Bygone Hudson Valley

(Clintondale, Ulster County NY)

John Thorn (1809-1886), a prominent Clintondale businessman, purchased the Jeremiah Relyea farm in 1856 and focused his attention on farming, raising cattle and growing fruit. He continued to purchase adjoining properties, and eventually his lands included approximately 220 acres in the towns of Plattekill and Lloyd in Ulster County. Thorn occupied a house on the property, originally built along Basket Street/Crescent Avenue by Elias Ostrander sometime around 1770, and together with his wife Hannah (Lewis) raised eight children.

The newly built Highland-Modena Turnpike (today’s Route 44-55) ran through Thorn’s property holdings, which allowed him to travel easily to markets in Highland and Poughkeepsie to sell his crops. Over time he sold off and leased portions of the farm to great profit.

John Thorn’s son, Solomon P. Thorn (1845-1928), lived with him into adulthood and shared John’s entrepreneurial spirit. He and his wife Catherine (Hasbrouck) greatly expanded the family home on Crescent Avenue and began taking in summer boarders in the spring of 1890. The Thorne boarding house, known as the Locust Farm House, featured farm-fresh meals and invited guests to enjoy the clean air and beauty of the country landscape. As the Thorne family were well-known in Hudson Valley Quaker circles, early ads noted the proximity of the boarding house to the Clintondale Friends Meeting House just down the street.  

An early ad for the Locust Farm House: “Farm House. Accommodates 45. $7 to $9 for adults, $5 to $6 for children. Transients $1.50 per day. House is pleasantly situated. Large airy rooms. Table liberally supplied with vegetables and other products from our own farm. Bass and pickerel fishing in Wallkill River near by. Livery accommodations. One-fourth mile from church. Write for further particulars.”

In addition to the boarding house, Solomon continued to sell crops from the farm, as well as baskets used to hold fruit and other items. (The three bay Dutch barn situated across the street from the house was set up as a shop for manufacturing the baskets.) The discovery of a mineral spring on the property in early 1897 led to new business opportunities, and Thorn renamed his house the “Elixir Spring House.” He began bottling and selling the spring water and a water, soda and ginger mixture for 25 cents a bottle. Area physicians would prescribe Thorn’s mineral water for kidney, liver and rheumatic ailments and even claimed that it helped to promote weight loss.

In August of 1907 Thorn established the Elixir Water Company, and sales of his tonic became more widespread, reaching across America and into Europe. The business flourished up until World War I, when sugar for the soda drink became scarce, and overseas distribution ceased.

In addition to his thriving resort and water businesses, Solomon was actively involved in politics. He served as the Town of Plattekill supervisor in 1889 and 1890, town assessor, and later as a New York State assemblyman from 1899-1903.

Salvatore and Grace Longo purchased the house in 1936 and continued to run it as a boarding house until the start of World War II. Under the Longos, the resort featured bocci, ping-pong and tennis courts, as well as freshly prepared food from the farm.  

A 1968 historic home survey conducted by the Junior League of Kingston noted that the house at that time contained 25 rooms, 5 baths and 5 fireplaces with four original mantels. Other early features included a dumbwaiter, an old barn and a carriage stop. Additional surveys in the early 2000s by the Wallkill Valley Land Trust Historic House Committee and the Society for the Preservation of the Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture (HVVA, now Hudson-Mohawk Vernacular Architecture) research team determined that the southwest section of the house may be the original c. 1771 home, with later additions by both John and Solomon Thorn, while the Dutch barn (no longer part of the property) was most likely constructed c. 1835-1840, prior to John Thorn’s purchase (https://hmvarch.org/news2/hvvanews4-8.htm).     

The property fell into disrepair for some years, before it was purchased for use as a resort once again. Today the home is known as the Elixir Spring House Bed and Breakfast.