Woodruff "Ted" Tuttle

This interview with Woodruff Tuttle, who goes by “Ted,” was conducted in the HudsonArea Library in Hudson, NY.

Born inManhattan in 1942, Ted arrived at Merwin Farmhouse in Kinderhook, NY, in a laundry basket, he's been told. He has lived in the county part time for the last 81 years. He explains the ways his family and community built and altered their farmhouse and land, and shares family stories from his childhood. Ted describes summers in Kinderhook, participating in a wide range of outdoor activities including horseback riding, fishing, hunting 4-H and swimming in Merwin Lake.

Ted continues about his childhood outside of Kinderhook, including school years inBrooklyn and Millbrook for grade school. He tells of the outdoor activities he and his siblings engaged in in Prospect Park and at school, and reflected on first noticing “the hunt” as a young student, an activity which has become his vocation for the last 20 years, explained in greater detail at the end of the interview. Ted tells the story of how, while attending Hobart College, he asked to be set up on a double-date with the woman who’d become his wife, Dawn.

Ted reflects on being drafted into the Vietnam War and marrying before deployment, and describes his experience as an artillery forward observer in the army. Ted speaks of his family’s life and travels across the country after his return from Vietnam. Ted talks of growing his family, becoming an accountant and returning to New York state, offering the amusing story of becoming his son’sBoy Scout troop leader. After he explains his return to the family land in Kinderhook, he details his present role and work as a master of foxhound.

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