10 S Washington St

Dernell-Clark House (c 1840)

This private residence is not open for interior tour.

In 1854 Herman F Dernehl, age 18, arrived in the United States from Germany. Four years later he settled in Athens, where he began general blacksmithing. The rapid rise of the ice harvesting industry on the Hudson River caused him to concentrate on ice tools. Due to the quality of his work and certain inventions, he soon became a leading manufacturer of ice tools in the United States, with additional customers in Germany and Sweden.

Dernehl anglicized the spelling of his last name to Dernell and was locally known in Athens as Harmon Dernell, Harmon being the Dutch version of Herman. As Harmon Dernell, he served as the Athens Village president three different times: 1870-71, 1884-85, and 1902.

The present property was acquired by Dernell in three stages. The original oblong structure, built circa 1840, consisting of two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs, was purchased in 1861. In 1868, after buying the lot to the north, he added a wing to the house. In 1893 the lot and house to the south were acquired, and by moving the second house back he could add another “wing,” making the house T-shaped and allowing more room for a garden. The structure moved to the back housed his full-time gardener, and provided temporary quarters for the immigrants working for his ice tool foundry.

This Victorian house, with Stick, Queen Anne, and Second Empire architectural touches, was purchased in 1921 by William J. Clark from the estate of Emilie Dernell Lang, the deceased sister of Herman Dernell. William Clark was the owner of Clark’s Variety Store, and was the father of subsequent owners Harriet Clark Peloubet (deceased), and Franklin B. Clark and his wife, Winifred. For a number of years Harriet was the Town of Athens tax collector, with her office in this house, and Franklin, as a New York State Superintendent of Schools, had his office here for most of his tenure.

Herman Dernell also had his office in this house. It was located in the southeast room with a secondary front access. The room now serves as the Clarks’ living room, which still contains Dernell’s standup desk and his numerous built-in bookcases.

There are still a few Dernell plantings in the Clarks’ garden: deutzia bushes, cabbage roses, ribbon grass, tree peonies, and sweet woodruff. The huge Norway spruce planted by Dernell, which survived being struck by lightning in 1978, was pronounced unsafe in 1990 and had to be removed. Since the tower was now the tallest structure in the area, lightning rods were installed on the house.

If you are walking through Athens today, nearly across the street is the Nichols / Daley / Albright house at 7 South Washington.

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