Residents may not be able to travel back in time, but they can take a break from reading at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library to view some pieces of local history.
Library officials recently honored former Halfmoon Town Supervisor Ken DeCerce and his family for their donations of a cultivator and hay lift to the library’s collection, which includes doors from the old McLane Hotel in Rexford.
Ann Cocca said, The Building architect wanted to honor the past that included local farms in the community.
She said the architect envisioned local historical pieces being displayed in the library.
DeCerce decided to donate the farm equipment after hearing the library wanted pieces of local history to display. DeCerce, who served as the Halfmoon town supervisor from 2000 to February 2007, said he worked with the library as the town supervisor to obtain other historical pieces.
There are two sets of doors from the hotel displayed in the library. The hotel was built by John McLane in 1897 and was a popular place for `canallers.` It was demolished in 1964 to make space for the Route 146 Bridge, which ran across the Mohawk River.
Clark and Christine Wilson donated the doors to the Town of Clifton Park.
He said initially the library wanted doors and windows from an old church, but unfortunately were unable to obtain the items.
Both of the pieces donated by the DeCerce family are from their farm in Halfmoon, which was occupied by his father until 2006.
The farm was established in 1892 and the implements are from the 1900s, according to DeCerce.
`It’s a way of honoring our past and connecting our past, present and future within the library,` Cocca said.
DeCerce moved with his parents to the farmhouse in 1952, when he was 6-years-old, after moving from his grandfather’s farm on Vosburg Road in Halfmoon.
The hay lift was used to pick up loose hay from wagons, DeCerce said.
Displayed in the library’s Reading Garden is a horse drawn cultivator used to keep weeds from growing between rows of plants.
`It is a bit of Halfmoon and Clifton Park history,` DeCerce said.
Although, there is no semblance of the farm when you drive past the property on Farm-to-Market Road, DeCerce said the equipment left from the old farm is sentimental.
DeCerce said his family did not have a lot of money when he was growing up, but they purchased the farm for $10,500, and he remembers how his mother used to scrap together $51 a month from his father’s earnings as a rail worker to pay the mortgage on the farm.
As DeCerce grew, he began to operate the farm with the help of his father. He grew vegetables and eventually raised animals for milking until 1961 when he sold the animals to pay for college.
`I think it is something that people might like to look at,` DeCerce said.
The library also displays a sign telling patrons about the first housing developments in the town of Clifton Park.
Robert Van Patten created the first `bedroom` community, known as Clifton and Country Knolls, off the Northway for people working in Albany and other cities.
The first shopping mall in the area was located at Route 146 and Vischer Ferry Road, according to the plaque.“