History Becomes Her: Anie Stanley On Unearthing American Heritage Through a Home
By KATE ATKINSON
Photography RANDAZZO & BLAU
Our childhoods inimitably define us. And it is only when we are adults that we glean just how much. It came as little surprise, therefore, to hear that Anie Stanley grew up in the Catskills with romantic aspirations of a beautiful homestead. I stayed in her house a couple of seasons back with a girlfriend in the fabled Smokey Belles, named after the many women who have visited (Southern Belles) and the property’s 7 campfires.
My first impression of the house in the forest near the Delaware River in Narrowsburg was that there were meaningful undertones to her set style and antique-ish de rigeur that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Though I didn’t grow up in this part of the world and, in fact, in another country altogether, it seemed as if her space bored a deeply romantic metaphysical connection with nature juxtaposed with poetic sexuality and eloquently brought together by deeply layered feasts of Americana, practicality, sustainability, and utilitarianism.
Stanley recalls living at her mother’s first home, a beautiful dwelling, in Oneonta, New York, at eight years old, when she found herself quite literally asked to hunt for a needle in a haystack. A Swiss army knife which was gifted to her stepbrother Billy went missing and a frantic search followed for many hours after. The knife was an expensive acquisition at the time and an expense to the family. As Stanley remembers, the futile hunt for the coveted item lasted well until dusk, or until her father deemed it end. It was an apt beginning for Stanley, a professional object forager, and set the discovery bar for uncovering old treasures and the process of selection unimaginably high.
“I had a vision I could build a house here and take it back in time. I collect these objects and memorabilia to get a grasp of American history.”
Once a window dresser at Bergdorf’s and an urban champion of Queer film in New York City, Stanley is now a home and restoration designer, antique dealer for Woolheater Wares, and co-chair of the Tusten Heritage Community Garden in Narrowsburg. Interwoven through all these disparate life chapters has been a curious and continuous desire for beautiful quarters, somewhere to rest quietly and build a community. All the while surrounded by a cortège of strong independent upstate women like Juliette Hermant of Maison Bergogne and Anna Bern of Nest Boutiques, with whom Stanley collaborates on numerous design projects.
Their “hillbilly truck trips” are legendary (pileups of rare antiques collecting from Brimfield and beyond) and attract street crowds and onlookers who gaze in wonderment at the antique mavens and their treasure trove of items aboard. A long-standing champion of her community, she has also supported local businesses through beautification and eccentric, lavish holiday decor.
Smokey Belles has been hosting artists since 2007 and stepping inside the house is like taking a tour through history. “I had a vision I could build a house here and take it back in time,” says Stanley, and this mood is palpable after taking just one step inside. Dark woody interiors are coupled with original utilitarian wood stovetops, taxidermy, and warm throws abound. The house design itself and color choices are a visible work of art, the masterpiece of Hermant’s feng shui mapping. A litany of objects each plays its part in interweaving a rich tapestry of history and can be found harboring a little of its lost world in every nook and cranny. Stanley attributes her acquiring of these in vast quantities as an attempt to untangle her own education and sentimentality towards American history, something she does not believe was appropriately taught in schools.
For her, objects are the only true constant. “I collect these objects and memorabilia to get a grasp of American history,” she says. “For example, when I find a civil war fork, I feel like America needs to embrace it, the history, because there’s a lot of denial about racism. We can look at the negativity of slavery, but we can also look at the vast contributions of African Americans in America.” In the last week, Stanley has picked up an old, forged iron blacksmith hardware and tools. One of the two pieces was found in the woods after she tracked a bear site where a fawn was killed on the property. All in a woods day’s work.
I glimpse the fork above the clawfoot tub in the bathroom. At the time of my first visit, I distinctly remember needing to bathe with a charming, warm pour-over of water — equipped, obviously, with a utilitarian saucepan close by. I remember thinking that cell phones feel completely alien in this place. Like I was a character in a bygone era, blissfully away from the narcissism of the information generation and clutches of social media. Now, the tiled bathroom has graduated to a shower but is surrounded by other small antiques — a nod to Stanley’s signature probing of times past.
The rarest antiquities in the house are the utilitarian items, and in no space is this more evident than in Smokey Belles’ kitchen. Things that are functional and practical, and less about decor, line the house shelves, or as she puts it, “things that aren’t going into landfill.” She adds, “I’m obsessed with simplicity, functionality, and sustainability.” Primitive and handmade things are seemingly everywhere in this space — an assortment of handmade items, cast iron pans, and cooking ware. Practicality bleeds throughout the house and is a resounding anthem in her home.
Climate change is a strong source of concern for Stanley, who spends a great deal of time considering how to make her lifestyle sustainable. She has worked on getting the house back to its original plan by painstakingly sourcing salvaged materials and wood, making the home as reclaimed as possible. “If I could have done it perfectly, I would have built my house with solar, but at the time of conception, it was expensive. Now it is becoming more affordable, so I am trying to transition to that,” she says. As a next step, she is determined to develop the land with more focus on permaculture practice. “It took many years to figure that out. You really have to live on the land to realize what you can do,” she says.
If I could have done it perfectly, I would have built my house with solar, but at the time of conception, it was expensive. Now it is becoming more affordable, so I am trying to transition to that.”
At the heart of the house is a world of dreams and design, antique sourcing, shucking oysters, foraging holiday decor, maple tree tapping events, and beyond. The house is distinctly nautical New England, influenced by her journeys to Provincetown and regular lifelong trips to the Cape, including occasional stays at the private Harry Kemp Shack upon invitation of Sonny Tasha dating back to 1989. Stanley has proudly taken on the nickname: Sailor of the Mountains. “Over the years, the house would be taken back in time, to become a ship, with a captain’s quarters, a gallery, a mizzenmast, a forecastle for guests, nooks of libraries and oddities, a bow with her poised facing the river and a stern, my back proud facing the forest,” she says.
Indeed, it would seem easy to imagine Stanley as the captain of Smokey Belles. She informs me that part of her daily regimen includes: waking up daily around 3 am to put on her favorite sock color, dressing in a warm union suit, checking in on the weather stove, observing the birds at the feeder and taking notes, then turning to the birds and the weather, all the while sipping on a dark smokey coffee. Stanley’s future goal is to have chickens, eggs, and potentially a donkey to take the land to another level of sustainability. She is tapping trees for Maple Syrup and experimenting with tapping birch trees. “I think I want to make distilled liquor from that. It is a weird flavor. I’m trying to do gardens here, but it’s kind of in the forest,” she says.
Stanley’s land also entails the main house, Le Petite Cabine, a smaller 1955 2-bedroom cabin on the back of their land with a 1955 timber frame for the ultimate forest isolation experience and a writer’s guest shack, all a stone’s throw away from the town of Narrowsburg. Campfires are in abundance with a seasonal hot outdoor shower that allows for mindful bathing with only deer, coyotes, foxes, migrating birds, hummingbirds, eagles, mink, beavers, wild ducks, and bears to pry.
Amidst a time of enormous upheaval, I ask what’s next for Stanley. “Carrying on preparing my homestead for the future, to share with creative others, as was always intended. Caring for the land, having harmony with nature, the weather, change, the unknown, and trying to be present,” she says.
Exhale. Amen.
