It's obviously good news that Grant Cottage (in Saratoga County, NY) was visited yesterday by one of the most influential politicians in the country, New York Senator and US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. He pledged to press for the site's designation as a National Historic Landmark, making it potentially eligible for federal funding.
The cottage is facing challenges, especially regarding security, in the wake of the closure four years ago of the state prison which used to occupy the top of Mount McGregor. People like Schumer, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, can help it meet those challenges.
As I have long thought, the best long-term solution is to renovate the upstairs (never part of public tours) and bring back live-in caretakers. For most of the cottage's history, caretakers lived upstairs, and bringing them back was too briefly discussed when the prison closure was announced.
A new, full-time caretaker, with housing as part of their salary, is the way to keep the cottage safe now and into the future, in the grand tradition of Oliver Clarke and Suye Narita Gambino.
For more on the latter, and her nephew Kenjiro Yoshida who served with the US Army and was killed in action in Europe during World War II, come to the July 7 talk by Steve Trimm. Steve, who wrote the small book I link to above (which is for sale in the Visitor Center), is also an expert on the history of Oliver and Martha Clarke.
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