Arrowhead has been a focal point for science fiction writers for over fifty years. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) was partially conceived at Arrowhead, and hundreds of gatherings of science fiction writers who were later prominent SFWA members were hosted there.
History
The history of Arrowhead is nothing if not colorful. The grounds and building were seriously flooded in 1955 by the remains of Hurricane Diane and then again in 2004 as a consequence of the deluges that accompanied the profoundly busy hurricane season that year. Each time, reconstruction and retrenchment followed; the building is manifestly sturdy, the oldest portions dating back to the 18th century.
There were sleeping bags on the expansive porches, bleary-eyed writer-folk sitting around the kitchen table come morning (or afternoon...) and many a story idea was expounded, dissected, and fleshed out. Folk (and Filk) songs were sung, guitars and an upright piano backed decidedly non-professional voices who made up in enthusiasm for what they lacked in technique. Rock bands practiced and jammed in Arrowhead's basement studio space during the 1970s. One alumnus of these sessions, Damon Knight's son Christopher, went on to found the Los Angeles Recording Workshop (see External Links, below), one of the largest and most elaborate recording instruction facilities in the world.
Arrowhead medicine chest door obverse
At one point during the early 1970s, the downstairs bathroom received a small graffito from James Blish and Virginia Kidd's son, Ben. Instead of the cleaning and reprimand that one might reasonably expect, within a year, the entire bathroom had been covered floor to ceiling by remarks from eminent science fiction writers, agents, and not a few fans. The walls, the ceiling, the shower stall, even the sides of the bathtub did not escape from the onslaught of writers who found a tabula rasa, no matter if it was only a tiny clear space. Sadly, these were removed in the 1990s. Only one graffito escaped the purge, and still remains as of 2005; an electronic diagram for the RF output stage of a pirate AM radio station on the back of the bathroom medicine cabinet door. This station operated during the 1970s, broadcasting progressive rock and social commentary to the local area. Instructions have been given by the owners of the Virginia Kidd Literary Agency that this last graffito never be removed or painted over, and that the cabinet itself be retrieved in the event that the agency move to new quarters.
In the 1970s, the US government proposed a building a dam across the Delaware River that would have flooded the area into a large reservoir lake. The controversial Tocks Island Dam project would have flooded the location of Arrowhead. Virginia Kidd was forced to sell the building to the government, but was able to negotiate an agreement whereby she could remain there until the dam was completed and the property actually in danger of flooding. Subsequently, the Tocks Island Dam project was never completed, the US park service obtained jurisdiction over all the properties that had been purchased for the project, and although Virginia died, her literary agency remains there to this day under a new lease.
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The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a 70,000 acres (28,000 ha) protected area designated by the National Recreation Area administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service. It is located along the middle section of the Delaware River in New Jersey and Pennsylvania stretching from the Delaware Water Gap northward in New Jersey to the state line near Port Jervis, New York, and in Pennsylvania to the outskirts of Milford. A 40-mile (64 km) section of the Delaware River, entirely within the National Recreation Area, has been granted protected status as the Middle Delaware National Scenic River under the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and is also administered by the National Park Service. This section of the river is the core of the historical Minisink region.
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Virginia Kidd was an American literary agent, writer and editor, who worked in particular in science fiction and related fields. She represented science fiction American authors such as Ursula K. Le Guin, R.A. Lafferty, Anne McCaffrey, Judith Merril, and Gene Wolfe. Wolfe modeled Ann Schindler, a character in his 1990 novel Castleview, in large part on Kidd.
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Judith Ann Blish is an American sketch artist and short fiction writer, known professionally as Judith L. Blish, Judy Blish, and J.A. Lawrence. From 1967 to 1978, she co-wrote a sequence of short story adaptations based on episodes of Star Trek with her husband, James Blish.
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