A history of Innisfree in Milanville, Pennsylvania

Innisfree
In Milanville, Pennsylvania
1970 to 1998
By Tom Rue at the invitation of Damascus Township Historical Society
Tuesday, July 23, 2024, 6:45 PM
tomrue.net/innisfree

Acknowledgements
I want to thank the Damascus Township Historical Society for inviting me to speak tonight on the history of Innisfree.
DTHS president Opal Hocker spoke to me about this on April 25th when we first met at a PennDOT “poster session” on
the future of the Milanville Bridge.
After April 25th, I began creating a website in preparation for tonight, which I then used as source material to compile
these slides. If you find this subject interesting, I encourage you to check out further details at tomrue.net/innisfree.
I also want to thank my partner, Jill Behling Padua with whom I live in Narrowsburg, for listening to my stories about
Innisfree and for recording tonight’s session for family and friends who are not here. And my mother, Ann Rue and her
wife Karen Menges, who made the trip tonight from their home in Greentown. As one of Innisfree’s original founders, if
my mother discovers any errors or omissions in my account, I she she will correct me. Lastly, I also want to thank Cynthia
Nash for generously allowing me access to the Innisfree property for occasional visits. Cynthia texted today that due to
some health problems, she cannot attend.
According to the Minute Book, I was first elected Secretary of Innisfree Corporation in 1972 at the age of 13. I carried out
that role in earnest from 1982 to 1998. As a result, all of the surviving books and records of Innisfree Corporation, along
with many files and photos, remain in my possession.
As a former appointed municipal historian (Village of Monticello, NY) for 12 years and as the author of a local history
book on that place; having spoken and written on the history of Freemasonry in Sullivan County; as a genealogist and
family historian for most of my life, the idea of Innisfree coming under the umbrella of “local history” honestly had not
occurred to me. It was simply a part of my and my family’s life. I’m grateful for this opportunity. Thank you for listening.

Recent owners, operators, and business names
 1929-1961 – Known as “Hill Side Farm”, multiple buildings and infrastructure designed and built by
Anthony (“A.J.”) Thomas and operated as a small farm and family resort together with his wife Anna
Thomas on parcels of land purchased from Knapp, Skinner, and other old local families. (See
handout entitled “A sense of this place”.)
 1961-1969 – Known as “Hillside Acres”, operated by Vivian Thomas Ropke and Oscar Ropke much
as her parents had operated it, with a loyal clientele of families who returned to the small resort
each year for summer visits.
 1970-1989 – Known as “Innisfree”, property owned and operated not-for-profit by Innisfree
Corporation which incorporated in May 1970, founded by of a group of teachers and secondary
school and college-aged students to host educational summer programs initially described as “an
experiment in democracy”. The corporation later operated a youth hostel, bed and breakfast,
retreat, conference and community center on the land.
 1989-1993 – Known as “Innisfree”, property purchased by Bud and Ann Rue from Innisfree
Corporation and leased back to the corporation, still operated exclusively not-for-profit with no
changes from above until Innisfree Corporation dissolved on March 31, 1995.
 1998-present – Known as “Innisfree PA”, property purchased by Cynthia Nash from Ann Rue on July
17, 1998, five years after Bud Rue’s death, which Cynthia describes as a local landmark and “an
incubator for community and creativity.”

Hillside Acres
(also called “Hill Side Farm”)
 By April 11, 1929, with the USA headed toward the Great Depression, a local news report noted that A.J.
Thomas "has his house nearly completed and it will be a great asset to Milanville."
 The 1930 U.S. census listed Lithuanian-born Anthony J. Thomas, a self-employed poultry farmer, 40 years of
age, with his native New Yorker wife of ten years, Anna, 31, and their children, Alfred and Vivian, 11 and 6. Unlike
the Hocker family down River Road toward Narrowsburg, the Thomas family did not own a radio, according to the
1930 census. But both Thomas parents could read and write English, they told the enumerator. They worked hard
with their hands in the brooder house and in the fields and expanding and constructing guest buildings on the farm.
 The Thomases raised chickens and other small livestock at Hill Side Farm.
 They boarded summer visitors in their resort near Skinners Falls, yielding a seasonal income for the Thomas
family. A recreation building in the northeast corner of the property (which still stands) contained a dance hall, a
day room in the front, and a two-bedroom apartment upstairs. Visitors danced to 78-rpm polka records in the
recreation hall on a large Victrola jukebox, played shuffleboard across the street, and swam in the river.
 Many small resorts and boarding houses sprang up on both sides of the river during the golden age of
hospitality from the Catskills to the Poconos. Local resorts ranged in size from small up to the immense "fortress
hotels" like Grossinger's and the Concord Resort Hotel across the river. Many local resorts (including those two
started during the same era that Hillside Acres operated as a farm and small boarding house type of resort.

Main House
From River Road From the rear

Garage / Chicken Coop
Looking north Looking south

Dormitory (“The Annex”)
Looking west Looking north

Innisfree
Corporation
 During 1970 and 1971, the Innisfree
property was home base to a group of
young educators, psychologists,
students, and others – who wanted to
experiment with the nurturance and
practice of freedom, self-determination,
equality, democracy, peaceful
coexistence, sustainability, respect,
personal growth, and building
community – one individual at a time.
 That’s a lot to hope for, in any age.
 In those days, there was such hope.

Welcome to “the camp”
 In June 1970, the Board of Trustees of Innisfree “delegated” its governing powers and
responsibility for the Corporation to the 50+ people living there.
 Innisfree’s first two summers were said to be modeled after Summerhill, “the first
libertarian school” in England. Innisfree attempted to govern itself entirely by
consensus, to the extent this was possible. It was unquestionably a radical idea.
 All camp participants were promised an equal voice in community decisions on
questions like distribution of labor (chores), the meaning of ownership, balancing the
common good vs. personal desires, limits on the use of public property, and even
decisions on who was “in” or “out” (i.e. had applied, paid, or been awarded a
scholarship vs. simply showing up at Innisfree and asking to remain and take part).
The program was “an experiment in democracy” and thereby different from most
other children’s camps.

“Consensus”
 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, consensus is
defined as "agreement in opinion; the collective
unanimous opinion of a number of persons". It can also
mean general agreement about an issue within a group or in
public opinion. For example, "There is a growing consensus of
opinion on this issue".
 Consensus can also refer to shared ideas, norms, and values
in a society. For example, "Our top priority must be building a
consensus with legislators".

General Meetings
Could be called by anyone for any issue or problem that affected
the community by ringing the dinner bell.
Meetings were held in the rec hall.
Discussions continued until a solution was reached.
Folks who were better at talking and often got their way. Those
who were more reserved or shy did not always assert
themselves.
Consensus was the goal.
Photos by Gail Wilson Brown

T-groups
A second type of meeting that was built into the schedule, in
which all participants were encouraged to take part during the
first two summers was “T-groups”, also called “training groups” or
“sensitivity training”.
"The training or T-group is an approach to human relations
training which, broadly speaking, provides participants with
an opportunity to learn more about themselves and their
impact on others and, in particular, to learn how to function
more effectively in face-to-face situations. It attempts to
facilitate this learning by bringing together a small group
of people for the express purpose of studying their own
behavior as it occurs when they interact within a small
group.“
 Cooper, C.L. & Mangham, I.L. (1971). T-groups: A Survey of
Research. London: Wiley-Interscience.
It was hoped that this process would build self-
awareness and understanding by self-disclosure in a
safe setting, listening, and healthy supportive peer
feedback.
Photos by Gail Wilson Brown

Excerpt from a 1970 Innisfree
“statement of philosophy”
“…our community [Innisfree] is an experiment in democracy. By this, we mean that it is essential for a human
being to be most fully human to learn how to govern himself and how to share in the government of others.
To learn self-government, one must learn as much as possible about oneself. Such learning cannot come
about through the imposition of values and experiences -- and imposition is the characteristic process of the
public school. It must come about by exercising free choices for oneself and by examining these choices
[and their consequences] to discover their meaning.
“On a relatively simple level the members of Innisfree will have to make choices daily regarding the use of
their time. Although a wide range of recreational, artistic, and educational opportunities will be available
because of the physical and human composition of the community, the actualization of these resources will
be made from moment and day to day by each member of the community.
“Innisfree is to be an alternative to what we see as largely a dehumanizing and mechanizing society. Unlike
many other utopian projects, however, we are very much concerned with the relationship between our
community and the society. Rather than being an experiment in escapism, we conceive of our program as
developing in people the inner strength that comes through awareness to deal with the world at large.
“One may argue that we are a bunch of dreamy-eyed idealists. We do not think so…”

Did it work?
“When we started Innisfree, it was an attempt to get away from
what we perceived as an oppressive way of educating people. At
this point, I'm not at all sure there is a way of getting away from
it. It seems, in retrospect, there were many at Innisfree who
were oppressed or dominated by the 'articulate' and I'm not at
all sure of how to deal with that... I believe the humanistic
principles we strived so hard for are reachable. They are costly...”
-- Bud Rue, writing in 1976
Bud Rue tried to answer this question a few years later in an
academic paper about Innisfree he wrote for a graduate seminar:

But did Innisfree’s early “experiment in democracy” work?
 Was the 1970-71 model as originally conceived sustainable? No.
 Was it a useful learning experience for participants? Yes.
 Did it change the trajectory of many participants’ lives? Yes.
 Did it leave a lasting positive legacy in the local community? Yes.
These conclusions are mine. Opinions may vary.

Compliance with State and Federal laws
 Civilization is based on Rousseau’s idea of a social contract or compact, meaning
rules.
 Innisfree’s land was owned by the Corporation. Any corporations is “legal fiction” that
can lose control of itself, or cease to exist, if it does not follow civil laws and
procedures.
 Lawful governance of Innisfree Corporation is by a Board of Trustees that, by law,
had fiduciary responsibility for its property and the duty to resolve/decide all corporate
values and actions. Organized in 1970 as a New Jersey not-for-profit corporation, it
had a Certificate of Authority to do business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
 Innisfree’s operation was licensed by the Pennsylvania DER for purposes of running
an “Organized Camp” and as a “Public Eating and Drinking Place”. As an educational
institution, Innisfree Corporation was recognized by the IRS as tax-exempt under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. (Despite this, the Corporation paid
local property taxes from 1970 until 1998 and never sought local tax-exemption.)

What’s in a name?
 Despite occasional use of the word "free" in some activities at Innisfree, Bud Rue
sometimes had to explain to visitors out that, “No, the inn is not free."
 The name “Innisfree” comes from a 12-line poem by the Irish poet William Butler
Yeats in 1888, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”.
 At the end of an early pre-incorporation meeting of the founding group, one of the
incorporators – Clarke Maylone, an English teacher and musician – performed a
musical rendition that he had composed to accompany the lyrics of the Irish poem.
 “That’s it!”, someone said. That’s the name!” There was a consensus! The name
stuck.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
William Butler Yeats, 1888

Middle to late 1970s and beyond
Most of Innisfree’s founding trustees moved on to other activities after 1971. The Rues remained
to the extent that they were able. Several individual tenants, as well as a couple of musical bands,
rented space, but programs during these years were few.
Bud was not eligible to teach school in PA or NY. He was only licensed in NJ and was a member
of that state’s pension system. The family spent weekends, holidays, and summers at Innisfree.
In 1981, the new Treasurer of Innisfree Corporation (who arrived in the 70s to recover from a
motorcycle crash) tried to acquire the property in his own name. He did this by filing a lawsuit
against the Corporation and Bud and Ann Rue personally. It was settled out of court. Then he left.
This case isn’t worth discussing here (see the website if interested), except to note that it led to
improving how minutes and records were maintained, and it also marked an increase in degree of
public uses that Innisfree offered of its property.
The Rue family continued driving up to Innisfree (“You never go down to Innisfree.”) on weekends,
holidays, and when school was not in session. Bud taught in South Brunswick, Princeton, and
Lawrenceville, NJ, and brought groups of students, with school board approval, whenever he
could. Each of the members of the Board of Trustees did what we could to make the space useful
and available for a range of public purposes.
I moved to Innisfree, to live full-time, after completing graduate school as a mental health
counselor in 1985. This river valley was where I felt at home. I wanted to be here.
Bud and Ann Rue moved to Innisfree full-time as soon as Bud was eligible to retire, at age 55, in
1989. Bud died in 1993 at age 59. Ann sold the place in 1998 to Cynthia Nash.

What else
happened at
Innisfree as
years passed?
Programs, community
partners,andactivities
 Innisfree Country Inn and Retreat hosted overnight guests in
the Main House, Dorm, Cottage, and Recreation Hall, with
affordable home-cooked meals from 1981 to 1998.
 The Innisfree recreation hall was home to weekly religious
services of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship (UDUUF) from 1987 to 1998;
 Outdoor experiential education and math camp for middle-
schoolers from NJ public schools from 1981 to 1990 (with “field”
instruction by Taterbug Tyler, who worked at Innisfree with
kids and on property maintenance, and became a good friend);
 Upper Delaware Amnesty International, Chapter #533 met
in the main house in the 1990s;
 Early meetings of the Wayne County Habitat for Humanity,
founded by Bud Rue in 1990, continues today with widespread
support today of multiple faith organizations and local
volunteers;

What else
happened there?
 Free space for Delaware Highlands Conservancy, founded by Barbara Yeaman
in 1994 (Ann Rue was a board member at the time), early meetings were held in
Barbara's barn or at Innisfree;
 Free indoor meeting space for the Upper Delaware River Association, (Tom
Rue was board Secretary, together with Barbara Yeaman, President, Ed Wesely,
and others);
 Free use of Innisfree's library (which filled the front end of the dormitory
building) by overnight guests and the public (take what you want, leave what
you don't want);
 Free confidential short-term warm-weather emergency housing, in the dorm, for
victims of domestic violence referred by the Women's Resource Center (now
Victims Intervention Program) in Honesdale;
 Seasonal lodging in the dorm was offered to seasonal National Park Service
rangers or interns stationed on the Upper Delaware;

And what else?
 Encounter group weekends from Trenton State College called
Personal Growth Laboratory during the early 1980s;
 Cast lodging and rehearsal space for the Innisfree Festival of New
Plays, some directed by John Rue at the Nutshell in nearby Lake
Huntington;
 Open-to-the-public yoga classes, taught by River Road neighbor
Susan Sullivan in the rec hall;
 Public venue for dances, dinners, and concerts in the rec hall with
local talent like the Olph Brothers Band, Annie Hat, and other local
artists;
 Special events to raise funds and awareness for various local and not-
local nonprofit projects, causes, and organizations.
I felt privileged to live at a place that was used by a variety of people and
organizations; to converse and interact, either briefly or in depth, on a
wide range of perspectives and backgrounds. Life at Innisfree was
interesting, felt worthwhile, and was often fun.

Buried treasure?
Common questions were, “Who built
this place” “What is it now?”
One topic that came up many times in
conversation with guests seated by the
fireplace at Innisfree was a “treasure
note” left behind by the place’s builder,
A.J. Thomas.
The note hung on the wall in the front
office. Numerous people did their best
to find the “valuable stuff” and even
more speculated as to what it might
have been or where.
"I want you to look for valuable stuff in the
ground buried at the post by the brooder house.
I slept by the river side + also look at the round
brooder under the feed room on the lower side.
You must divide it with Alfred."

“Valuable stuff in the ground”
The treasure note was found and returned by locksmith Ed Dill
of South Fallsburg, NY, after he dismantled an old two-ton safe
that he picked up from Innisfree in 1981. The safe was not
needed and was given away in exchange for removing it.
Mr. Dill found the note inside the safe's wall and took the time
to return it. The old safe took up space on the first floor of the
dorm (the portion of the building that years later would be
damaged by fire) and was used for a while as a cabinet, but
never locked. No one from Innisfree ever had its combination,
and we had no real need for a two-ton safe anyway.
The original note, encased in plastic, is now (2024) in the
possession of Cynthia Nash of Milanville.

Surprising the treasure-hunters, after years of searching, $20,810 in cash, was
unearthed beneath "the round brooder house" to south of the garage, uphill
from Innisfree's parking lot on River Road. By some means, the ground had hung
onto this treasure until just such a time as this when it was needed for property
maintenance.
Former site of, “…the round brooder under the
feed room on the lower side…”
The "round brooder house" was used to raise several
chickens at Innisfree in 1970, and previously
specifically as a brooder house by A.J. Thomas.
(Photos by Tom Rue)

According to copies of public documents obtained in 1986 under the Freedom of
Information Act (Case No. 4-20671-AF) from the Department of Treasury, Bureau of
Engraving and Printing, addressed to this writer, the discovery consisted of
decomposing U.S. currency buried in rolls for decades under an abandoned chicken
coop, in metal buckets and broken glass jars.
The cash was said to be decomposing and some of it barely recognizable. 💩
The actual containers looked something like this. (Illustration from Reddit.)

The U.S. Department of Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) Mutilated Currency Division offers
free services to redeem damaged or mutilated currency. “Mutilated currency” is defined as currency that has
been damaged to the point that half or less of the original note remains and its value is questionable.
 Officials in Washington, D.C. described the find (which consisted of slightly
less than 2,000 separate notes, mostly $10, $5 and $20 bills). Technicians
described the method of processing as follows:
"Buried currency soaked in water and covered with mud, currency appeared to
have been buried for several decades. Notes were rolled in more than 20 wads
each held by a rubber band. Although many notes had become a pulp like
substance mired with mud, they appeared to be of full value. Some notes were
processed whole, while others were processed by the method of duplicating
(portraits were used for the most part). Where portraits were not available within
individual rolls of currency, other portions of the notes were duplicated, e.g.,
upper left corners, etc. Predominant Federal Reserve Bank and oldest notes could
not be determined because of the deterioration of the currency."

After consulting with Innisfree Corporation’s legal counsel, advice received was that
buried treasure found on the corporation’s land was the rightful property of Innisfree
Corporation and it was fair and lawful to use it to help maintain the property and defray
operating expenses. This legal opinion was based not just on his review of relatively
obscure “treasure trove” law, but also the all-encompassing terms in the description of the
1970 purchase as including the land, buildings, and all the contents.
As of July 2024, the current owner of the Innisfree property has not given up hope of
finding the second deposit of “valuable stuff”.
It’s good to have hope!
From the wording of the note, there could still be a sum
secreted on the property (“by the post”) somewhere which,
to this writer's knowledge, was never found, despite
repeated searches and consultations with local psychics.
What was found was “under the feed room”. The note
points to two locations. The meaning of “I slept by the
river side” (which is stricken out) also remains unclear.

A second buried treasure across the street?
Pictured (right): retired farmer Oscar Ropke, who preserved the Skinners Falls bridge marker in a
barn after unearthing it on his property near the bridge in the early 1970s, and (left) retired civil
engineer Thomas VanOrden of Atco. (TRR photo by Tom Rue)

Pictured are former Hillside Acres owner Oscar Ropke and Tom VanOrden holding a cast
iron commemorative marker which once marked the Skinners Falls/Milanville Bridge. (See
article, "Marker to be remounted on Skinners Falls Bridge" by Tom Rue in The River
Reporter, June 4, 1992.)
"Ropke said he stumbled across the bracket protruding from the back of the marker while
walking his property sometime between 1972 and 1975. 'I tried pulling on it and pretty
near pulled my arm off,' he recalled. The marker was reportedly buried face down, near a
portable brooder house across River Road from the property currently known as Innisfree,
which was built by Ropke's late father-in-law, [A.J. Thomas]. 'I think it was right over here
around these hemlocks,' said Ropke," as quoted in the article.
Presently (2024), the marker is in the protective custody of the Damascus Township
Historical Society while word is awaited from PennDOT concerning the repair and
reopening of the bridge.

Innisfree hostel, country inn, and retreat
The April 20, 1989 edition of The River Reporter carried a headline, "Nonprofit retreat
center to open all week“ and announced:
"In recent years, the nonprofit retreat center has only accepted guests on weekends. While Innisfree's
main focus is organized groups, individual guest and families are also welcome.
"The facility is owned by Ann and Bud Rue, until June of Lawrenceville, NJ; now taking up full-time
residence in Milanville. Formerly, they commuted every weekend. Bud Rue is president of Innisfree
Corporation, which leases the premises. Its nine trustees, none of whom are paid, meet once per
year.
"Bud is about to retire after 25 years of public teaching experience, and Ann from 20 years in private,
nonprofit day-care administration and teaching."

Liberal religious fellowship
These days, in its 37th year of existence (2024), few current members
of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (UDUUF)
remember meeting at Innisfree. A few do.
For 11 years, the UU met rent-free Sunday mornings in Innisfree's rec
hall, contributing toward the cost of heating the building one day per
week and for a portion of the public liability insurance premium.
Though the UDUUF did not enjoy exclusive use of Innisfree’s rec hall,
the walls were decorated with banners and documents identifying it
as a UU meeting space, and a sign was mounted on the garage
facing River Road.
After 1998, the fellowship moved to the Beach Lake Community
Center after Innisfree was sold. Currently, services are held five miles
downriver, Sunday mornings, in the Narrowsburg Union building,
Sundays at 10:15 AM.

Statement of Purpose
of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
(Adopted June 17, 1990, meeting at Innisfree)
The congregation drafted, by group discussion, and then formally adopted the following Statement of Purpose:
We, the members of the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, are gathered into a committed relationship:
 TO MAKE POSSIBLE a caring and supportive community in which each individual will feel free to chart his or her own spiritual
journey in the search for ultimate meaning in life;
 TO CREATE an atmosphere in which each person will be able to share convictions, express doubts, and explore new dimensions
of truth and reality;
 TO PROVIDE a community in which there will be no divisions because of class, ethnic origin, race or sexual orientation;
 TO OFFER a place and climate for regular worship, which include such things as fellowship, meditation, learning, and a free and
open pulpit;
 TO WORK for the vision of a better world by standing for the cause of social justice and human rights, support efforts for world
peace, and seek to protect the earth's environment through our respect for the interdependent web of all living things;
 TO JOIN with others in the tradition of free and open religion in affiliation with the Unitarian Universalist Association;
 TO BEAR WITNESS to our convictions as Unitarian Universalists in this entire region by giving our support to the Upper Delaware
fellowship through the dedication of our energies, time and finances, knowing that unless the local group is strong and healthy
little else can be accomplished.
(For more information, visit uduuf.com or email uduuf2022@gmail.com.)

The River School
(a parent-run Montessori elementary, meeting at Innisfree
and sponsored by the Upper Delaware UU Fellowship)
When a local parents' group asked
for help starting a parent-run
Montessori elementary school in
1991, they met with the UDUUF and
Innisfree boards of directors and
negotiated Articles of Agreement
under which the UDUUF gave
corporate sponsorship to The River
School, providing the
unincorporated parent group with
exemption from taxation and
government regulations on non-
church sponsored schools.
Pictured, Left to Right: Cindy Zingher with her son Miguel Gonzalez, Loran Shlevin, mystery
woman, Ann Rue, John Rue, Bud Rue, Melanie Teppich-Springhetti, Elizabeth Keating, mystery
child, and Meryl Ballew. (Photo by Tom Rue.)
Joint holiday service with the Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and The
River School on December 24, 1991 in Innisfree's recreation hall.

Habitat for Humanity
of Wayne County
Another organization born at Innisfree and nurtured there at its start, and which has received
financial contributions from the UDUUF since its earliest years, is Wayne County Habitat for
Humanity (HFH). From 1989 until 1993, Bud and Ann Rue made voluntarily public speaking
engagements, attending meetings, and the physical work of constructing houses an like unpaid
part-time job in the few years of retirement that he enjoyed.

“More than words are
necessary to make changes in
our community.”
“It seems to me that a
church that only supports
itself is not worth much.”
By May of 1992, Bud Rue was saying that the
fellowship was not as productive as he wished it
to be, implying that he might resign and spend
his time elsewhere.
He pushed the UDUUF to do more than host
interesting speakers on Sunday mornings, as it
was doing. He said this in board meetings and,
on at least one occasion, wrote a letter to the
board, shown at left.
 The group acted on his request and resolved
to raise funds for several local charities. The first
fund-raiser was held on October 24, 1993.

Walk for Social Justice (1993)
In direct response to Bud Rue’s plea to contribute to the local community, members of
the Fellowship voted unanimously (YAY! Consensus!) to hold a walk-a-thon to raise
funds for four local organizations:
 Habitat for Humanity of Wayne County
 Interfaith Outreach United
 Victims Intervention Program of Wayne County; and the
 Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office
The walk was scheduled for October 24, 1993. Members collected pledges from people
they knew and, by the end, had raised between $3,500 and $4,000, 100% of which was
divided equally among the above-named groups.
It was called the “Walk for Social Justice”.

UDUUF Walk for Social Justice
 Twenty-four people took part in the October 24, 1993 walk,
according to a published account.
Times Herald-Record photos by Francis Specker

 The walkers stepped off from the Tusten-Cochecton Library, crossed the bridge, and
headed north on River Road toward Innisfree.
 A mile or so up, Bud Rue sat down on a rock to rest.
 He was picked up by the Rev. Ray Pontier, driving a “sweep car” for anyone who was tired
or needed water.
 Rev. Pontier said that Bud puffed a few times on his asthma inhaler and seemed to fall
asleep in the car. When they got to Innisfree, he had died. His remains were transported
by ambulance to Wayne Memorial in Honesdale.
 The lead sentence in The River Reporter’s front page article was, “Clyde "Bud" Rue walked
his last steps in the name of society's forgotten people.”

“A celebration of the life of Bud Rue”
Because it seemed likely to draw more than could be
accommodated at Innisfree, a service organized by his
family was held at the Milanville Methodist Church, filling all
the pews and spilling into the front yard.
The printed order of service and texts of some of the
remarks have remained on the web since that time.
Family members spoke, as did friends and associates from
his recent life and from the early days of Innisfree.

A stone at the foot of an old oak on the Innisfree hill marks the spot where Bud’s cremated
remains were interred. He was 59 when he died. A quotation, attributed to Kurt Vonnegut,
seemed to his family to encapsulate the essential meaning that Bud found in his own life, as well
as being a sort of mission statement for Innisfree Corporation:
“We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

 Since 1993, members of the Upper Delaware UU Fellowship have collected from among themselves
and from the public each year under the name of the “Bud Rue Memorial Fund for Social Justice”,
which had its start at Innisfree.
 On July 17, 2024, the board of directors of the UDUUF designated four organizations for the 2024
BRM Fund, with 100% of the collections to be divided among these four groups:
 Habitat for Humanity (HFH) of Wayne County(hfhwcpa.org)
 Victims Intervention Program (VIP)(vipempowers.org)
 Growing Older Together (GOT) (got.clubexpress.com)
 Sullivan Allies Leading Together (SALT)(saltcares.com)
Tax-deductible gifts in any amount to the 2024 Bud Rue Memorial Fund for
Social Justice may be mailed to Upper Delaware Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship (mark the memo portion of the check "BRM Fund") at PO Box 47,
Narrowsburg, NY 12764.
A “Venmo” or “PayPal” link will soon be placed at uduuf.com and tomrue.net/innisfree and other locations on the web, to make giving easier.
In the meantime, if your circumstances allow, kindly give as generously as you can either by mail or in person. Thank you.
2024

2023 Recipients
Honesdale Library (Restoration Fund) $5,000.00
Victims Intervention Program (VIP) $1,000.00
Habitat for Humanity of Wayne County (HFH) $1,000.00
Growing Older Together (GOT) $1,000.00
Doctors Without Borders $1,000.00
The River Reporter (special project) $1,000.00
Narrowsburg Ecumenical Food Pantry $1,000.00
Wayne County Food Pantry $1,000.00
Charity Water $1,000.00
Grand Circle Foundation $1,000.00
Wayne County Community Foundation $500.00
Last year’s distributions by the Upper Delaware UU
Fellowship included both “Bud Rue Memorial” funds
and other donations collected.

A tragic afterword…
Following the death of Bud Rue, his widow Ann Rue remained at Innisfree for a few years before moving
to Lakewood. I had previously relocated from Innisfree over the river to Sullivan County. The property
was occupied only by tenants.
An August 28, 1997, a tragic fire on the ground level of the Innisfree dormitory took the life of a 43-
year-old single mother named Patricia Woll. No one from the Rue family was living on the property at
this time and I only know what I have read in a few news accounts. I did not know Ms. Woll.
The fire was ruled arson and her death as a murder.
Published reports I have seen (see website) state that the crime has not been solved. In preparation for
this presentation to DTHS, I filed an open records request with the Pennsylvania State Police for the
present status of their investigation. An official response of some sort is due any day now.

 In response to my right-to-know request to the Pennsylvania State
Police, a few weeks ago promised to provide a reply by July 25,
2024 (this Thursday!) concerning what, if any, information about the
investigation they will release.
 If or when a any publicly available information is provided by the
State Police regarding the status of this unsolved 1997 murder, I will
do my best to publish it on tomrue.net/innisfree.
Waiting for an answer…

“Innisfree PA”
 On July 17, 1998, Cynthia Nash purchased the
Innisfree property from Ann Rue.
 Cynthia has honored Innifree's history by retaining
the name, describing the premises as “an
incubator for community and creativity.”
 Visit Cynthia in person in Milanville, on Facebook at
facebook.com/InnisfreePA, or reach out to her at
646-229-0059 or cynthiadnash@gmail.com.
Innisfree Corporation did not long survive Bud's death. In late 1993, the board of nine remaining Trustees,
with Ann Rue as Acting President, resolved to suspend operations.
On March 31, 1995, each of the nine Trustees signed an “Out of Existence/Withdrawal Affidavit”, bringing
the nonprofit organization that operated the property to a close.

Closing words
In closing, kindly let me share the words of American historian Dr. Ken Burns, speaking two
months ago to graduates of Brandeis University:
I learned at Innisfree that these core values build character, creativity, and community.
Thank you.
"Listen. Be curious, not cool. Insecurity makes liars of us all. Remember,
none of us get out of here alive. The inevitable vicissitudes of life, no
matter how well gated our communities, will visit us all. Grief is a part of
life, and if you explore its painful precincts, it will make you stronger. Do
good things, help others. Leadership is humility and generosity squared.
Remember the opposite of faith is not doubt. Doubt is central to faith. The
opposite of faith is certainty."

Digitalized version of 8-mm acetate film of activities at Innisfree in Milanville during the summer of 1970 by an unknown photographer. Later
scenes include swimming at a waterfall on Calkins Creek in Fallsdale (5 minutes, 15 seconds).
Innisfre
e
1970

A history of Innisfree in Milanville, Pennsylvania

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A history of Innisfree in Milanville, Pennsylvania