Celebrating Independence Without Griffin’s Tavern

The destruction of the remnants of Griffin’s Tavern (East Fishkill Government, Royal Carting Destroy Local History, April 8, 2020) in the Dutchess County community of East Fishkill has created a public and customer backlash for the sanitation carting company that owns the historic property.

According to various sources, some military veterans and other customers in this region of the state either have reassigned their sanitation business to other waste carting companies, or soon will evaluate options in the wake of the destruction of the tavern.

During June, one resident referred to Royal Carting as anti-American, anti-flag and anti-Constitution, and she planned to discuss suspension or removal of the company’s services at a community board meeting. The customer wrote that the business is “UNAMERICAN and a DISGRACE to the Nation!”

The destroyed 1740’s Dutch-era tavern was the home and farm of Revolutionary War Colonel Jacob Griffin and his family. Weary colonial travelers stopped at the property for a warm meal and a clean bed while their horses rested.

Soon after shots were fired at Lexington and Concord to escalate hostilities with Great Britain, more the 1,800 Dutchess County residents signed the Articles of Association, a "Pledge" to associate without any direct reference to an appeal to arms and separation from the English government. Many local leaders pledged their life, liberty and fortune for independence at Griffin’s Tavern. Troops in Colonel Jacob Griffin’s militia regiment mustered here and military officers who frequented the nearby Fishkill Supply Depot, including George Washington, Israel Putnam and Marquis de Lafayette, often met at the tavern.

The remnants of the razed structure on the north side of Route 82 near the intersection with All Angels Road now are buried on the tavern property site owned by Royal Carting.

Royal Carting Response

On May 27, almost two months following the publication of the aforementioned April 8 Across New York Patch article, Evelyn Pinichi, director of Royal Carting, indicated in an email that the company acted within its rights to remove the compromised structure, which burned from an accidental fire during January 1995. Since that time, the site had remained an historic ruin of bricks and stones of the lower floor of the tavern. A roadside marker dedicated during 1928 by the Daughters of the Revolution has honored the historical significance of the site.

Pinichi presented documentation that razing the ruins of the tavern was recommended by CityScape: Cultural Resource Consultants (an archeological preservation consulting firm) and the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historical Preservation (NYSOPRHP). According to the Royal Carting information, “In its October 2, 2014 letter, NYSOPRHP, after reviewing the CityScape site documentation and plan concluded ‘… we have no concerns regarding the proposed treatment of the remaining ruins of the site.’”

The information provided by Pinichi states that “at no time after the 1995 destruction of the site did any party or preservation group approach Royal Carting, CityScape or, to our knowledge, the NYSOPRHP with a viable alternative to the CityScape plan.”

According to the document shared by Pinichi, “In October, 2018, counsel for a group known as Friends of Griffin’s Tavern, (FOGT) provided Royal’s counsel with a copy of an April, 2017 proposal from Connolly & Hickey, Historical Architects to provide preservation design services for the Griffin’s Tavern site. The $31,400 proposal was not viable for at least two reasons. First, it was clear the firm had failed to consider the CityScape documentation or NYSOPRHP’s endorsement and approval of the CityScape plan. Second, none of the reference material in the proposal of previous projects completed by the Connolly firm appeared to be similar to the Griffin’s Tavern site.”

Time Provided For Alternative Plans

Royal Carting, according to Pinichi, delayed proceeding with the CityScape plan for more than two years to allow Friends of Giffin's Tavern to engage a qualified consultant to develop an alternative to the CityScape plan. Royal Carting then contacted the Town of East Fishkill and permitted Chazen Engineering to secure state and local permits to raze the structure as recommended in the plan by CityScape.

During this period, as written in the Pinichi-supplied document, “Royal remained in communication with representatives of FOGT. Now, after six years since approval of the CityScape plan by the NYSOPRHP and many thousands of dollars of consulting, planning, engineering, and legal fees, and without any alternative plan to consider, Royal proceeded with CityScape’s fully approved and permitted plan. At the time of demolition of the site (April, 2020), Royal had secured every required state and local permit and approval.”

The document also indicated that “Royal Carting’s conduct reflected proper and responsible corporate citizenship and was professionally managed using highly respected and qualified consultants and engineers with the guidance, oversight and the approval of state and local municipal agencies responsible to ensure the plans were properly developed and respected the historical integrity of the site. Moreover, Royal allowed FOGT (or any interested party or other preservation group [for] that matter) over six years to offer any viable alternative plan—none was ever offered. These are the facts. In the end, the Griffin’s Tavern site will be forever preserved and respected, properly marked and will no longer pose any health or safety risk to the members of our community.”

According to Julie Diddell, president of Friends of Griffin’s Tavern, preservationists were surprised by the destruction of the structure.

“We were blindsided with the demolition,” said Diddell. “Royal never came to us to say ‘last call’ nor did they give us a deadline to come up with the funds. When you have an honest partner, that’s the kind of dialogue you expect will happen.”

The Friends mailed a letter to Royal on March 9, 2020, requesting a meeting to share a newly-designed conceptual plan. Diddell said Royal never responded to that letter.

Recommendations To Move Forward

The actions taken by Royal Carting cannot be reversed, but several recommendations were suggested in response to Pinichi’s detail of events in response to the April 8 article that might allow the company to move forward with the support of local history groups, other interested parties and Royal customers interested in preserving and interpreting the site. Among the suggestions:

• Extend an olive branch and work with the preservation and historical organizations to display stones from the structure on the site, possibly to recreate the footprint of the structure, and then fully interpret the history of the site.
• If necessary, create a small area on company property (but not on the site) for several vehicles to pull off the busy road to allow people to safely visit the site.

Royal Carting has not responded to the recommendations.

The company also has not responded to a May 2, 2020 “Open letter to Royal Carting” in which the Fishkill Supply Depot Historic Site asked Panichi to meet with them to discuss ideas for the site.

“We can’t turn back the calendar and bring back the original stone tavern,” added Diddell. “No amount of gas-lighting by Royal’s owner will erase their full responsibility for the demolition of the tavern. Everyone knows what Royal did to the tavern over the years to let it deteriorate and become engulfed with invasive trees and weeds, and not protect it. The control of the future on the Griffin’s Tavern site remains in the hands of Royal Carting’s land and business owner. We can modify our conceptual plan which is modeled using proper interpretive techniques and provides for limited public access.”

Diddell said that the conceptional plan would include a circular wooden footpath from the tavern entombment to Sprout Creek, referring to the site as “a really bold, beautiful and terrific historical and environmentally supportive place” that would contrast with a “harsh and environmentally challenged garbage processing site.”

The Friends of Griffin’s Tavern, added Diddell, has not found any specific plan from Royal to historically correct and properly protect, preserve and interpret the one-acre parcel with the entombed remains while allowing limited public access.

“That’s where the FOGT wants to partner, design, fund raise and manage the site,” said Diddell.

As preservationists continue to pursue protection and interpretation of the tavern site, Watch Hill Holding Corporation, which operates Royal Carting, has applied to modify its New York State Department of Environmental Conservation permit for the property. If granted, the permit will allow the company to increase its waste processing and hours of operation on the property that includes the Griffin’s Tavern site.

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Mike Virgintino is the author of Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History, the story about America's theme park located in The Bronx. Published by Theme Park Press, it can be found on Amazon, eBay, Goodreads and other retailers.