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HODGES COTTAGE - 1883

Hodges CampThe site next to the "Big Dock" and across the road from the Currier place holds one of our oldest cottages. There a Mr. Hubbell of Charlotte in 1883 put up a "camp" which was sold to C.E. 'Dick" Irving in 1894 and occupied by him and his wife, Alice, for roughly half a century. During that span he became one of the outstanding characters of Thompson's Point, both by seniority and personality. He was a giant of a man and larger than life in many respects.

One legendary memory is of Dick consuming a couple of pounds of bacon and a dozen eggs for breakfast before rowing to the south reef to fish. If the fishing was good, at lunchtime he would dig out his megaphone and bellow to Alice who would dutifully row down to deliver his noontime meal. Alice, herself, is remembered for her sweetness, as when she gave mint candles to little Anne Drye and "Ditty" Currier to ward off grasshoppers when they went to the beach.

After Dick Irving's death, and following World War II, the cottage was sold to Dr. N. Howell Furman, a distinguished chemist at Princeton University, and one-time president of the American Chemical Society. This in 1947. Since 1965 his widow, now Mrs. Percy VanZandt, continued to summer here with her family, children, and grandchildren. With Mrs. Currier across the way, they faithfully greeted the end of the annual Fourth of July parade.

The VanZandts sold to Mr. Robert Drye whose family enjoyed the many activities of the Point.

In the summer of 1990 Barney Hodges, an apple grower from Cornwall, VT, and his wife Dee took up residence there. Their gaff-rigged sloop "Clyde" has recently been restored and joins the other antique boats in the cove.

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