The "Lagoon" at Barrytown, NY -- A full moon is rising on a quiet cove of the South Tivoli Bay besides Father’s Trail on the Unification Theological Seminary’s (UTS) campus. The silence is suddenly broken by a pickup truck winding its way through the trees. Strapped on a steel rack of the truck bed, is a load of long, heavy wooden poles and planks extending over both ends of the truck. It backs across a frozen stream next to the trail and stops. Three dark figures jump off the bed of the truck while two more emerge from the cab.

The five men begin to unload in pieces, the historic "Vixon" iceboat, once owned by F.D.R.’s uncle, John Roosevelt. Carefully they carry the long heavy wooden mast, cockpit, runners and other parts down the slippery slope to the icy cove.

Ricky Aldrich, one of the last remaining "American aristocrats" still living on a Robert Livingston estate on the Hudson River, laments as he struggles under the heavy mast that he inherited the Rokeby Farm minus the "serfs" who have long since fled, leaving him to do all the work.

The next day many more members of the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club are seen driving through the field adjacent to Father’s Trail -- opened to the public last May as a NYS Greenway Trail -- unloading their cargo. By Saturday morning, 15-20 iceboats are set up on the cove and begin to test the south wind in the bay.

With a strong wind blowing, long time iceboater John Sperr says he has gone over 70 mph on the bay. This day, they’re cruising at around 35-40 on a light breeze.

Coming from all sectors of the Hudson River Valley community, the iceboat club members are joined together in a close community of outdoor enthusiasts, willing to brave the frigid weather and sail to their hearts content on this gorgeous park-like setting, reminiscent of an Old World Dutch painting.

Gerald, a neurologist from Rhinebeck; Bob, an architect for Dutchess County; Reid, a baker, educator and renaissance man; John, a computer expert and keeper of vineyards; young and old, men and women, united in their love of this historic sport, which originated in America on the Hudson River.

As they happily give rides to the many adults and kids who have flocked to the UTS campus after reading stories in the local papers, the word on everyone’s lips is praise for UTS for the incredible generosity of opening Father’s Trail to the public and giving the iceboat club access to the bay. Up and down the river, there is no place quiet like this. No local, state or national park, no private owner so freely opening their wealthy estate to all. In the past, the club members brought their boats to the bay through the railroad service road and then crossed the tracks to the ice. This was illegal and dangerous for them as well as the public.

At last, they feel free and at ease. The iceboat club has found a home.

The club dates back to around 1885, when wealthy families, such as the Astors and Roosevelts entertained themselves in the winter months with iceboat sailing, races and parties. Today, some of the members sail those very same historic boats, such as the "Vixon" and "Kriss", both once owned by the Roosevelt family.

The smaller, one-man boats are called DNs. They were named after the Detroit News, which sponsored a contest in the 1930s to see who could come up with the best design for a single man iceboat.

For about 10 days in February before the big winter storm struck, it was heaven on ice at the "Lagoon" at UTS. Friends and family of the club members came along, getting rides, ice skating, playing ice hockey, and staying warm by a fire in the large steel barrel set up in the cove to dry out clothes and cook food. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s family stored their boats for many years in a iceboat house on the Hudson River, a couple of miles south of his estate in Hyde Park. The old house is presently being used as an office for a boat storage company.

The iceboat club has approached UTS to ask if a new home, along Father’s Trail and near the cove could be acquired for this historic iceboat house. It would require a plan by the club to purchase, move and restore the building, which is in poor shape now.

If successful, it would be a wonderful addition to the UTS campus, a great service to the community and a victory for the preservation of a historical building. The iceboat house would serve both as storage for the iceboats and a museum for the public.

UTS could then boast that two presidents, Theodore Roosevelt (who stayed at the Massena House on campus when he was 9-years-old for three weeks) and F.D.R., have a presence on this historic property.

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