CENTRAL VALLEY Work has begun on restoring a well-know landmark in Central Valley – the iron archway at Route 32 and Summit Avenue across from the Bright Star Diner.
It first marked the entrance to Oak Clove more than 100 years ago. It is being done as a joint effort between the Town of Woodburys Beautification Committee, Highway Department and Buildings and Grounds Department.
Not a great deal is known about the history of the archway so the Woodbury Historical Society is putting out an appeal to everyone to share any photos, recollections or reminiscences that people may have about it.
What is known is that the iron archway was erected around 1900 to serve as the entrance to what was then a new residential community called Oak Clove.
The developer was The Central Valley Land Improvement Company, which had purchased the land from the farm of David Cornell.
A dream for a college Cornell and Tomas Estrada-Palma, a Cuban native who was living and running a school in Central Valley, reportedly had a vision that the homes being built along Summit Avenue in Oak Clove would eventually house academics who would serve on the faculty of what Cornell and Estrada-Palma strived to establish – a college in the Oak Clove area in the hills overlooking Woodbury.
The vision never came to be. Instead, Tomas Estrada-Palma, who had maintained his political ties to Cuba in the wake of the Spanish-American War of 1898, left Central Valley in 1902 to become the first president of Cuba.
While the college never came to be, what does remain today is the lovely Oak Clove area of our town with numerous grand homes lining Summit Avenue and nearby.
Enhancing that area will now be the restored archway gracing the entrance. Its restoration will bring it back from years of bangs and bruises which climaxed some years ago when a moving truck tried to go under the archway and took the top right off the structure. (There is no word on what happened to the truck.) Afterward, the shattered iron pieces went missing and have never been located.
Refurbish, re-fabricating The current work consists of removing and refurbishing the remaining parts and re-fabricating the missing archway. It will then all be reinstalled on a new base made of a huge puddin stone which currently is at the Town Highway Garage waiting to be cleaned, polished and set in a concrete foundation where the original base can still be seen. The archway is also going to be raised for more clearance, and new lighting will be installed.
Once this is accomplished, Woodbury and the hamlet of Central Valley will reclaim a piece of history as well as a stately entrance to Oak Clove in the style and elegance prominent at the beginning of the 20th century.
An appeal for history The Woodbury Historical Society is trying to find more information about the Oak Clove archway. If you have old photos, postcards, etc., or information about it, contact
WHS at 928-6770, e-mail woodbury1889@optonline.net or
call Woodbury Town Historian Leslie Rose at 928-6479.
This article was contributed by Fred Lindlaw, a member of the Woodbury Historical Society.