Wooden Mold
Made by Joseph Shepley (w.1830-1838)
Cooperstown, New York
1831
As Hyde Hall was nearing completion, George Clarke (1768-1835) commissioned Joseph Shepley, a carver who worked in Cooperstown between 1831 and 1839, to make wooden molds to create the plaster ornamentation of the rooms in the Great House. This motif appears in the soffit of the ceiling.
Office Window and Door, Stone House (1817-1819)
Hyde Hall, Springfield, New York
2018 photographs by John Bower
This exterior door was added to George Clarke’s (1768-1835) office about 1834. It is thought to have been used by tenant farmers as a way to gain access to Clarke to conduct business transactions.
A view from inside – submitted by a visitor.
Gallery of the Louvre
Photographic copy of the original painted by Samuel F. B. Morse
2012 copy of c.1831-1833 original
George Clarke (1768-1835) met Morse in 1829 when the artist spent the summer in Cooperstown and nearby Cherry Valley. When Morse’s plan for public exhibitions of the Gallery of the Louvre fell through, he wrote Clarke offering the painting for $1,200. Clarke purchased it in September 1833 and added an additional $100.00 for the frame. The painting hung at Hyde Hall until the late 1840s when it was sold by George Clarke, Jr. (1822-1889). The original is now in the collection of the Terra Foundation.
Mantel Clock and Music Box
“Portrait Cherie”
France
c.1830
This French clock, described in the original bill as a “rich gilt clock with music” was purchased by George Clarke (1768-1835) on May 25, 1833 from Baldwin Gardiner, 149 Broadway, New York City, for $240.00. The music box is contained in a gilt stand which plays Auld Lang Syne and Sweet Boy. The name “Portrait Cherie” is derived from a small mirror, now missing, but once held by the female figure. The clock has always been on the mantel in the Drawing Room at Hyde Hall.
