A YEN FOR THE PAST For Fred Fries, a nearly lifelong resident of Shandelee, local history is just one of the many things that interest him. Jacob Pasquale photo
A man of many hobbies
Band music, hawks, history top Fred Fries’ list
By Jacob Pasquale | Manor Ink
Livingston Manor, NY – Fred Fries is a man of many talents and hobbies. From playing the trombone to learning everything about the history of this hamlet, Fred is rarely left unoccupied. His humor, principles and sense of place were evident throughout our conversation.
A native of Livingston Manor, he has lived on Stump Pond Road for most of his life, leaving only to attend college in Oneonta and briefly living upstate along the St. Lawrence during the early years of his marriage.
The Fries family migrated from Germany in 1840 and settled on Shandelee in 1860. On his immediate family’s homestead that was settled in 1886, Fred’s father operated a dairy farm with 30 to 35 cows and grew corn and hay for feed. Having grown up on the farm, Fred has always enjoyed the outdoors.
RURAL A turn-of-the-century view of Shandelee. Photo courtesy of Fred Fries
“More or less raised on Shandelee, I was kind of isolated. I was kind of a rural boy, and so I always enjoyed the outdoors.” One of his favorite memories is taking their collie dog, King, out to bring the cows back into the barn in the morning “when the mist was rising from the grass ... the smell of a barnyard, cow manure, sets my mind back to when I was a kid.”
There were at least a dozen boarding houses in Shandelee, and by June each year, Fred estimated, the population would increase fourfold. Young Fred did not appreciate the crowds and noise, and was happy to see the tourists go at the end of the summer.
“When Labor Day came, they all left ... Labor Day is my favorite holiday,” he said, laughing.
He attended Livingston Manor Central School, Class of 1966, where he enjoyed the music class taught by Jim Newton who now directs the Callicoon Center Band. Many of Jim’s former students now play in the band, including Fred.
RISING WATERS A view of Livingston Manor during one of the hamlet’s many floods. Photo courtesy of Fred Fries
After graduating, he went to SUNY Oneonta, majoring in Earth Science. Once he got his degree, he moved back to Livingston Manor and became a surveyor for three years. But he “wasn’t able to justify” the subdivision of the land that was happening as a result of the decline of the tourism industry.
He then met his wife and lived in Clayton, NY, where Ms. Fries worked as a teacher. When they moved back to Livingston Manor, he worked as an electrician with Dick Sturdevant at Mr. Sturdevant’s hardware store in the building that is now home to Nest and Upstream Wines. They bought a house down the road from the homestead that he had always loved as a child.
The most important thing about Fred, though, is his great deal of hobbies. As mentioned, one of these hobbies is playing the trombone in the Callicoon Center Band. He also was a member of a brass ensemble that played show tunes, band, classical and popular music.
Mr. Fries is also an avid member of HMANA, or the Hawk Migration Association of North America. HMANA is a group that counts species and individual hawks that fly by while migrating. The HMANA location in Oneonta is also a flyway for golden eagles migrating south from Canada..
The hobby that he is probably most known for, though, is his love of history. Fred Fries has been fascinated by history ever since he saw Walt Disney’s “Davy Crockett” TV show in the 1950s.
In the 1960s, to celebrate the Civil War centennial, many magazines featured articles that had been written during the war. Fred had seen an article in one of these magazines that had been dated to 1864 and was written about the Battle of Missionary Ridge. He later found out that one of the Union regiments at this battle was the 143rd, which had been the local Sullivan County regiment. This is what first sparked his interest in the area’s history.
Fred Fries is widely considered the town historian. This is because he has spent a lot of time researching the history of this area. He has a large collection of photos of the area taken at various times in the town’s history and gives his research, gleaned from old newspapers, to the Sullivan County Historical Society.
He recently sold the property that he grew up on, but kept five acres. Using the portion of the property as a retreat, he has cleaned up the stonework foundations to honor the unknown person who took the time to build them, planted a garden, and set up bird feeders, which bring birds, chipmunks, squirrels, deer, woodchucks, and bears to the property. He calls them his “livestock.”
“I like to bring life back to the farmyard,” said Fred with a smile.
Fred Fries is very passionate about the area where he grew up and lived for most of his life.