Reflections of the Reunion August 9-12 2024

By James Stockman ‘60

Here it is early morning before the rest of my world has awoken in my house typing at my computer, thank you Mrs. S. for those early morning creative writing sessions at the Glen House.  As a member of the BSAA Board, and oldest class member in attendance at the reunion, I was asked to write about our reunion.  Rebecca, the school’s Development Director and Alumni Affairs has already sent out a recap of an exciting weekend.  The power failure being one of the highlights of the event.  I have chosen instead to write about my Buxton from the fall of 1956 to 1960 and what I saw over the weekend.

A report about what I thought was my first reunion attendance in 64 years, through 4 out of my 5 children remember going to reunions in the late 70’s.  As a member of the BSAA Board I got a chance to get to know others who were not at Buxton when I was there.  Yes, I did have a younger brother Edward at Buxton from 1964 to 1966.  It was rewarding to meet the physical people outside of our current electronic era on a computer screen.  Wow, I didn’t know you were that tall or short, now that we meet in person.  

Driving in from Maine I wanted to go by DUTCH HILL SKI AREA (1944 to 1985 with a vertical drop of 570 feet) for those of you of my generation this was the closest ski “resort”, a pale comparison to those mega-resorts that we know today.  The Green Mountain National Forest has reclaimed the mountain.

Mount Greylock is still there, but our western classmates would call that a hill. But when you are young a boy from the suburbs of NY, Williamstown was surrounded by mountains.  Today they are still green, it has been a wet summer, devoid of development and in the daytime modeled by the sun.  Buxton on Stone Hill was a special place to be, to live and study nine months of the year.  Of course this is a view of 82 years of life experience.  

The Main House and Barn still anchor the property with Maria and Giovanni’s residence now used for dormitory space, so I have been told.

The Main House pool has been filled in and a patio was being rebuilt.  I remember late May, early June when it was hot enough to go swimming.  Gone is the office on the porch and the smoking room now combined to increase the occupant load for dining.

The Billard room remains the same, a dark contemplative environment that was off limits to us students unless we were there for our evaluations or tea.

The ponds and I forget if there were 2 or 3 cannot be seen easily since everything has grown up around them.  Driving on Gale Road you caught a glimpse of what happens to ponds when man does not interfere with nature, they fill in and eventually disappear.

The pines behind the Main house have grown taller in 60 years and their lower branches have died and remain as a testament of the greenery that made the pines a soft and safe place to be.  I felt sympathy for these old trees, as an old man, remembering what they were like when we attended Sunday morning services in the pines.

The apple trees heavy with fruit need to be pruned as they were when Copeland was hired to do so many years ago.

The big site changes are the Art and Music buildings high up on the open field just below the tree line leading to the top of Stone Hill.  The Art buildings have a driveway built to them from the original driveway at Gale Road and South Street.  The Glen House is now a year-round residence.

The two art buildings are sited on the hill to take advantage of illumination requirements for the function inside.  One of the studio’s faces north for cool light of the north sky, while other studios were positioned to allow controlled sunlight to bathe the interior of the buildings.  

Bollard lights have been added between the Barn and the Main House, when I was there, we would walk the path at night with a canopy of stars or on dark nights with a personal illuminator (a flashlight).  Did we have bikes with lights on them, I forgot with age?  One of my professions was to become an expert in illumination specializing in ways to preserve the dark sky environment.

The Corn Crib theatre is used for storage now, a facility where I learned you can do theatre on a “postage stamp”, Another of my professions was to become a Theatre consultant working with Architects and owners designing their theatre facilities.  I also remember the audience sat on hard uncomfortable donated pews from a church in Petersburgh, NY.  

A side trip on the weekend was to drive west on route #2 to the top of the Petersburgh pass and see the sunset. I am happy to report the road is still 2 lane and rustic curving through a beautiful old growth forest, though many of the overlooks are hidden by the tree growth.  This brought back memories of a blue stake truck with a canvas top used to transport students.  In the winter you would open the back flap and see Buxton-ites huddled under blankets, traveling from the New York Central railroad station in Albany to the school after Xmas vacation. One time the vertical exhaust pipe set fire to the canvas cover.  Was this eventual to be my 45-year career, and still active, as a volunteer firefighter?

I left on Sunday thinking how the place has aged over the years.  Everything this summer due to abundant rain was lush green, the lawns manicured and the older buildings showed that they have been well maintained over the intervening years.

There were only 3 other contemporaries of my time at school; Dutch Weddell (62), Grae (61) and Waring (64) Fincke It was a thrill to catch up on their lives for about the last 60 years.

One of the activities of the weekend was to scan old documents for posterity.  I was pleased to return documents to Buxton from my achieves that my children would probably recycle after I am gone.  I believe we were missing a yearbook for 1957, since I had them for ’58 to ’62.

I urge all who can to try to come back to future Buxton reunions, regardless of your position, or if it was the best or the worst time of my life when you went to school.  One highlight was the two free tickets to the Clark Museum, a world class facility.  Expanded beyond the Greek marble building of the 50’s, the new architectural elements blend into the landscape. 

I am not sure how many more reunions I will make in the future, but this one was special to meet in person other board members of the BSAA, who I only knew through a computer monitor during our bi-monthly calls. Thank you for reading this nostalgia.