Valley View article

The Many Lives of The Valley View
By Karen Cuccinello 5-2019

Valley View is located at 33 Lake Street and lies within Granthurst Park, Town of Harpersfield and Village of Stamford, NY. The Grant Brothers, Duncan K., John P. and James G., hired Edwin B. Codwise, a civil engineer of Kingston, NY, to map out 150 lots on their property along Lake Street/Rte 10. The size of the lots averaged 50 by 150 feet. The map, which we now have a copy of at the Stamford Village Library, was filed in the Delaware County clerk’s office June 28, 1892. I believe the Valley View was lots numbered 91 and 92.
Richard H. Barner, a merchant and flour and feed dealer, had the Valley View built by William S. Stewart in 1904 and installed a large gas plant December 1904. Barner immediately rented it out for the summer of 1905 to C. W. Mean and family of Asheville, N. C. He often rented it out in the summer. Barner had a connection to the property because his wife Hattie was the daughter of John and Reubana Clark, who were the original owners of the land that Granthurst Park is situated on.
Barner sold the property to Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. and Augusta Morrow in 1920. The Morrows were from Hasbrouck Heights, NJ and had started coming up to Stamford when they rented the residence of M. S. Wood in 1916. Augusta Morrow established the Valley View as a boarding house and following her husband’s death in 1922 she probably needed an income. Augusta married Mr. J.B. More/Moore of NJ about 1923. She rented the Valley View to Mr. William H. Leman, owner of the Chateau, in 1924. It continued as a boarding house and was advertised as accommodating 25 guests in 1924 and 30 in 1928.
A March 1925 Hancock Herald states that Mrs. J. B. More has sold her boarding house on Lake street, “The Valley View,” to George and wife Lavinia Kastner of NYC but the deed I found for the sale is dated 1928. The Mores still spent some time there, as guests, after the sale and Augusta and her daughter Mildred are in the 1930 Stamford census. George Kastner bought an acre of land in the rear of his residence on Lake Street in 1930 from Archibald W. Billings and built a hen house. A 1932 advertisement listed Mrs. George Kastner as Proprietor of the Valley View. In 1934 it was sold at a foreclosure sale (keep in mind this was still during the Depression Era).
I am not exactly sure what was going on at the Valley View in the late 1930’s but at some point in the early 1940’s Joseph and Nell Berardy, of Brooklyn, bought and ran it as a tourist home until 1952.
In 1952 The Sisters of Reparation of the Congregation of Mary, in NYC, bought it, added a chapel, and called it the Mount Saint Joseph Guest House and Convent. They also owned 35 Lake and a cottage on Prospect Street in the 1960’s.
In December 1971 Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hefferen and sons of Merrick, L I. purchased the Mt. St. Joseph and planned to accommodate skiers with lodging and opened a restaurant called “The Sanctuary.” They also offered theatrical productions with dinner. It again was advertised for a foreclosure sale in the fall of 1974.
In November 1975 The Sanctuary Inn was sold to Cy Langlois and Ted Roseen of Worcester.
The year 1977 brought about a new owner, The Stamford Baptist Church. When the church outgrew 33 Lake Street they purchased 40 Lake Street, the old Chateau de Navarre, in November 1981. The Chateau burned down in 1985 and they built a new church. The congregation still utilized 33 Lake for some functions through the 1980’s.
The Valley View is currently owned by Don Bosco Hewlett and is for sale.