Project Success (the Innisfree Club)

During the years that Frank inhabited the main house, the only programs he allowed to occur on the property were groups of students from Lawrence Township Public Schools, where Bud Rue who was then again teaching middle and high school math, was faculty advisor an "Innisfree Club" [album] [album] in the school. The focus of the Innisfree Club was to plan overnight trips to Innisfree which they then carried out and while there completed learning assignments. One that I recall required math students to measure the Milanville Bridge with precision. These educational activities were individualized for each participant and approved by the faculty advisor, Mr. Rue. (On its face, this might look like a conflict of interest. However, the relationship of Mr. Rue to Innisfree Corporation was fully disclosed to the Lawrence Township Board of Education, who funded the trips.) The district allowed the use of a school bus, which Bud drove.

One frequent aid/attendant at "Innisfree Club" weekends in Milanville included literal field lessons from the late Edwin Tyler of Milanville, who was introduced to visiting kids and widely known through much of his life as Taterbug. Tater performed and assisted with many varied tasks on the Innisfree property, including well-drilling, plumbing, light carpentry, and how to run a still. Bud Rue so enjoyed the experience of brewing with Taterbug that he paid Delaware Publications to publish the recipe for Taterbug's wine (with permission of the author). I do not possess a copy of the printed version (they were on red card stock), but here is a PDF of the original holographic manuscript. Click here to download a copy of Tater Bug's Hard Cider recipe "writ by the hand of Bud Rue" on October 14, 1986.  

Taterbug and Bud Rue became good friends. Tater showed him where and how to fish, including ice-fishing, and spent hours talking together in the main house. He attended my sister Ella's wedding (held in the rec hall at Innisfree). Ann Rue recently (2024) recalled a conversation with Taterbug shortly before he met with his first group of students. She said he asked her to help him prepare to teach what he knew about Native American history and lore, local history and culture, medicinal use of native plants, and on at least one firearm safety demonstration. "Just ask me questions like a 12-year-old," he requested. She did, and Taterbug did a great job teaching visiting groups of kids, as well as some mentally challenged adults, who sometimes found his appearance and manner unusual but upon listening to him immediately gave him respect without fear.

Over the next decades, numerous diverse groups and educational institutions 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 (similar model as Innisfree's T-groups in 1970-71, but lasting a long weekend), made of students from Trenton State College, family gatherings, private events, and public-school outdoor education groups from Mercer County, NJ. A majority of these varied guests asked or commented about the history of the place, impressed not only by the verdant majesty of our river valley, but by the master workmanship of Innisfree's builder, a self-taught mason, carpenter, plumber, poultry farmer, and boarding house operator. Living there, we became accustomed to answering questions about the history of the property and of Innisfree Corporation and discussed it freely. The present owner, Cynthia Nash, who has lived at the Innisfree property since she purchased it in 1997, tells me that she receives similar questions from admiring guests who come to her home. (See "InnisfreePA" on Facebook.)

In former days, the eastern end of the property, facing River Road, was populated by a large dormitory building that was demolished after a fatal fire on August 25, 2002, as well as the large brown structure we called the main house facing River Road (still standing, under new ownership) where meals were then served to up to 60 campers or residents at a time); an insulated year-round recreation hall with a well-equipped carpentry shop in the basement; a working forge in the garage; a small cottage behind the dormitory (seasonal only); a garage/chicken coop building which was leased briefly in the early 1970s to Hawkey Candle Co. The western 10 or so acres of the property I recall as being heavily wooded, with roughly hewn path up the steep slope (described by the prior owner as "Billy goat land") to a point where prior owners had placed a TV and radio reception tower. Cables had deteriorated before 1970, so for us simply being at Innisfree meant being without a working television (or very faint snow), which I now recognize as having been a blessing. Some residents of Milanville during those years subscribed to Willard Dilmuth's tower, but Innisfree chose not to have a TV for many years, and it was good.