Eleanor Fitchen
Eleanor Beach Fitchen (October 9, 1912 in Manhattan – April 20, 2009) was an American conservationist, preservationist and philanthropist. From her earliest years until her death in April 2009, Eleanor led a rewarding and memorable life and left a legacy that included the founding of several not-for-profit organizations, the conservation of hundreds of acres of open space, the creation of two historic districts, the restoration and preservation of half-dozen century old structures and the respect and admiration of hundreds of individuals.
Eleanor's father was renowned sculptor Chester Beach and her mother, acclaimed nature artist Eleanor Hollis Murdock Beach. The couple met in France where Mr. Beach was studying sculpture and Miss Murdock was studying painting. They married in 1910 and settled in Rome for two years where their first daughter, Beata, was born. The couple returned to America in 1912 moving into an apartment on West 96th Street where daughters Eleanor and Natalie were born. After Natalie's birth in 1913, the family moved into a brownstone on East 17th Street where Chester Beach established a large sculpture studio to practice his art.
Eleanor spent her formative years in Manhattan, where she and her sisters attended Friends Seminary for their early education. Eleanor's experiences at Friends Seminary helped to mold her character and values, profoundly influencing her; and through her, all those she touched.
The family spent summers in the upstate New York towns of North Salem and Southeast where Eleanor developed an attachment for rural communities that she would cherish and protect for all of her days. It was at this time that Chester Beach met Erastus Tefft, a Wall Street financier with a country estate on Starr Ridge Road. Tefft wanted portrait busts of his daughters and, in 1915 he traded the artist a 10-acre (40,000 m2) parcel of his Starr Ridge property for the sculptures. That year, Chester Beach began construction of a garage and studio on the property and the next summer the family moved to it.
Using that structure for a base of operations, the Beach family began construction of the main house that would become the family home for the rest of the century and beyond. Construction materials came from the stone walls that crisscrossed the property's old farm fields with the huge foundations stones being dragged into place by a team of oxen. The property was named Oldwalls to memorialize its construction materials and it stands today as an integral part of the Starr Ridge/Starr Lea Historic district.
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