Well, maybe for giants!

I found these “croquet hoops/wickets” at another haunt of mine, Ringwood Manor which is just down the road from Skylands. It’s an odd place and I use the word “haunt” pretty literally. In my opinion, it is haunted. The house itself is anyway. We went on a tour of it years ago when we first moved here and I did not get good vibes from it at all. A very unhappy place.

Anyway, I stay outside on the grounds now!

The owner used to own the iron forge at Long Pond** where I’ve taken photos in the past so there are lots of iron “things” scattered around outside and the giant wickets are just one of those things. I don’t know their purpose. Maybe they tied horses up to them??

Maybe I’ll go back soon and take photos of the outside of the manor itself so you can see it.

{**Long Pond Ironworks has two forges: one from the Revolutionary War of which there is not much left of and one from the Civil War. Here they churned out gun barrels for the war among other things.}

How strange! They DO look like hitching posts, maybe. I would love to see the house. Please post some photos!

Whoa, you have peaked my interest!  I did a google on the house/grounds and didn’t find anything on those iron things but did see a note saying the house was closed right now for some renovations.  Maybe they’re clearing out the ghosts!  How timely!  Looking forward to your monor shots!

Helene, it’s an interesting place and I plan to do a further blog about it. Yes, it is closed right now to house tours and they don’t have much information on line, especially about the grounds.

I plan to go back there this week and I think the book shop is open and get a flyer that tell more. There are also old Civil war cannons on the grounds ( did manage to capture it but not very well ).

I’m going in a different direction from your other comments, but do you remember playing croquet in Hyde Park? We used to set the course up on the lawn beside the garage (facing Rt. 9G). It was so much fun. I’ve tried to interest W in getting a croquet set, but so far, no luck. I would need brushing up on the rules!!

Let me know when you find out what those iron things are!

Bigsis, of course I remember. In fact, today at an antique store I saw a croquet set that was the same as, if not very similar to the one we used to have. I almost bought it but I didn’t see a price. I might just have to go back and get it although we have no level ground here on which to play!

Is it possible they are links from the great Hudson River chain?  I know the family was responsbile for forging that back in the day.

Maggie, I don’t know. Rick thought the same thing. But since they are sunk in the ground it’s impossible to tell. They do have a chain by the cannons that I thought was part of the Hudson river chain and the links are nowhere near that large. So either the other chain is not what I thought it was, or these are two big links from it. Good thought.