An historic building in the city of Oneida is the focus of a fundraising campaign to help pay for ongoing renovations.
But it’s about more than just a building, it’s also about a way of life.
Walking around the Oneida Community Mansion House is kind of like stepping back in time. That’s because the mid-19th century home and its associated structures are painstakingly kept as close as possible to the original design, since it is a National Historic Landmark.
The building, which includes Italianate and Gothic designs, sits on more than 35 acres of lush grass, trees and shrubbery, and according to Michael Colmey, the Director of Buildings and Grounds, renovations are part of a project that really never ends. He said that was very apparent in Phase One of the current restoration efforts.
“We uncovered a lot of deterioration within the mansard walls and the framing that we were unaware of, it went deeper than one could ever imagine,” said Colmey. But having had a long career in construction, he is still thrilled to be part of this local and national landmark.
“In my background, you know how things are built, how things go together, what it takes to do so,” Colmey said, “but you're working on a National Historic Landmark like this, and sometimes you're scratching your head and you say, how did they really do that back then?”
The Oneida Community Mansion House this month kicked off a $100,000 fundraising campaign, and if that goal is met it will be matched by another $100,000 from a local non-profit organization, the Kenwood Benevolent Society.
Thomas Guiler, the Director of Museum Affairs, said it’s not just about renovating beautiful old buildings, it’s the deep history associated with the mansion house that makes the historic home so significant.
It was built in 1862, to house around 300 adults and children who were part of one of the early so-called ‘utopian societies,’ the Oneida Community. That was a collection of people dedicated to communal living, and something called complex marriage, where community members were free to be involved with multiple partners.
Guiler said that concept is not unlike the free love movement that got attention a century later.
“I feel like upstate New York in the 1830s 40s, 50s, was (the) Southern California of the 1960s and 70s. It's lots of people trying different ways of living.”
Guiler said the Oneida Community was one of the most radical and successful utopian communities of the 19th century, noting that it lasted around 30 years, longer than other similar efforts of the time. It also was involved in various industries, including things like silk thread production and animal traps, and eventually the Oneida Community morphed into Oneida Limited, a well-known silverware company.
As he conducted a walking tour around the grounds, Guiler pointed out the attention to detail, not just for the buildings, but also for the landscaping.
When asked if the well-tended lawns, trees and shrubbery were part of the original plan, Guiler said that was an intentional part of how the Oneida Community developed that property.
“They also manicured the gardens and the landscape to complement the Mansion House, but also, they really did believe that they were making the new Garden of Eden,” said Guiler, “so they took great pride in the trees they planted, in the flowers and bushes and things like that. I mean, we almost have an arboretum here.”
The mansion complex includes an inn with 14 guest rooms and also 26 apartments. Jennifer Wayland-Smith, the Director of Hospitality at the mansion, lives in one of those apartments. She is also a descendant of people who lived in the Oneida Community Mansion House decades ago.
“And I think it’s very special, I think it's a unique opportunity to be a part of it,” Wayland-Smith said. “I understand the heritage and kind of the what it's all about and what it is.”
Speaking of heritage, Guiler said the museum is celebrating America’s 250th anniversary as part of its current fundraising campaign. He said there is a natural tie-in between the nation’s birth and some of the ideals expressed by the Oneida Community.
“Because you can see throughout history, people reacting to different external pressures, internal pressures, and trying to break away and make a better life,” said Guiler. “And really, that's what the founding fathers, the founding mothers, were doing, was imagining a different world.”
