newsletter to find out if Bob Ferris was truly asked by Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. to officiate at his wedding?
*Kimberly Wickes, an agent with R. Ferris Real Estate, has lived in Dalton Farm since 1997.
A special thank you to Shirley and Vincent Hynes for their help and information!
Thanks, very interesting. Too bad the old barns were torn down to build the Dalton Farms development.
A very interesting piece, thank you. I am a descendent of Mary Fortington and would really appreciate your help to contact Shirley and Vincent Hymes to see if I might be able to obtain additional information, particularly photographs.
Cheers
Gary Fortington
Thank you. I was one of the first people to purchase a home at Dalton Farm. I am a member of “The Founders club”, the photo used to hang in the clubhouse, I’m not sure if it’s still there. I had the pleasure of “Touring” dalton farm in a jeep with Ann Dalton herself, before any of the property had been touched for construction. What a beautiful farm it was!!!! The views and the acres of open green pastures was AMAZING. I remember the old barns there by the clubhouse, the coach houses too, ann explained all about them. She was sad that they had to be removed for construction, but they would need to go, there was no way around that she said. Ann dalton is an amazing woman, so sweet, so kind, so generous, I was sad that she was forced out of the project. She took such pride in Dalton Farm, she told me she had to do everything right, after all, it had her name on it. Ann wanted to keep all the open green areas between the cluster neighborhoods. I miss Ann and dalton farm too!!
Gary Fortington – please email me at nancyi@aol.com about Mary Fortington. I may have information.