Dorothy Day, Tivoli & the 60s
by Audrey Cole

Front lawn of the Catholic Worker Farm at Rose Hill, after mass, before breakfast, 1964. Courtesy Marquette University Archives.

Mentioning "the Sixties" evokes memories of the war in Vietnam, Civil Rights marches, student protests and the "drug culture." One of the more subtle happenings of the times, however, was the attempt by various groups of people to leave mainstream society and establish their own communities.

Most of these ventures failed because of poor organizational structure and lack of commitment. There was one group, however, that differed from others in that it had been in existence since the 1930s. While they had established an ongoing soup kitchen and shelter in New York City, their attempts at farming communes had, for the most part, ended in failure. In spite of that they were to try again in the mid-1960s.

This group of people, though not affiliated with the Catholic Church, called themselves Catholic Workers and their leader was Dorothy Day. They settled at the edge of the village of Tivoli in the spring of 1964.

As recorded on the 1964 tax rolls of Tivoli, 24.5 acres of land formerly belonging to John Mastrion, including an old mansion with two other buildings, became the property of Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker, 2450 East 23rd Street, New York, N.Y. In 1965, an additional 62.1 acres were purchased, bordering the original property on the south and east.

In April of 1964 the old estate on the northwestern edge of the village, known locally as Rose Hill, received its new owners. The mansion, built in 1864 by General John Watts de Pyster, had been described by the real estate agent as "uninhabitable." To Dorothy Day, however, the brick building with its view of the Hudson River, plus the two other buildings with the surrounding acreage, would be "a new beginning" for the Catholic Workers. She envisioned "...a farming commune, an agronomic university and a house of hospitality all combined in one..."

The dilapidated mansion at the end of a long driveway symbolized what Day hoped would be their "last move in a rural area." A pacifist and a social activist, Day at sixty-seven years old was also a lecturer and writer. She was also cofounder of a movement devoted to peace and helping the poor.

Day's efforts against war and for fair labor practices were coupled with the establishment of shelters or "houses of hospitality." The idea of the farm commune had been that of Peter Maurin, an itinerant French preacher with whom Day became acquainted in 1932. Influenced by the "worker priests" in France in the late 1880s, Maurin believed that the arts as well as agriculture could be taught at a commune. A land movement in the 1930s, he thought, would be "the cure" for unemployment and irresponsibility.

The afternoon that Day and her associates arrived in Tivoli, former owner Mastrion and his partner were installing a new boiler in what would be the main residence. This building was usable as a kitchen, dining room, and dormitory. A converted stable, it had served as the main building when owned by the Leake and Watts Orphanage, still in existence in Yonkers, New York City. Mastrion had added updated appliances in hopes of using it as a family summer hotel. With bottled gas hooked up to apartment stove, the small company of friends prepared their first meal at what would now be called the Catholic Worker Farm at Tivoli, New York.

Tivoli, fall of 1976, from left to right: John and Tessa Day (DD's brother and sister-in-law), Dorothy Day, Tony Equale (a farm resident), and Tamar Hennessey, DD's daughter. Courtesy Marquette University Archives.

Slowly that summer of 1964, Tivoli became aware of its new neighbors as an increasing number of strangers drove through town or stopped at the post office. Day's secretary Marge Hughes moved with her family into the downstairs apartment in the usable wing of the old mansion. Martin Corbin, who with his wife Rita had been with the Workers since 1956, moved into the upstairs apartment. Corbin had been an associate editor of the newspaper and Rita was an illustrator. Stanley Vishnewski, one of the first to join the Catholic Worker movement, brought the printing presses from New York and set them up in one of the large empty rooms. Professor Leimkuhler, who taught engineering at Purdue University, had volunteered to "take on the difficult and formidable job" of repairing the ancient plumbing and wiring. Tamar Hennessey, Day's daughter, arrived to set up looms in anticipation of giving weaving lessons. Before the summer was over, forty or so people had taken up quarters at the Tivoli farm. In June of 1964 Deane Mowrer, a blind, retired history professor, began a special monthly column for the newspaper, entitled "The Farm with A View."

Day led a retreat in Tivoli in September during which Jorgensen's Life of Saint Francis was read. It reinforced her belief in the Catholic Worker "way of doing things," and in the concept of voluntary poverty. By October of 1964 the summer crowds had left the Tivoli farm and a routine of sorts settled in. John Filliger had managed to harvest some vegetables in spite of a drought. Nurse Joan Welsh was teaching others how to bake bread, but Mowrer admitted, "...we are not yet out of the formative state."

The Reverend Roger Leonard, pastor of Saint John's Reformed Church in Upper Red Hook at the time, became aware of the "somewhat amorphous" nature of the Worker Farm. Leonard would take men there "who needed a place to stay. The Catholic Workers would put them up for a night or whatever. They had no rules there, but expected people to help out or work in return for their lodging. Some of the people had no concept of working without being asked. And there never seemed to be anyone in charge."

The proximity of Bard College was a benefit for the scholars at the Catholic Worker farm. Marty Corbin often drove a small group to attend the free concerts, lectures, and movies sponsored by the college. Occasionally, Bard students visited the farm. Richard Wiles, Professor of Economics at Bard at that time, became acquainted with Martin Corbin. "He was a Catholic intellectual," Wiles said, "trying to get a job at Bard. We would discuss Catholicism." Wiles also met Dorothy Day, whom he described as "a simple person in manner and appearance, autocratic yet a total Christian."

According to Margaret Blum, whose family became acquainted with Day and the farm family, "About 90% of the men at the Catholic Worker Farm were alcoholics. Dorothy would send them up from the city to 'dry out.' Things went along fairly well until a liquor store opened in the village."

Day's concern was for anyone "in need," and to help them or care for them were, to her, "simple acts of mercy." She took literally the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew: "In as much as you did it to the least of your brethren, you did it unto me."

Starting the summer of 1965 the Workers invited the children of Tivoli to use a swimming pool previously installed by John Mastrion as part of his plan for a family camp at Rose Hill. The pool was available from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the Red Cross giving swimming lessons.

A peace conference was also part of the summer program at the Tivoli farm. The principal peace organization representing American Catholics in the early 1960s was the Catholic Peace Fellowship, influenced greatly by Thomas Merton. When the CPF adopted the concept of a "just war," Day and Merton left the association and joined the American branch of PAX. To Dorothy Day, no war could be justified.

Many summer visitors came not just for conferences, but as teachers. One of them was Gene Bailly. His subject was Civil Disobedience, which he taught for three summers at Tivoli. Bailly became involved with the Catholic Worker movement because of his "pacifist leanings." He was a conscientious objector and had to work out alternative service, which he did by teaching at the summer schools in '65, '66, and '67.

Over two hundred people traveled to the farm in July of 1966 to attend the Peace Beyond Vatican II conference. Marge Hughes described the event, saying people "would come and go. Some of them brought tents and sleeping bags and some slept in the dorms. ...Some of the younger ones slept in their cars. ... I spent a good deal of time baking bread." On one of the evenings during the conference, Mary Lou Williams, the jazz pianist, brought an ensemble and gave a concert. In her manuscript, Tivoli Dying, Eileen Eagan described another evening there: "A guitar-playing Sister, Peg Hunkeler, struck up 'The Lord of the Dance' immediately after a peace liturgy under the fir trees.... the whole group linked hands and began dancing on the lawn, turning in ever-widening circles until the lawn was a mass of moving people..."

During the fall of 1967, as a result of Day's continuing concern for the migrant apple pickers and their families, a Day Care center was started at the farm. According to Margaret Blum, who would later become a director of the center, the Department of Agriculture for the state of New York funded the program with the Office of Economic Opportunity as the funneling agency. Where Day had once referred to "the authorities" with health codes and building regulations as "this all-encroaching state," she now talked about the state workers from Syracuse who showed up with "cots, cribs, play pens, tables and chairs, and a beautiful assortment of well-built toys."

The Migrant Day Care program was given the use of a large room at the Worker farm near the kitchen. The children were fed three meals a day. Margaret Blum explained: "We had children who were infants, and up to sixteen years old, so we needed teachers for three age groups." Although Blum grew up in New York City and attended the Cathedral School for Girls on Lexington Avenue, she had never heard of the Catholic Workers until she and her husband Frank moved to Tivoli, where they raised a large family, She attended some of the seminars at the Worker Farm. One of her areas of interest was the need for homes for people who were released from state hospitals:

Said Blum: "Dorothy Day had a great admiration for women who had large families. We became friends; she would come to our house and sit awhile and talk. The Catholic Workers were very good to us. . . I remember someone had given them a huge quantity of Granola. They gave us some of it. We ate so much Granola that the children asked if there wasn't any other kind of cereal. . . . There was one man named Dominick who loved to bring us things. One day he brought an icon and I put it on our living room wall. Later, when Dorothy came to visit us, she noticed it on the wall and said, 'Oh, so that's what happened to my icon!'"

Even though gardening was the closest the Workers came to farming, Marge Hughes told of canning "huge quantities" for their own use. One informant, a resident at the Worker Farm from 1967 to 1969, explained the situation as he saw it: "Farmer John was the only one who knew anything about farming. I was just a city guy. At first there were only a few of us there and everybody worked. When others came, cliques began to form, everybody wanted to be independent, and only a few of us worked."

Gene Bailly said: "As far as structure goes, well it was benign neglect under the guise of Christian anarchy. Generally things went smoothly, but I was amazed that no one was killed. We had all kinds of people there, from ex-nuns and alcoholic priests to derelicts and crazies. . . . Dorothy had a romantic idea about hermits. There was one man I remember who lived in a shack in the woods. He had taken a vow of silence and would not talk to anyone. Another hermit named Hugh Madden . . . had a long beard and a gaunt appearance, and lived in a hut he had made for himself. I think he'd been around since the days on Staten Island. He had an obsession about not wasting water, and he terrified people who were in the kitchen washing dishe...

"Hugh would practice all sorts of...self-punishment. He used to ride his bicycle to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. I remember that when Hugh attended Mass at Saint Sylvia's in Tivoli he would crawl to the altar on his hands and knees. Finally, one year, he was hit by a truck and died. When the body was sent to Dorothy to be buried, they discovered that Hugh had worn a hand-made belt around his waist that had sharp barbs in it."

Marirose (Blum) Bump remembered the summer conferences at the Worker Farm: "I was fourteen years old when the Catholic Workers come to Tivoli. I was this bright, perky kid who was very interested in religion and things to do with the Church. At the time when most youngsters become disinterested in the Church and parish life--tuned out--I met Dorothy Day. So, at that time when everyone was leaving, I was focused on the 'radical gospel.' It was fascinating to me. So, I would spend all my summers at the farm. Dorothy, being the journalist, activist, who was older and traditional in her spirituality, was able to distill a very straightforward message. . . She attracted all those priests, nuns, scholars and leaders, and made it very legitimate.

"I was a very serious teenager. I am the oldest girl in a family of sixteen kids, and I was a very responsible, ardent kind of character. And, in one way, the Catholic Workers coming to Tivoli saved my life; because here I was in this little village being choked to death by a very parochial parish that suited a lot of people, but I just couldn't stand it." The Catholic Worker Farm "gave me a very large picture of what was going on in the world."

The Worker Movement was closely involved in the turbulence of the 60s. Anti-war demonstrations and peace conferences were a part of life within the Movement, and the Tivoli farm was host to speakers such as James McGivern, Howard Everngan, Dr. John Egan, Jacques Travers, the Rev. Ashton Jones, Gora Vijayam, and G.T. Miller.

Using the Catholic Worker Farm in Tivoli as a base, Day traveled around the country, speaking at various colleges and universities. With the war in Vietnam a highly controversial issue, her theme was: "people should find alternatives to war by which to resolve differences." One of the alternatives offered by the Worker Movement was "personalism"--voluntary sharing and distribution of goods and talents. Day also believed that responsible Christian love could erase greed and distrust. The Catholic Worker Movement, she would say, was dedicated to "a nonviolent revolution to establish an order more in accord with Christian values."

Over time, however, the Worker Farm at Tivoli fell victim to a lack of organizational structure, the conflicts inherent in communal living, and an uphill struggle to maintain aging buildings.

By 1978, with Dorothy Day in failing health, the peace movement subsiding, and the farm falling victim to "hordes" of visitors with little or no interest in the Catholic Worker Movement, the "farm family" was disbanded. Two years later, Day died in New York City at 83, and the property was sold. The Catholic Worker Movement, however, is still in existence and Dorothy Day is currently being considered by the Roman Catholic Church for possible canonization.

Audrey Cole holds a degree in sociology from Bard College. She and her husband Robert reside in the town of Milan. This article has been adapted from the author's book, To Be a Pilgrim: the Story Behind the Catholic Worker Farm at Tivoli, New York, 1964-1979. Ms. Cole anticipates her book being published in 2003