Hidden from the main book rooms and popular patron paths is a small room in the high-ceilinged cathedral room at the Sloatsburg Public Library. The name plate on the heavy wooden door reads: George (Fred) Waldron Local History Room.
The entire room was renovated this past fall by Rick Nozell, Jr., who brought his tools and equipment from the Village of Montgomery, NY to install new, custom mahogany shelving and bookcases. Nozell has also done carpentry work for the Suffern Library’s Café facade, where he installed some cherry wood work that included a pocket door. Now the old plaque introduces a brand new room that serves it well.
“We had funds that were left to us by George Waldron,” Library Director Mary Blake said, explaining that Fred Waldron, as he was known locally, was a past board president at the library, as well as past president of the historical society. “Several years ago he left money to the library for the local history room.”
Blake said the George Waldron Estate endowed the library with a gift nearly three years ago and she worked with the library board afterward to put together the local history room project that would benefit library patrons and help house Sloatsburg historical documents and artifacts.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with Rick’s work and how it came out,” Blake said. “It’s a very elegant looking space right now.”
“I built these in my shop and then brought them in,” Nozell said, when he measured the shelves for final onsite installation.
Nozell’s finished custom cabinetry work also includes a built in desk, file cabinets and glass display cases. While the Sloatsburg Historical Society displays many of its important private pieces in a locked cabinet in the library’s community room, including the Sloat family bible, Blake envisions shared display space in the new Waldron Local History Room.
“I’d like to be able to work with the historical society,” Blake said. “We did the glass front cabinets because we thought we could do displays once in a while and maybe get more people interested in local history.”
In years past, the small hidden room was stuffed full of boxes of documents and books of various origin — Blake described the former room as a catch-all storage that contained everything, including the library’s special order delivery bins. Now the contents are an orderly mix of books rooted in local history, including all sorts of information on Rockland County and Ramapo, even including material on the old, original houses of Tuxedo Park.
“We do get people that come in and have roots in Sloatsburg, who want to look through our files to do genealogical work,” Blake said.
She said the next order of business for the room is to get a nice, comfortable chair. And continue to cull through the mixed collection historical material that includes books, files and photos.
The library is planning a formal grand opening of the room this coming spring. For now, George “Fred” Waldron’s gift to Sloatsburg continues to take shape as a wood paneled, historical byway into Sloatsburg’s, and the area’s, past.
