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11/23/2021 01:57 PMLong-time residents might remember the Fisherman’s Nook fish and event camp located on Route 77 just south of Route 80, which was operated for decades from the 1940s to 1970s by Robert Hansen and his family. Now a local couple heavily involved in philanthropic and non-profit work is mulling over plans to reopen a long-dormant Guilford fishing camp as an ecology and education center.
Karen and Sean Gargamelli-McCreight recently relocated from New York City after finding their perfect six-plus acre parcel to realize their dream of opening a center that will promote education and ecology via a working vegetable and fish farm.
Fisherman’s Nook was a go-to spot for decades, not only for fishing, but for baseball games, weddings, graduations, and family reunions. According to records and published advertisements, the Hansen family ran a catering and event spot starting in 1939 and operated it up until the early 1970s.
The couple only purchased the property in July, but is well on the way of tackling the many tasks needed to renovate the property.
“We looked for years for the right place in New York. We tried to find something, looking on both sides of the Hudson River. But we finally realized that finding a place in New York just wasn’t going to happen. We looked on Zillow and we saw this place. We came with a real estate agent and…we said ‘Oh, my God this is it,’” said Karen Gargamelli-McCreight. “We have come really love the former owners when we realized what was really here and after doing some research. It was perfect. We just love this spot.”
With property that borders the West River, a man-made fishing hole, and plenty of acreage to host and support an array of educational programs, it’s the perfect spot for an educational center. Though currently a bit overgrown, the bones of the planned center are all there, according to Gargamelli-McCreight, and it is poised to become a beacon for a wide-ranging set of programs for children and adults.
“There are good fields for farming and for other activities, there’s the beautiful river and pond, plenty of room to put some trails in to make it an ecology center so that students from Guilford, New Haven, [and] colleges in the area can come and do a day, a week, live on site. We want to teach students how to farm, learn to grow food, preserve food, learn to fish and learn about the watershed, invasive species, gardening, [and] planting pollinator plants,” said Gargamelli-McCreight.
After giving up lucrative jobs in the Big Apple, the couple had spent the last six years in New York City rehabilitating old properties mainly owned or sold by religious institutions, according to Gargamelli-McCreight. She and her husband turned a number of New York City properties into housing via their non-profit benicasa.org. (The organization holds to the doctrines of Saint Katherine of Sienna, whose last name was Benincasa.)
“Her way of being in the world, we align with. We find a lot of inspiration in that,” said Gargamelli-McCreight. “We plan on being called Benincasa Community at Fisherman’s Nook because we very much want to connect to what was here.”
According to Gargamelli-McCreight, they had looked extensively for property around the Hudson Valley in New York to site their dream of an ecology center, but simply couldn’t find a plot that ticked all the boxes. Gargamelli-McCreight grew up and Branford, so the couple began looking last year for a spot along the shoreline to find their parcel.
Guilford’s agricultural traditions lured them to the former Fisherman’s Nook parcel and they fell in love with the property almost immediately, said Sean Gargamelli-McCreight.
“The town has been great so far. The [Department of Energy & Environmental Protection] folks have also come out and been very helpful. It’s a perfect way to draw that connection between that and our students. We can point to this as the way a watershed can be protected. We’ll be able to show how anything that happens up here in North Guilford is going to have an effect downstream. You can actually see it,” he said.
“In just the few months we’ve been here, we realize people really still care about the land here in North Guilford,” Karen Gargamelli- McCreight added.
The ultimate goal of the couple is to have a functioning site that caters to a range of educational uses. Ideally, the couple wants to see schools at all levels and all ages of students on the property learning about farming and responsible habitat sustainability.
They would like to see graduate and high-degree seeking students and interns who would actually live on the property, conducting research and developing curriculum focused on sustainable farming and ecological sustainability.
“We already have interest from universities who want to start coming here next February and March, so we are very excited. Instead of going on spring break, they have alternative break programs that immersive, so those are just the time of programs and students we want to attract,” said Gargamelli-McCreight.
That dream won’t be easy. The property is a diamond in the rough and will need a lot of dedication and hard work to come to fruition. They intend to take the project one step at a time and develop an ecological educational destination.
“We want people to come here and put their hands in the dirt and walk around the land and learn what’s native to the land and have an appreciation,” she said. “We want an outdoor classroom and a demonstration site of what it means to live in the right relationship with land. We want to give people a real experience of what nature is. To be a little bit closer to what is real. We want nature to be accessible to people.”
Sean Gargamelli-McCreight said that he and Karen are not “militant” environmentalists, but rather consider themselves guides and stewards of the important agricultural history of the area and of the ongoing effort to preserve habitat and to understand climate change.
“We are inviting people to have an experience, and what they take away from it will be a mystery to us. The land will be the classroom and the teacher that it needs to be for every individual,” said Gargamelli-McCreight.
The couple is seeking monetary donations for the non-profit, but also anyone with hands-on skills who can donate time or expertise to the many issues that will need to be addressed as their dream begins construction. According to Karen Gargamelli-McCreight, upcoming projects to tackle are composting toilet installations, shower installation, wood stove installation, irrigation system help, and fencing.
“We need some of the super-basic skills, we need toilets put in, plumbing, electric, and carpentry,” Gargamelli-McCreight said. “So anyone who wants to pitch and help, we welcome that.”
To donate or offer skills or experience that could benefit this project, contact Karen and Sean Gargamelli-McCreight via email at karen@benincasanyc.org.