allabouteverything

 As I was growing up, my parents had a summerhouse at the Hartwood Club, in New York. Hartwood is a family place for everyone and everyone knew each other. There are about 40 family houses close together surrounded by 6000 acres of land, woods, lakes and streams.  Hartwood Club is a place where you get together with family and friends and enjoy each other’s company. You can bass or trout fish, hunt deer, duck and pheasant. Trap and skeet shooting is a wonderful sport. Dad taught me and it was something I enjoyed with him on the weekends as well as fishing. You can swim in both man made lakes, which are called Hemlock and Echo. Echo is truly named because you can yell a word or phrase and hear your voice say them back to you. Both lakes have trails around them with interesting landmarks to find. Hemlock trail has a stonewall cabin but you wouldn’t want to stay there. It is full of rattlesnakes and other wild creatures! While walking, you can enjoy the birds, trees, wildflowers, and butterflies fluttering around you. Who knows, you might possibly meet up with other walkers and all walk together around the lake. Hemlock Lake has an island where you row out and doc anywhere around the edge of the island. You can enjoy picnics and sleep under the stars. It is a great way to spend with family and friends. Don’t forget to bring you fishing rod and tackle box! The lake is filled with bass, pickerel, sonnies, eels and snappers that you can catch. Snappers make great turtle soup! These lakes are stocked regularly with lots of fish as well as the surrounding streams with rainbow, brown and brook trout. I caught a 6-pound bass when I was 3 years old! I was fishing at Echo, lake by myself, and knew how to fish. I reeled him in and caught him in my net. We didn’t get him stuffed and instead had him for dinner that night! Quite a feast, I must say!  Daddy said, “Lee Ann, now that you caught your first fish, you have to know how to clean them.”  “UG,” I replied back to him, disgustingly. I will never forget that comment. You will just have to ask me if I cleaned fish or not!  Hartwood is a fun place where I made a lot of friends, learned to ride my bike, fish and spend quality time with my parents. It is a place I will always remember in my heart for the rest of my life. My parents are deceased now and we don’t have our house there anymore. We sold it to a great family who love and adored Hartwood as much as we did.

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