Hathaway Mansion

The **Hathaway House** is an abandoned Colonial-style mansion located at the end of a driveway at the end of Canyon Road in Ashford Falls, New York. The eight-bedroom mansion includes sixteen fireplaces, cornice furnishings and a Roman Doric portico overlooking the pasture at the base of Fiddler's Peak. It has also been known as the Crutcher Mansion, Hill House, the Old Hood House and the Executive Mansion during the years it was the home for the local mayors of Ashford Falls.

Before the Hedison Mansion, the former Crutcher Mansion was once considered the most opulent structure in Ashford Falls and included stables for horses, a garage, swimming pool, green house and a caretaker's cottage. It was built by railroad magnate *Howard Crutcher* between 1860 and 1865 and served as his executive mansion when he became mayor of Ashford Falls in 1867. From here, the history becomes a bit muddled. According to Lionel Creekmore, the house became the executive mansion to later mayors of Ashford Falls, but Sheriff Lionel Taft in his account to Bradley Larabee claimed the house became the Hathaway Mansion when Howard Crutcher's grand-daughter married Lloyd Hathaway, a young lawyer from Troy, New York, and inherited the house. Creekmore also remarked that the structure had been empty since James Hood became mayor in 1889, replacing the incumbent George D. McFarland, who had passed away while in office. Apparently, Hood didn't have any interest to move his family out of their home on Monarch Drive. On the other hand, Fletcher DuBois told Samantha Troy the structure had been empty since 1943 when Mayor James. B. Hood left office which supports Creekmore's account of the location being the home of successive mayors. If so, Creekmore might have confused Mayor James Hood of 1889 with his son, who was mayor of Ashford Falls in the Thirties and Forties. If this account is accurate, the Hoods might have been related to the Hathaway or the Crutcher Families, whose names have been connected to the historic structure.

It is known that during the 1930s the Crutchers were friends with the Hedison Family of Albany, New York and the Satterwhite Family, who owned much of the property in the area. By this point, the house was possibly occupied by Mayor James B. Hood, the only three-term mayor in Ashford Falls history, but after it was abandoned, the structure fell into neglect and became known as a reputed haunted house in the Fifties and the Sixties. The inability to sell the place to any of the wealthy families in the area became legendary as well as getting interest in anyone to acquire the property. Lincoln Hedison turned down acquiring the house in the Fifties. Nevertheless, in his youth, Bradley Larabee often explored the house and somehow missed local nanny Samantha Troy, who possibly was living there illegally through the Sixties. To some extent, Troy managed to restore parts of the house to make it livable and left several personable possessions like clothing, bric-a-brac, books and antiques there when Bud Mason and Lou Riley illegally squatted in the house through the 80s. In the Early 90s, a wandering sect known as the Children of the Sun took up occupancy of the house and tried gaining legal custody until Sheriff David Carmichael chased them out of town.

In 1995, Sabrina Collins became Mayor of Ashford Falls, replacing Carl Griggs. At the time, she was living in the Satterwhite Hotel, but as interest came in acquiring a current premises to serve as her residence, she inquired about how much it would cost to restore the Hathaway House and restore it back to the Executive Mansion. In doing so, she ended the long vacancy of the mansion as well as the Hedison's control of the town and its economy.