The first deed on this property was recorded on October 24, 1862 when a survey of the property was performed.  This area was the northernmost part of the Livingston tract.  The deed does not list the previous owner.  Deeds only came into use in the 1850's which might explain this.  The property became the home of Talmadge Decker and his wife.

          Timbers in the cellar predate this 1862 deed.   The bark on beams has pointed to a much earlier structure; possibly before the 1850's.  The beams in the original structures and the demolished barn are hand hewn and pegged.  The original survey used a measurement from the northeastern corner of Felts and Wilkinson's blacksmith shop adjacent to the property.

          According to the book Atlas of Columbia Co., New York, copyrighted in 1873, there was a thriving community in the center of this hamlet. An adjoining property was the shop of Felts and Wilkinson's.  In the 1873 map were the names, Decker and Wilkinson, at this location.  Judging from the forged nails used to construct the barn, it could be speculated within reason that this structure was a store with a barn and small hotel on the road to Nobletown long before the earliest recollections of Mr. Finkle's store.  It possibly could be the small hotel mentioned in the book below.

          In 1886 Talmadge Decker conveyed the property to Delbert Dinehart a nephew of Henry Astor whose property is described in the History of Columbia County, New York copyrighted in 1878, as follows:

          "The third post office is located in West Copake, in the southwest part of the town.  This place is a small hamlet, containing half a dozen houses, a summer hotel, and a store and post office.  At this place, which was formerly called "Anderson's Corners" is located the splendid residence of Henry Astor, which was built in 1875, and is a much more elegant, imposing, and costly building than is very often seen in such a rural section."

                                           See History Page 2