Overcoming Winter Blues at the Homestead
This article originally appeared in a Saratoga County History Roundtable newsletter.
This article was written by Lauren Roberts, Saratoga County Historian.
Living at the Homestead was never easy, especially in winter. In December of 1914 the first patients were admitted to the newly built Saratoga County Tuberculosis Sanatorium in the Town of Providence. Located on a piece of land donated by Horace Carpentier years before, the site was in an extremely rural part of the county with no public transportation available to reach the area. The access road was impassable during certain times of the year, especially in the winter.
There were several reasons the Homestead was built there. Probably most importantly, the county was given the land for free with the stipulation that it be used as some sort of a health facility. Also, the belief that the fresh air and quiet nature of the place would help improve patients’ conditions, and the fact that several other proposed sites had been rejected due to the “not in my backyard” mentality of local residents afraid of contracting the highly contagious disease, contributed to the final decision. Read more...