Brandon Pettenati

Ms. Boyle

ENG 160

October 15, 2021

 

Dear Joe,

If you’ve never been to Old Main Quad at New Paltz, you should check it out sometime. It’s a really nice place full of character. On the third day of attending this school, Paul and I decided to organize a small game of ultimate frisbee. We told everyone we could find around campus, “ultimate frisbee- Old Main Quad- five o’clock- be there or be square”. We were only expecting five people or so to show up, however to our surprise over twenty people came. Paul and I split up as captains and chose players for our teams. Since we had no basis for skill on the players, the game ended up being very one-sided and short. We had come up with keywords to address everyone since nobody knew each other’s names- red hat, beanie, white hat, sweatshirt, brown hat. A select group of us decided to get pizza and ended up still hanging out to this day.

Old Main is a great place to play frisbee or just relax. The open field and the archaic buildings that surround it give it a very open and relaxing vibe. Whether it be people playing frisbee or the group known as the “Hobos”, there’s always someone here and something going on. I usually end up here at least twice a day. I like how the area has a lot of trees and vegetation. Other than Parker Quad, this is one of the most vegetated areas on the campus. The architecture is very old and full of character as it doesn’t have the boxy and boring characteristics of the modern buildings. The Old Main building is full of beautiful stained-glass windows. The residence halls nearby may be the oldest and in the worst condition, however, they have an environment and character that is not present in the newer halls. One thing me and my friends like to do is bomb the large hill that runs next to the quad on our skateboards. It’s so much fun to make tight carves while riding down the hill at night when there’s no one around.

One thing of note is that the SUNY at New Paltz used to be a classical school for children. It then burned down twice and they decided to move the location to where it is now and build the Old Main building. According to the website, the Old Main building and the Quad are the oldest sections of the campus, with it being built in 1909. Another interesting thing about this part of the campus is that it used to be the only part of campus at one point. There were no other buildings, everything was in the Old Main building. According to the SUNY New Paltz YouTube page, there were no subject buildings, no faculty buildings, and no wellness center. The most shocking part about this to me is that there used to be a basketball court and track inside of this building. It’s crazy to think that what is now a big campus all used to fit inside one building.

You must come to visit one weekend. I cannot wait to show you Old Main Quad and all the other interesting spots around campus!

 

Sincerely,

Brandon Pettenati

 

 

Works Cited

 

SUNY New Paltz. (2009, August 31). The history of Old Main. YouTube. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVvRJLqfnYs.

SUNY New Paltz. (n.d.). About New Paltz. SUNY New Paltz | About New Paltz | History of the Campus. Retrieved October 15, 2021, from https://www.newpaltz.edu/about/history.html.