Over the years, as the logging industry waned, Skinners Falls became an attraction for recreationists. Numerous boarding houses dotted Damascus Township, including one built and operated by Milanville poultry farmer Anthony J. Thomas, a Lithuanian immigrant born January 23, 1890, which came to be called "Hillside Acres."

Families from the metropolitan area came to enjoy the family hospitality and home cooking of A.J. and Anna Thomas and their children, lodging mostly in a dormitory style building which the Thomases called as the "annex." A contemporary brochure described Hillside Acres as "a first class summer resort."

A.J. Thomas was assisted in the operation of the business -- then including several bungalows on the rapids -- by his wife Anna, son Alfred, daughter Vivian, and son-in-law Oscar Ropke. At the age of 71, Mr. Thomas met an untimely demise on Sunday, August 6, 1961, when he was found hanging from a tree, according to a front-page account in The Wayne Independent dated August 8, 1961. The tragic event took place down the hill from the present Innisfree property, in a patch of trees near some bungalows which Mr. Thomas owned, by the riverside. Family members attributed his decision to take his life to despondency over the death of his wife, Anna, the previous March 16, combined with his own recently diagnosed illness. Those who knew him said Mr. Thomas had a penchant for burying cash around and about his property and buildings.

After his death, the property was listed with local brokers. In February 1970, realtor Davis Chant brought the Ropkes a buyer -- a group of teachers from New Jersey looking for a place to run a summer school program or camp. Bud Rue said for years that he signed a bond for the sum of the mortgage, essentially putting his Montclair home up as collateral against default, but such a document has never been seen by this writer. The purchase was privately financed by the sellers, Oscar and Vivian Ropke, with an 11-year mortgage. Described by some as a white elephant, with a finished house with four unheated summer buildings (which were later winterized), the place with all of its contents at the time was bought for $61,650. Of that, $5,000 was paid upon the execution of a bond dated April 18; with an additional $12,500 due and paid by May 15; and $5,650 due and paid by August 15. Thereafter, mortgage payments on the premises remained $400 per month.

"Welcome to the camp..."

So it was that in 1970 the center-piece of the A.J. Thomas estate was sold to a group of educators and students from New Jersey. (The above caption is taken from the song "We're not gonna take it," by The Who, then current, which also described a school turned summer camp.)

The June 2, 1970 issue of The Wayne Independent reported:

"The staff, under the direction of Bud Rue, Montclair, includes two mathematic teachers, an English and drama coach, musicians, school psychologist, a noted New Jersey artist, journalist, nurse and other professionals.

"The camp, named Innisfree after W.B. Yeates' poem 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree,' was founded with the intent of offering teenagers the opportunity to experience self-direction."

Most active among the promoters were three couples -- the Rues, the Browns, and the Maylones, though well over a hundred of all ages were involved in the original organization -- which was initially dubbed "the Summerhill Association," with the intent of modeling a school in Milanville after the alternative educational institution founded by A.S. Neill. The program concept was modeled after the famous free-school in England described by A.S. Neill in his book Summerhill, though the Innisfree program had to be conceptually downsized to a camp, due to difficulties becoming chartered as a school by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. To aid with fund-raising and promotion, a publisher donated a case of copies of Neill's book for distribution with materials about the proposed camp.

Bud Rue was recognized by Innisfree's early participants as the project's initiator and chief source of energy. It required Bud's zeal (matched only, perhaps, by the mania of A.J. Thomas, who previously constructed the Innisfree buildings by hand) to, in early 1970, bring to fruition a plan developed by what a brochure written by Ann Rue called "this starry-eyed group of idealists."

Funding sources for a down-payment on the Milanville property were channeled through the Sanfurd Bluestein Foundation of Montclair, which itself was a major contributor to the project. Professional fund-raiser Peter Malcolm of Montclair made a sizable contribution which, at the time, he chose to do anonymously. Benefitting from the tax-exempt status of Innisfree Corporation, over ensuing years, came donations of money, corporate stock, furniture, equipment, used clothing, books, and other materials, by individuals and corporations for Innisfree and its participants continued to flow.

In 1970 alone, the following individuals made donations which helped make the purchase of the camp possible: Ford Schumann of Montclair, Sanfurd Bluestein of Montclair, Roy Sackett of Glen Ridge, Clyde Rue of Montclair, William Brown Jr. of Montclair, Peter Malcolm of Montclair, William Woldin of Bound Brook, Charles Gehrie of Montclair, William Brown, Sr. of Lantana, Florida, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Condelmo of Piscataway, Vickie Kaufman of Montclair, Doris Lada of Montclair, Ted Tiffany of Paterson, and Charity Eva Runden of Montclair.

Another donor was John D. Rhodes, who visited the camp with a friend in 1972 and, on July 25, made a gift to the corporation of 170 shares of Rank Organisation Ltd., Inc. valued at $4,696.25.

Innisfree's founding organization also included dozens of students from Montclair High School and adults who staffed the Innisfree summer programs. The board of directors which permitted the camp operation to take place included the following: Bud Rue, (president), P. Clarke Maylone (v.p), Gail Wilson Brown (treasurer), Ann Rue (secretary), William W. Brown III, Peter Malcolm, and Sanfurd G. Bluestein, M.D. Most of these people were Montclair teachers. Dr. Bluestein was a radiologist whose son was an Innisfree participant, and Mr. Malcolm, as noted above, was a professional promoter. Without their energy and real-world contributions, Innisfree would never have come about.

The camp philosophy was based on principles of self-government, group decision-making, and individual responsibility. It was the summer after the summer of love, July 1970. Participants in the Innisfree community, or "camp," came for a variety of reasons. All wanted to be part of building an intentional community in which members could learn about themselves in relation to others.

---

See personal account by Clyde B. Rue (1976),
" The promotion of a deviant community:
Innisfree -- An experience in deviance"
for a description of Innisfree 1970-72.

---

When someone at Innisfree rang the bell, all 60 community members were expected to attend and participate in group process until the problem (whatever it was) was resolved by group consensus.

One such meeting, outstanding in the memory of this writer, had to do with theft at Innisfree. After a few hours of discussion, it became clear to all that the root of the problem was that some had, while others had not (or at least not as much as they wanted). A simple solution was agreed upon. Consensus was that a pot -- actually, it was more like a Tupperware bowel -- would be placed in the living room. Anyone who had money to spare would place it in the pot. Those who needed would be free to take as their needs required. Pure socialism, in a teapot. As the vessel made its way around the room, generous idealists filled it with paper currency and change. Finally, it was placed on the shelf.

There would be no more stealing. The money belonged to everyone, so stealing was not possible, the group concluded. "From each according to his ability; to each according to his need," someone quoted hopefully.

The next day, the meeting bell rang once again. The money pot was empty! A quick investigation revealed that the six-year-old son of Innisfree's founder, who himself had been a central focus of the original discussion had helped himself to the entire amount and purchased a stock of candy at the local general store. After all, he asserted, it was his right. The child simply took what was up for grabs.

Adding insult to the community's injury, the young entrepreneur opened a "store" of his own on the Innisfree lawn, arranging chocolate bars on the bottom of an orange crate, and doubling their sale price. Penny candy went for two cents, a nickel chocolate bar for a dime, etc. Amazingly, some campers bought from the "store" on the lawn, to save themselves the one-mile walk to the Milanville General Store.

After two summers of operation, due largely to financial pressures, the original program folded. Several people, including Sarita Cordell and her son Rusty, Bill and Gail Brown, Frank Ress, Tom Rue, and others lived at Innisfree in an effort to continue, as an intentional community, what was called the "Innisfree Living Environment."

Innisfree Learning Environment

For a brief time Innisfree became something of a commune, a year-round intentional community. Children who lived there either attended school in Damascus, or were truant with no formally approve home-schooling in place. The April 31, 1972 issue of the weekly New Schools Exchange Newsletter, published in Santa Barbara, Calif., listed the announcement appearing to the right on page 10.

During this period, Milanville residents Andrea Henley and Michael Gutterman rented the Innisfree chicken-coop to house the factory of the Hawkeye Candle Co., which consigned goods locally and job-lotted candles to the city. The company later outgrew the chicken coop and rented space in the old Milanville creamery, and then went out of business.

For varying reasons, most of the people living at Innisfree drifted on to other chapters of their lives. Frank Ress, a New York City accountant who came to Milanville in 1971 to recover from a motorcycle accident, stayed on and cared at Innisfree. As others moved away, soon only Frank remained in residence.

One proposal, in 1973, for the Innisfree property, was to operate a home for "pre-delinquent boys" on the site. In July 1973, Innisfree's board of directors discussed offering the facility to the Wayne County, and Bud Rue contacted the governor's office seeking "seed money" for a proposal to dedicate the Innisfree property for use as a group home for "pre-delinquent" adolescents. The governor's "seed fund" was reportedly dry that year for new child-welfare group homes, according to an official in Harrisburg who spoke to Bud Rue. The Wayne County Board of Commissioners opted to renovate the old poor farm in Beach Lake for the purpose, instead, to operate a county group home for troubled adolescents.

Board members who took part in the 1973 plans for an Innisfree group home included: Bud (president) and Ann Rue (v.p.), Tom Rue (secretary), Rob and Margie Copeland, Jerry Boyer, Frank Ress (treasurer), Rosana Raspa, and Howard Fink.

Over the next decades, numerous groups and educational institutions have rented space at Innisfree or participated in programs operated by Innisfree Corporation, including a summer-long women's theater seminar hosted by Lynn Laredo in 1975, an encounter workshop made up of students from Trenton State College, and a large number of public-school outdoor education groups from Mercer County, NJ.

Action In Equity

In September 1981, through an attorney who was later disbarred and imprisoned for dishonesty, Frank Ress filed a lawsuit alleging breach of oral contract to pay him for caretaking, custodial and bookkeeping services dating back to September 1, 1971. In his suit, Frank alleged that "a reasonable fee" would be $52,400. This claim was based on an obscure legal theory known as Quantum Meruit which, because it could not be applied in a court of law, was filed on the Equity side of the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas (No. 14, Civil Term of 1981). Moreover, Frank asserted a "breach of [oral] contract to repay monies lent," in the amount of an additional alleged $43,826.50 for mortgage payments to the Ropkes, and for reimbursement of all bills, including for cable tv, from the date he moved in. In satisfaction of this suit, Frank's lawyer sought an "equitable lein" against the Milanville property. He did not get it. The complaint asserted, "In the alternative, Plaintiff claims that from 1971 until date, the Plaintiff paid on behalf of the Defendant corporation or lent the Defendant corporation the sum of... $36,535... which sums were sued by the Defendant corporation to pay a Mortgage... if not repaid to Plaintiff will create an unjust enrichment on the part of the Defendant corporation and the Defendants, Clyde B. Rue and Ann Rue, his wife."

The proceedings drug on for a little over a year. Some who remembered first-hand the understandings and living arrangements in 1970 and 1971 were consulted. Lenore Migdall, for example, offered the following affidavit during a visit to her Manhattan apartment by this writer:

DR. LENORE H. MIGDAL, being duly sworn according to law, upon her oath deposes and says:

1. I lived at the property owned by Innisfree Corporation near Milanville, Pennsylvania with my daughter from the month of May, 1971 until the early fall of 1971. As I recall, the following individuals also lived at the Innisfree property, and shared the operational expenses of the premises: Clyde B. Rue, Ann Rue, and their children; Sarita Cordell and her son; and Frank Ress. Each adult was expected to contribute a monthly amount in proportion to the number of his or her dependents. My monthly portion at that time was in the amount of $125 per month, which I paid to Innisfree Corporation.

2. During the summer of 1971 Innisfree conducted a summer camp for teenagers, in which I participated as a staff member. I was at that time a certified School Psychologist. I contributed my professional services as a psychologist for the benefit of the Innisfree camp program, and received no financial remuneration or reward whatever. Although my standard fee at that time was approximately $10 an hour, when I first became involved with Innisfree I was advised by Clyde B. Rue, Frank Ress, and the other professionals involved, that Innisfree had never paid any sort of salary to any of its participants who lived at the property and had no intention of doing so. At that time I was never aware of any protests regarding this policy, either on the part of Frank Ress or anyone else.

/s/ Lenore H. Migdall

6th April, 1982
Aaron H. Bljor
City of New York 1-1047
Certificate filed in New York County
Commission Expires August 1, 1982

The above might have been adduced as testimony at trial, had there been a trial. But a break in the case seemed to occur when Wayne County Bank & Trust Co. filed a petition to open judgement against Innisfree Corporation, in order to protect their interests with respect to a $5,000 loan which Frank and his girlfriend took in September 1980. Frank signed the loan application as Treasurer, and his girlfriend signed as Secretary. The application was accompanied by a false corporate resolution, dated June 16, 1980, certifying that Innisfree's board of directors had approved the making of the loan. In reality, no such meeting was held, and the other principles did not support the taking of the loan. In a Reply to New Matter filed in response to the bank's petition (No. 1402 of 1981), the corporation replied: "It is denied that Innisfree Corporation held a meeting of its Board of Directors on the 16th of June 1980, and further denied that the resolution in question was ever voted on or considered at any meeting of the Corporation or its Directors. It is likewise denied that Ellen Blitzer attested to 'said resolution... as Secretary of the Corporation," since Ms. Blizer was never elected to that office, and indeed neither had not has any formal or informal relationship or connection of any kind with Innisfree Corporation." The discovery of this discrepancy seemed to help bring about a settlement.

On September 10, 1982, Frank Ress was paid approximately $15,013 by Innisfree Corporation, which was allegedly "lent" to it by the Rues. Frank and his new bride, the former Ms. Blitzer, then went away, never to be heard from by Innisfree again.

"Believe It, Or Not"

Two years after the settlement of the Ress lawsuit, it seemed the spirits of the place were intent on repaying Innisfree the amount which it took to pay off Frank, when nearly the same amount, $20,810 in cash, according to copies of public documents obtained in 1986 under the Freedom of Information Act (Case No. 4-20671-AF) from the Department of Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and address to this writer, was found in the form of decomposing American currency buried in rolls for decades under an old abandoned chicken coop, stored in metal buckets and broken glass jars. The story of the find was featured in the national media, when an official from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Bureau of Mutilated Currency, was interviewed on Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" television show. In April 1984, a handwritten note had been found inside the wall of a two-ton safe in the basement of the Innisfree dorm. The note said:

I want you to look for valuable stuff in the ground buried at the post by the brooder house. I slept by the river side + also look at the round brooder under the feed room on the lower side. You must divide it with Alfred.

This cryptic message was evidently written by the property's original builder, A.J. Thomas. Alfred was his son, now long deceased.

Officials in Washington, D.C. described the find (which consisted largely of slightly less than 2,000 separate notes, mostly $10, $5 and $20 bills), and the method of processing, as follows:

Buried currency soaked in water and covered with mud, currency appeared to have been buried for several decades. Notes were rolled in more than 20 wads each held by a rubber band. Although many notes had become a pulp like substance mired with mud, they appeared to be of full value. Some notes were processed whole, while others were processed by the method of duplicating (portraits were used for the most part). Where portraits were not available within individual rolls of currency, other portions of the notes were duplicated, e.g., upper left corners, etc. Predominant Federal Reserve Bank and oldest notes could not be determined because of the deterioration of the currency.

After consulting with counsel, it was decided that the buried treasure was the property of the corporation and could be used to help maintain the property and defray operating expenses. Interestingly, from the sound of the above note, there might still be a sum secreted on the property somewhere which, to this writer's knowledge, was never found, despite repeated searches and consultations with local psychics.

Innisfree Youth Hostel / Country Inn and Retreat

Around the time of the Ress settlement, members of the Rue family and their associates began appearing at Innisfree every weekend, and often for weeks or months at a time. In November 1985, Tom Rue moved to Milanville to act as caretaker and manager, after completing a graduate degree in counseling, and lived there until falling in love with his wife, Carmen, a 25-year Monticello resident (20 miles from Milanville) and a native of Peru, some three years later.

For the next decade, Innisfree was operated by the Rue family as a hostel for people of all ages to come enjoy the scenic beauty of the Upper Delaware. Innisfree was approved by American Youth Hostels in 1986, but only kept that affiliation for a couple years. To ensure that continued operation was permitted, a letter was written on Innisfree letterhead asking the Conference of Upper Delaware Townships, which was then engaged in drafting a "River Management Plan" for the National Park Service, to include hostels as a "permitted use" in the Skinner's Falls segment of the Upper Delaware River corridor, which was done. A core group returned to Innisfree each summer. Some were early Innisfree campers. Others may once have attended a workshop or weekend retreat there. A few even remembered the place as "Hillside Acres," and still returned. All were beguiled by the beauty of the river valley.

Throughout the 1980s, Innisfree's board of directors made it their goal that the premises be maximally used by local residents, for as many educational and other nonprofit purposes as possible. Since August 1987, each Sunday, the Innisfree recreation hall has hosted meetings of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, founded in 1987 and still active; Upper Delaware Amnesty International, Chapter #533 (founded by Liz Huntington and Dan Brinkerhoff of Galilee and Bud Rue; a Milanville reading group; meetings of the Upper Delaware River Association, of which Barbara Yeaman is president and Tom Rue secretary/treasurer; lodging and rehearsal space for the "Innisfree Festival of New Plays," directed by John Rue in nearby Lake Huntington; early meetings of the Wayne County chapter of Habitat for Humanity, founded by Bud and Ann Rue; open-to-the-public yoga classes, taught by neighbor Susan Sullivan; as well as public dances, concerts and other events to raise funds for various local projects and organizations.

An April 20, 1989 edition of The River Reporter carried a headline, "Nonprofit retreat center to open all week," followed by an article which reported:

"In recent years, the nonprofit retreat center has only accepted guests on weekends. While Innisfree's main focus is organized groups, individual guest and families are also welcome.

"The facility is owned by Ann and Bud Rue, until June of Lawrenceville, NJ; now taking up full-time residence in Milanville. Formerly, they commuted every weekend. Bud Rue is president of Innisfree Corporation, which leases the premises. Its nine trustees, none of whom are paid, meet once per year.

"Bud is about to retire after 25 years of public teaching experience, and Ann from 20 years in private, nonprofit day-care administration and teaching.

Innisfree's board, at this time (as of the annual meeting held June 24, 1990), consisted of: Bud Rue (president), Ann Rue (v.p./treasurer), Tom Rue (secretary), David Rue, John Rue, Robert Woldin, Paul Gerhard, George Bailey, and J. Andrew Prickett.

A year later the following description appeared in the 1990 Circle Guide to Pagan Groups, in the section for conference centers (page 24):

Innisfree, PO Box 47, Milanville, PA 18443. Phone: (914) 791-7014 (Tom Rue), (717) 729-7197 (Center).

Founded in 1970, non-profit status granted on federal and state levels in 1971. Open for visitors: year-round by reservation. Family-oriented nonsectarian retreat. Closely fronted by a state road, portions of Innisfree's sloped meadow and 10 wooded acres are quite private. Nearby rapids on Upper Delaware River also a powerful ritual site. Primarily relying on April-to-October dormitory building, total sleeping capacity is 55 (plus yard space for a few tents, if necessary) as well as recreation and dining halls.

U.U., River School, Walk-a-Thons

The Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship held its second worship service at 11:00 A.M. on August 9, 1987, under the ministerial guidance of the Rev. Raymond Pontier, formerly of Narrowsburg and now Florida. The first meeting of the fellowship took place the week before in Rev. Pontier's former home across the river, with eight persons present. One of them was Bud Rue, who extended the invitation to use Innisfree's space in exchange for a monthly contribution toward heating costs. The first president of the fellowship, elected August 10, 1987, was Tom Perry of Jeffersonville; while Tom Rue of Innisfree was elected secretary and later president. At least one member of the Rue family has been on the fellowship's executive committee for the last decade. Format of U.U. meetings at Innisfree generally occur in a format resembling the following:

Opening words

Candle-lighting

Announcements

Readings

Offering (eliminated early, in favor of a stationary basket)

Sermon or public address

Dialogue

Closing words

Refreshments

When the fellowship was still fairly young, its officers and members were approached with a proposal by a local group of parents who were interested in renting the Innisfree dormitory, winterizing its main level, and operating a parent-run Montessori elementary school in it. After some debate, U.U. members agreed to endorse the proposal. With assistance by Tom Rue, who was president of the fellowship, a grant proposal was written and submitted to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America. The grant was awarded, and The River School opened for business in the fall of 1991, and operated under the church-sponsorship umbrella of the U.D.U.U.F. for two full school years before merging with a Montessori school in Honesdale.

The initial River School governing board consisted of William Klaber of North Branch (co-coordinator), Alyce VanEtten of Monticello (co-coordinator), Gerry Bilick, M.D. of Jeffersonville (treasurer), Marion Brandis of White Sulpher Springs (secretary), Alice Christov of Narrowsburg (finance chair), Allison Smith of Narrowsburg (enrollment chair), Mary Darcey-Martin (curriculum chair), Zeke Boyle of Callicoon (construction chair), Jean Kammer of Honesdale (teacher), Andrew Darcey-Martin of White Lake (teacher), and Carmen B. Rue (U.U. representative). This school was entirely autonomous of Innisfree Corporation (which merely served as a landlord), but was sponsored by the U.D.U.U.F.

Even with all the activities at Innisfree, some of which were related to the Unitarian-Universalist fellowship, in the spring of 1993, at a meeting of the fellowship's board, Bud Rue gave his opinion that the religious group was not doing enough for the extended community in which its members resided. "We ought to try to give something back," he said to persuade the group. No one disagreed, and discussion began of ways to raise funds for local charities. Bud's daughter-in-law, Carmen Hernandez Rue, suggested holding a walk-a-thon similar to one held in recent years by her employer at the time. It was agreed by all that a walk-a-thon was an excellent idea and that the fellowship would sponsor it. Bud became the event's most active promoter.

The first of what was to become a series of annual events was held on October 24, 1993. It is uncertain whether the event would have continued past its first year, or how much it would have raised if all had gone as planned. Bud Rue, then 59 and suffering from severe asthma, only walked about a mile of the intended route from Narrowsburg to Innisfree. He sat down to rest on a boulder, and told the driver of the assigned "sweep car" that he felt too tired to walk, and that his leg hurt. Moments after entering the car, Bud seemed to nod off to sleep, and then died. Medics were unable to resuscitate him on the Innisfree lawn. A heavily-attended memorial service was held at a local church (the Milanville Methodist Church allowed the use of its sanctuary, since the crowd was too large to be held at Innisfree). Rue's family privately interred his cremated remains on the hillside of the Innisfree property one day after Yule 1993, in a circle held around the ancient maple on the Innisfree hill. A marker etched in native bluestone reads, with a quotation from the frontispiece of Kurt Vonnegut's contemporary novel, Bluebeard:

Clyde B. Rue 'Bud' Husband - Father - Friend August 2, 1934 - October 24, 1993 'We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.'

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