Max Latterman--The Veblens' Caretaker at Herrontown Woods

It was a very pleasant surprise to find in the mail one day some newspaper clippings from back when Max Latterman, Sr. was taking care of the Veblens' house and grounds. His tenure there actually predates the Veblens, as he was first hired by J.P.W. Stuart, who moved the prefab house to the site and then later sold it to the Veblens. Max's love of Herrontown Woods was such that he continued to work there even after both Veblens had passed away. Below is one of the articles, from the 1980 Fall/Winter edition of the Mercer County Park Commission News. Thanks so much to Jean Latterman, Max Latterman Sr.'s daughter in law, for sending these articles!

MAX LATTERMAN

and

HERRONTOWN WOODS

Autumn is the perfect time to catch a glimpse of the wonder of the Herrontown Woods in Princeton, a Mercer County Park Commission facility open to the public every day at no cost.

And it is said that this tree arboretum is as rich in history as it is in beauty. A walk through 141-acre garden of trees will point up the latter, but only a conversation with caretaker Max Latterman will bring out the international significance of the property.

Latterman will tell you that the Herrontown Woods, donated to the county of Mercer in 1957 by world famous mathematician Oswald Veblen, were the grounds of this estate for thirty years.

Veblen was brought to Princeton University as an associate professor in 1905 by Woodrow Wilson, then the president of the University, and by Dean Henry Burchard Fine. Years later, he was influential in the founding and establishment of the academic direction, especially in mathematics, of The Institute For Advanced Study, a post-doctorate institution in Princeton. He is also credited with influencing Einstein and other great mathematicians to join the faculty of the Institute.

Latterman was the caretaker for the Woods even before Veblen purchased the property. The 75 year old Latterman, whose German accent sounds a bit like Grandpa Stroehmann's, provides some interesting insights about the property.

The estate, according to Latterman, provided a source of enjoyment and relaxation for Veblen. Although the professor frequently traveled to Europe and Maine during fhe summer months, he always enjoyed the grounds which are now the Herrontown Woods.

Latterman's responsibilities, while employed by Mr. Stuart, included caring for the grounds, the two houses, the barn, shed and hay barrack, and also the hunting horses. Saddle sore or not, Latterman rode the horses every day to give them excercise. "It was not fun by the time I got off all of them", he said.

Latterman works only four hours a day now, but still begins his day at 7 a.m. Walking through the property, Latterman can trace the beginnings of parts of the woods and gardens, which surround the houses. He points to a section of the woods between the two houses, "where the old barn used to be", and notes that that is where Veblen planted several oaks trees. Latterman said that Veblen also used to transplant certain trees from one area of the property to another, giving the woods both balance and beauty.

Veblen's wife, Elizabeth, also liked to garden, planting daffodils (in circles). wild hyacinths and other rare flowers that she had collected from Europe, giving the property a radiance in the spring.

During those summer visits to Europe, Latterman was left to care for the estate alone. "I didn't mind it," he said. "But it was very quiet. When I got home, I was glad to hear some voices." Even today, with the exception of an occasional passing car or airplane overhead, the Herrontown Woods remain a quiet place. "I still like to hear voices when I get home," he said,

Latterman, who probably knew more about the intricacies of the houses and the woods than the Veblens themselves, explained that the main house, located off Herrontown Road, was rebuilt by previous owner J.P.W. Stuart, who had the house moved from New York. Just for show, Latterman unlatches what almost looks like a secret vault and explains that the beams are connected by metal pins, making the dismantling of them still possible today.

He recalls that many of the professor's friends, colleagues and students visited the property, enjoying a walk through the woods with Veblen. Perhaps the most famous colleague was Albert Einstein.

But the professor, according to Latterman, loved the solitude of the property and spent many hours alone. "'When he wanted to be left by himself," said Latterman, "he would go off to the second house and study there where there was no telephone." Latterman recalls that he would stay there for long hours and burn a lot of wood that Latterman had cut up for him to keep the cottage warm.

Mathematics professor Deane Montgomery of the Institute For Advanced Study, a close colleague of Veblen. also recalls the smaller of the houses and refers to it as Veblen's ''study" . "He always liked the outdoors, though," said Montgomery. "In his later years, he would spend time cutting wood himself."

"Because the Veblens had no children," said Montgomery', "he (Veblen) thought very carefully on the matter of the houses and the property. He concluded that the county would be the most likely to carry out his intentions of leaving the property in its natural state."

As he continues his tour, Latterman explains that the stone walls surrounding portions of the estate were made from the rocks that farmers had cleared from their fields during the winter.

Walking through the woods, one will notce the absence of slate or stone walkways, which sometimes contrast with the softness of the woods. "The professor did not like cement sidewalks," said Latterman. "This is why I made, and still repair the wooden sidewalks."

With all the quaint features about the houses and the personal touches of the walkways and gardens, the trees are still the stars of the show, with marked paths winding through the woods.

The arboretum includes a pine forest, over thirty species of trees, a countless amount of shrubbery and a brilliant collection of flowers.

A Small Victory at Herrontown Woods

(originally posted at PrincetonNatureNotes.org, April 26, 2009--Herrontown Woods being Princeton's first dedicated nature preserve, donated by the Veblens in 1957) 

Most people know about the big victory won at the Princeton Battlefield in 1777. Few have heard, however, of the small victory of 2009 that took place at Herrontown Woods, on the other side of town, on a sunny afternoon in late April.

There, the mighty resistance of an eight year old to taking a walk in the woods was overcome by an irresistible alliance of rocks and water.

Strident complaint dissolved into "Daddy, look at this!", as we headed upstream towards a picnic in a boulder field.

Contributing to the rout of homebound entertainment media was a frog presiding over a reflected forest.

Plenty of auxiliary forces were on hand, effective mostly with the accompanying adult. The opening buds of a witch hazel.

Some interesting stuff on the forest floor--here, a reddish-brown spiny fruit of the sweetgum, a flowering wood anemone, and some leaves of trout lily.

And the fiddle heads of Christmas fern perched on boulders.

Even the trails were strategically rock-strewn to add sport and comfort to the way home.

George Dyson on Veblen's Role in Preserving the Institute Woods

If you missed George Dyson's March 21 talk at DR Greenway, entitled "Princeton's Christopher Robin - Oswald Veblen and the Six Hundred-Acre Woods", here's a link to a high definition video, posted by videographer Kurt Tazelaar: https://vimeo.com/63494165.

(May 4 update: technical difficulties seem to have made the photo and "play" button disappear, but the link should work)

Realizing I was going to be arriving back in town too late to hear the talk, I asked Kurt Tazelaar if he could videotape the presentation. He and Sally Curtis were willing, DR Greenway and George Dyson gave permission, and after considerable work by Kurt and Sally to put it in finished form, it was posted online.

Among other things, George describes how Oswald Veblen's grandparents lost their land in Norway due to a crooked lawyer, and how this may have fed Oswald's passion for land acquisition. Other insights in the talk include thinking of Veblen--who argued early on in favor of the Institute for Advanced Study acquiring considerable land, and then did much of the legwork and negotiating to acquire the first 600 acres--as the bridge between the Institute's intellects and the land on which they do their thinking.

The video also includes a charming intro by George's father, Freeman Dyson, and some photos and description of the years George spent living in a treehouse. The latter plays in to a theme that's been coming up more recently related to the project--the movement in architecture to design ultra-small houses.

Thanks to George, Kurt, Sally and the DR Greenway for making this video possible.

Upcoming Talk on Oswald Veblen: "Princeton's Christopher Robin"

George Dyson, author of Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe, will give a talk entitled "Princeton's Christopher Robin - Oswald Veblen and the Six-Hundred-Acre Woods". The third chapter of his book describes Veblen's life and contributions to early computer development.

The talk will detail how Veblen's vision and initiative led to the Institute for Advanced Study acquiring some 600 acres of greenspace back in 1930s, setting the stage for later preservation efforts that led to saving the land from development. From a DR Greenway email: "Growing up in these woods, Dyson is in a unique position to recount its journey to preservation. Owned first by William Penn, then  finally to the Institute, Dyson declares, 'Veblen put the fractured pieces back together.'"

The talk is on Thursday, March 21, 2013, 7:00 - 8:30pm at the DR Greenway's Johnson Education Center. More info at http://drgreenway.org/public_programs.htm.

Bringing Nature and Culture Together

The poem "A Bringing Together" lists all the ways the Veblens brought different entities together, including nature and culture. How did they bring nature and culture together? Their homestead on the edge of Herrontown Woods is a particularly good example of how wildness can transition into cultivation.

The woods, particularly as one climbs up the slope of the Princeton Ridge, is filled with diabase boulders. They are beautiful in their variety and groupings in the woods.

Some of these get put to use as stepping stones.

But as one approaches the Veblen homestead (this photo's from the 1950s), they begin to be put to all sorts of uses:

long rock walls,

a more carefully built circular wall for corralling and exercising horses,

a funerary, as well as other intentional gatherings: a fish pond, the house foundation, an oval of stones around the house. One's last step before entering the house is on a large flat stone placed as a front step before the threshold. .

Wood, too, gets put to use, its stored energy channeled into heat for the fireplace beside which Elizabeth would gather friends together for tea.

The straight, rot-resistant trunks of cedar trees became the four corners of the hay barrack (left in photo), used for storing firewood.

There is a balance here, where nature is not dominated, overrun or extinguished, yet its offerings are utilized in inventive ways.

Models for Veblen House--Lawrence Nature Center

Both Oswald and Elizabeth Veblen's wills refer to the Veblen House as the "house herein devised as a part of the proposed library and museum of Herrontown Woods." When they donated 81 acres of Herrontown Woods to the county, they stipulated that it be used "to stimulate and develop public appreciation of the values of wildlife and plants." At the time, Mercer County director of parks and rec, Richard J. Coffee, said of the new arboretum: "Eventually, we envision a nature museum, a system of trails through wooded areas, with trees and other plants labelled." He said that the county hoped to provide lectures and opportunities for nature study.

Though the county did not follow through, examples elsewhere show how it can be done.

Recently, former Lawrenceville mayor, Pam Mount, gave me a tour of the Lawrenceville Nature Center. Bought by Lawrenceville Township in 1998, the interior was stripped down to the studs and refinished. The work was done largely in-house, by public works staff who happened to have the necessary skills. Architectural drawings were provided pro bono.

The center is run by volunteers who organize programming.

One room is used for a library and nature museum.

Another works well for meetings and events.

Scouts and other groups added to the grounds, including a raingarden that receives water from the building's downspouts.

A butterfly garden went in on the other side, installed and maintained by volunteers.

The cost of renovating and running this nature center have been kept low by using existing staff, augmented by community volunteers. Money was spent on positive things--renovating, maintenance.

It may seem obvious that one should spend money on positive things, but all too often, when a house drops off a government's list of priorities, only what I call "negative money" can be spent. Negative money might take the form of expensive studies that predict very high costs for renovation, or on damage control following long periods of neglect.

The Lawrenceville Nature Center shows what can be done when a community approaches a challenge with a can-do spirit, and seeks creative, low-cost ways to fill a community need.

ENIAC--Veblen's Role in Early Computers

Oswald Veblen played a key role in the early history of the computer. The need to speed up computations was most keenly felt by the U.S. military. During both World Wars, Veblen spent a portion of his time working for the military at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, overseeing advancements in ballistics calculations needed to improve the accuracy of artillery. The first computers were women, employed during the wars to compute the ballistics tables required for aiming artillery. In World War II, as both guns and targets became more mobile, the complexity of these calculations began to overwhelm the capacities of human calculators, and the need for better computing machines became evident.

It was Veblen's decision in 1943, as chief scientist of the Army Ballistics Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Maryland during World War II, to fund the development of the first general-purpose electronic computer.

George Dyson, in his book, Turing's Cathedral, describes the critical role Veblen's  judgement and decisive action played in bringing the project to fruition. Listening to a presentation Herman Goldstine was giving to Leslie Simon about the proposal, Veblen, "after listening for a short while to my presentation and teetering on the back legs of his chair brought the chair down with a crash, arose, and said 'Simon, give Goldstine the money.'"

The ENIAC was built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering in Philadelphia, at a cost of $500,000. The Penn Engineering website describes the result: "Originally announced on February 14, 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), was the first general-purpose electronic computer. Hailed by The New York Times as "an amazing machine which applies electronic speeds for the first time to mathematical tasks hitherto too difficult and cumbersome for solution," the ENIAC was a revolutionary piece of machinery in its day."

Thanks to Steve Kruse for sending me this biography of Herman Goldstein.

Thanks to Bob Wells, who lived in and cared for the Veblen House from 1975-1998, for this link to a fine description of the ENIAC as a magical creation.

The Roots of Veblen's Passion for Woodchopping

This post is one of the ripples emanating out across the internet from a New York Times article yesterday describing a widely watched TV program in Norway about firewood. Eight hours of the program were devoted to firewood burning in a fireplace, with considerable Facebook input from viewers about exactly where the next log should be placed.

I had assumed that Oswald Veblen had inherited his passion for the outdoors, and woodchopping in particular, from his midwestern pioneer grandparents, but the Times article suggests that his Norwegian roots may have played a bigger role.

These photos, from the last decade of Veblen's life, after he and his wife Elizabeth had moved to the outskirts of town at the edge of Herrontown Woods on the northeast side of Princeton, show some European-influenced structures near their house--the hay barrack, dove cote and, mostly hidden in the background, a large circular rock wall reminiscent of sheepfolds found on the internet.

Hopefully, close inspection of a higher resolution version of the photo will reveal whether the wood sheltered under the hay barrack is stacked with the bark up or down. According to the Times article, Norwegians are in passionate disagreement--deeply split, if you will--about which orientation of bark is best.

Max Latterman, out standing in his wood pile, was the Veblens' loyal groundskeeper, and appears in this photo to be as enthusiastic a wood splitter as Oswald Veblen was reputed to be.

The Times article offers enticing tidbits about Norwegian firewood culture, and the link between firewood and character. Here are a couple quotes:

“You can tell a lot about a person from his firewood stack.”

and 

"...Derek Miller, an expatriate American and author of the novel “Norwegian by Night,” said the broadcast appealed to Norwegians’ nostalgia for a simpler time as well as demonstrating the importance of firewood in their lives. “The sense of creating warmth, both symbolically and literally, to share conversation, to share food, to share silence, is essential to the Norwegian identity,” he said in an interview."

The mixing of symbolic and literal warmth brings to mind my neighbor, an elderly woman and painter who told of Elizabeth Veblen inviting her over for tea in front of the fire, and the still intact tradition of tea that the Veblens started at the Institute. A recent post at another blog of mine, rhapsodizing about the radiance of wood stoves, can be found at the following link.

The Veblen Legacy--A Bringing Together

The Veblens, together, brought minds together,
Mind and body together,
Old World and New World together,
Nature and culture together,
Past and future together.

They mended parcels of land back together.
Preserving land, the Veblens brought town and countryside together,
Even town and gown together, by touching and transforming both with the legacy they left,
Together.

Presentation on Veblen House Feb. 10, 11am

As part of tomorrow's programming for this last weekend of te 2013  Princeton Environmental Film Festival, I'll give my presentation on the legacy of Princeton visionary Oswald Veblen and the 1920 prefab house, 1870 farm cottage, and 95 acres of Herrontown Woods nature preserve he and his wife, Elizabeth, left to Mercer County. The presentation starts at 11am Sunday, Feb. 10 at the Princeton Public Library.

The Veblen Legacy on Exhibit

Coincident with my upcoming presentation on the Veblens and the Veblen House, at the Princeton Environmental Film Festival on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 11am, the archive room at the Institute for Advanced Study is currently hosting an exhibit on mathematician and visionary Oswald Veblen. There is, according to past director of the Institute, Peter Goddard, an increasing appreciation of Veblen's legacy.

Most people associate the Veblen name with Oswald's uncle Thorstein, the famous economist and social critic, who coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption". Mathematicians are aware of the Oswald Veblen Prize in geometry, awarded every three years. There is, however, no prominent book, phrase, building or nature preserve that bear's Oswald Veblen's name, and yet his influence and vision left a lasting mark in Princeton and beyond, across a broad range of pursuits.

One of the documents on display provides a succinct summary.

Veblen brought to Princeton elements of his bucolic midwest upbringing and his family's European roots, made manifest in his efforts to consolidate land for Herrontown Woods and the Institute Woods, and his influence in improving U.S. academic standards to better compete with European universities dominant at the time.

Nature for him was a place for both physical work and intellectual contemplation. His environmental interest was both outdoor and indoor--preserving forests while also designing innovative interior spaces such as Old Fine Hall (now Jones Hall) that set a new precedent for mathematical accommodations and later served as an initial base for the Institute.

From the exhibit's materials: "With a passion for the outdoors and physical labor, Veblen often brought colleagues with him on trips to the forest to chop wood and was very involved in the construction of the Veblens' Princeton residences on Battle Road and in Herrontown Woods."

The Veblen House in Herrontown Woods reflects these twin legacies, with its European touches and bucolic setting.

The influence of mathematicians on those who follow is actually tracked and, not surprisingly, quantified. As stated in the exhibit, "The Mathematics Genealogy Project credits Veblen with 8,495 descendants, a number that is especially impressive given that he served as the formal advisor to very few students after he moved to the Institute in 1932."

In another quote from the exhibit, "Essentially all of the (Institute's) early School of Mathematics Faculty--Albert Einstein, Hermann Weyl, James Alexander, von Neumann, Marston Morse -- derived from suggestions from Veblen.

The exhibit at the Institute continues at least through mid-April.

Veblen Chapter in Turing's Cathedral

Sections of George Dyson's book on early computer development at the Institute for Advanced Study, including portions of the third chapter entitled "The Veblen Circle", can now be accessed online via Google Books. Dyson spent, if I have the story right, ten years researching and writing the book, including a year at the Institute going through the archives. The chapter tracks Oswald Veblen from his birth in Iowa through his college years (with time out for a trip down the Iowa and Mississippi in the style of Huckleberry Finn), to his transformative career based in Princeton, including the key support he provided to John von Neumann's development at the Institute of one of the world's first computers.

Buildings, Trail Trees, and a Sense of Place

(First posted at PrincetonNatureNotes.org)
Sense of place is the theme for this year's Princeton Environmental Film Festival, which begins its three weekend stand at the public library this Thursday. In adapting that theme to my presentation about the mathematician/visionary/outdoorsman Oswald Veblen, on the last day of the festival, I followed a trail of thoughts that led surprisingly to my birthplace near Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. The thoughts took this cross-country route:

Walking the boulder-strewn slopes of Herrontown Woods in northeastern Princeton, it's easy for those who haven't learned the trails well to get lost. Detours around the many storm-blown trees make it even harder to keep one's bearings. Several of the trails, though, converge on a 19th century farmstead where Veblen had his study. Out with my family recently, not completely sure of where we were in the preserve, I was relieved to finally catch sight of the red barn in the distance.

Across town, the house and restored dams at Princeton's Mountain Lakes Preserve serve the same role, as a reference point for walks in the woods.

The houses that often come with preserved land, then, do not necessarily detract from the natural setting but instead provide landmarks--a sense of place, a feeling of departure and return. Historical structures add even more to a natural area, endowing a spot with a story and an added dimension of time.

Sometimes fictional stories have particular power, such as the belief that Veblen's study had actually been lived in by Einstein.

The opposite of this, a spot with no sense of place, no stories to tell, might be a deep, flat woodland without any boulders, streams or other features to distinguish one direction from another.

This led to the memory of so-called trail trees--the trees American Indians would bend over, forcing the saplings to grow sideways and up in a distinctive shape, to mark a little used trail or the direction to a water source. White oaks, which can live for hundreds of years, were commonly put to this purpose.

The tree in the old photo is shown in a wikipedia post describing a series of trail trees that once led north from what is now Illinois up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, which happens to be where I grew up.

Another photo on that webpage showed a trail tree in Traverse City, Michigan, close to Camp Innisfree, where I first developed an interest in learning wildflowers and improvising melodies on clarinet. Whether this trail tree still survives, it's still doing its job, helping navigate to places of great meaning in the deep forest of memory.

Making the Farfetched Practical

During his life, Princeton mathematician and visionary Oswald Veblen made the case for many things that may have seemed farfetched. In the early 20th century, he dreamed of American academic institutions gaining parity with the European universities dominant at the time. His ideas about how to house and promote mathematical research were incorporated into Princeton University's Old Fine Hall and the Institute for Advanced Study. He argued in favor of the Institute acquiring lands that later became the Institute Woods. What is remarkable is how he was able to gain the support and funding necessary to help bring these dreams into reality.

The Veblens had a dream for the house and farmstead they left to the county back in 1974, but its rather sketchy. (On February 10, on the last day of the Princeton Environmental Film Festival at the public library, I'll present a talk on the Veblen legacy and the house they left to the public trust.) A "library and museum" are mentioned in their wills, and their wish for the land they donated with the buildings, Herrontown Woods, emphasizes providing a place where people can experience and learn about the woodlands.

For some reason, the county did not follow up on the Veblens' expressed desires, rented the house instead, then closed the house altogether in 2000. Given this voiding of original intent, the abandoned house and farmstead at the edge of Herrontown Woods have attracted many dreams to flesh out what the site could be used for. The pieces of that composite vision range from the practical to what seems like the farfetched. Most of the ideas have to do with changing the way we see the world and live within it, but when demonstrating a different approach to life, what's practical and imperative for one person sounds farfetched for another.

In a recent visit to Willow School, about an hour north of Princeton, I had a chance to see some of the pieces of the composite vision for the Veblen site applied to a school that hosts students from preschool through middleschool.

Pieces of that vision include:

• Make use of pre-used materials when possible, rather than buying new.
• Stress resourcefulness rather than consumerism.
• Promote and demonstrate the utility and beauty of native species for landscape and food.
• Demonstrate ways to minimize use of climate-changing fuels.
• Treat wastewater with a wetland/septic system instead of tying in to town sewer.
• Bring back some of the components of a rural life that are lacking in our more urban experience, such as the rewards of physical work (Veblen loved to chop wood), and the wonder of the cycle of life (kids growing up in town seldom get to see baby animals grow up). (A small example of this played out in our family a year ago, when my 12 year old daughter wanted to get chickens. Having never been around them, I argued the impracticality of the idea. But she persisted, and found validation for her view on the internet. Assisted by some testimony from friends of mine who have chickens, she was able to convince us to give it a try. Now, what began as farfetched seems highly practical and rewarding. Related post here.)

Farming and History Near Veblen House

Looking down Herrontown Road from the driveway to the Veblen House, five acres of land in farm easement lie on either side. The Veblen House and cottage are located in a part of Princeton originally called Herringtown, whose many small 19th century farms contrasted with the larger farms elsewhere in Princeton. Apparently, the name comes from the practice of bringing wagon loads of herring back from the coast to fertilize the fields. Fertilizer was a big deal back before they started manufacturing nitrogen fertilizer from fossil fuels.

The October, 1981 Princeton Recollector newspaper featured an article on the microfarming in this area of eastern Princeton, written by Jac Weller, whose farm is now Smoyer Park. The interest in saving the Veblen House includes an interest in bringing back some of that farming tradition. Currently, the owner of five acres in farm easement on the west side of the road, who previously managed Jac Weller's farm, still grows a couple head of cattle every summer. Quonset huts can be seen in the distance.

On the other side of the road, just down from this well, the other five acres in farm easement includes a historic horse stable once used by the Pyne family back when they lived at Drumthwacket, which is now the official residence for the governor of NJ. They'd come across town to ride their horses along the Princeton ridge.

Historic Structures at the Veblen Site

This post contains an informal inventory of the structures the Veblens donated to Mercer County, to be used to complement the 95 acres of open space they also donated, known as Herrontown Woods. The structures have been empty for many years, but the roofs have protected the interiors to some extent.

The Veblen farmstead is really two separate sites next to each other. What is known as the cottage, acquired by the Veblens in 1936, is actually a farmhouse dating back to the 1870s. On a map of the microfarms in the Herrontown area of eastern Princeton, it is labeled as the Douer farm. Local legend has it that Einstein once lived here. More likely is that he was a frequent visitor back when Veblen used the cottage as a study.

A small barn still stands near the cottage, kept in decent shape by the tin roof.

Next to the barn is a small corn crib, which in this photo looms much larger than it is.

Here, in three photos from the 1950s, one can see how the two homesteads connected. Heading from the cottage down a short path through the woods, following along one of the many stone fences left from the farming era,

one would have encountered these intriguing structures standing next to the Veblen House. On the left is a hay barrack, a structure whose design may have originated in Holland and spread to other parts of Europe. The roof is designed to rise and fall on the four corner posts, to accommodate hay as it was stacked. You can see how the four corner posts extend up through the roof, which slides up and down on them.Very few remain in the U.S., and this one was torn down by the county in 2008 or so.

The metal structure on the right is a dove cote, meant to house carrier pigeons. I've heard that the dove cote was likely installed not by the Veblens but by the previous owner. A recent article describes the historic and possible future uses of carrier pigeons in the French army. It would be interesting to know if the Veblens used the dovecote, and if the past use of carrier pigeons in the military might have given it special meaning for Oswald, who used his mathematics and leadership skills to improve the U.S. military's ballistics during the two world wars.

Just behind where the hay barrack stood, shown here in another photo from the 1950s,  is a circular wall, about 50 feet across, built of large stones. (Beyond the circle is where a barn once stood.)

The stone wall must have been well built, given that it has kept its form all these decades, though now grown over by Elizabeth Veblen's still-thriving wisteria vine. There are two openings into it, at roughly "one and three o'clock", if the circle were a timepiece.

An internet search yielded something called a "sheepfold", which is described as one of the oldest types of livestock structures. According to an entry in Wikipedia, "In British Engish, a sheep pen is also called a folding, sheepfold, or sheepcote." My understanding is that the Veblens built it. Elizabeth may have used it for growing a garden.

This 1950s photo shows another circle of stones, unstacked, which I've been told is a funerary circle where the Veblens' ashes may have been placed. The Veblen House is in the background.

Thanks to the above photo, I was recently able to find the circle amidst dense invasive shrubs.

Also hard to reach through all the fallen trees and dense undergrowth are a couple wells, with water still visible in the bottom, located south of the house.

Continuing the theme of stone circles, the Veblen House, too, was surrounded by an oval of stone, reminiscent of an Ark. The 1950s photo shows the southern end of this oval.

A quince tree blooms next to the Veblen House in the 1950s, when both Veblens were still alive.