Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.64 | Touring The River Edge Mansion!

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

Exploring the Historic River Edge Mansion - Good News York In this episode of Good News York, hosts Mike Brindisi and his co-host visit the River Edge Mansion, a historic bed and breakfast in Pennellville, New York. Located just 20 minutes north of Syracuse, the mansion, originally built in 1818, offers a unique and quaint escape. The hosts provide a detailed tour of the property, including its gardens, event space, and numerous suites each with period-appropriate furnishings and original features. The mansion's rich history includes connections to King Louis' French royalty and the Underground Railroad. The tour concludes with insights into the mansion's ghosts and potential future plans for film shoots and special events. Sponsored by Ads on the Go, this blend of humor, history, and hospitality provides a fascinating look into a timeless treasure of New York. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:49 Introducing River Edge Mansion 01:59 Growth Mode Content's Field Trip 04:39 History of River Edge Mansion 06:55 Casper the Friendly Ghost Origin 10:46 Exploring the Mansion's Features 15:18 Exploring the Uniter Narnia River Suite 16:53 Historical Features and Architecture 18:05 Local Guests and Hospitality 19:16 Family Room and Modern Amenities 19:59 Seneca River Suite Tour 23:32 Oswego River Suite and Renovations 25:02 Future Plans and Events

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Hey guys, welcome to Good News York. Yes. If you haven't noticed, we haven't dramatically upgraded the background in our studio. We are actually somewhere else. Wait, what? We didn't green screen this? No. Oh, where are we?

This is real life. Where are we? This is real life. Tell us where we are, Mike. Well, Mike, we're to see here. Good News York, sponsored by ads on the go, get ads on the go, We are at the River Edge Mansion, bed and breakfast, wedding venue, whatever you want it to be, in Pendleville, New York, 20 minutes north of Syracuse. Very easy to get here. That's the thing

that gets me about this place. Is that it? So close. Desolate, is that the right word? No. No. As quaint as this is. All right, that's a good word. Like in the middle, you know, kind of like off the beaten path, quiet. You don't have to drive down a million county route roads or dirt roads to get your, it's right off the highway, which you can probably hear. But, yeah, this is great. And I did not wear sunglasses because when we did the promo, every time I wear sunglasses, I look like a huge dick. Like, I just look like a guy that you want to punch in the face. I don't know.

I think you're a little hard on yourself. Well, I think it was that big. Thank you. I've always been a little hard on myself. I did like your Stevie Wonder vibes, though, with the glass. Because you were wearing a glass. Was I doing this? You were like that?

Yeah. What are you doing? What are you doing? Well, either way. I always wonder what you're doing. Oh, thanks, buddy. I always wonder what you're doing. Well, this is going to be a fun day.

We've got all our clients from growth mode, not all, a good majority of our clients from growth mode content coming to enjoy our little field trip and shoot some content, cross promote, and just have a fun day. Yeah, and so for those who haven't been following along, What we do here at growth mode content is we help make content for businesses and brands, organic content. So typically we start out with podcasts. We do that in our high-end podcast studio. And then we take that and slice it up and make a month's worth of social media clips for everybody.

And we do that all for them. And the goal is to really get that organic reach, right? Help people understand who the people are that they might do business with, buy from, partner with, etc. But, you know, as much fun as effective as that is, we're getting ridiculous numbers on these things. Yeah. I've wanted from the beginning to do more than just in the studio. So if you remember, here's a little Good News York nostalgia. If you want to scroll back, even if you haven't been along for the whole journey here, if you want to scroll back to our very beginnings, this winter, we launched this show at the Syracuse Winter Fair at the Great New York State Fairgrounds.

We did. We did it live right there. Do a lot. In the booth, I guess, right? In our spot. And one of our first guests was John, the owner of the Ridgeret, River Edge Mansion. The place where... Was Mike Leasy or hip?

Was one... It's very... We'd have to go check the tape. He's first or second guest. Either way. I mean, they may as well be both our first guests. And so since then, since we got to hear about it, We've been talking about coming out here, getting out of the studio, and the weather is great. We got some food.

We got some people. And what you're going to see is all of this place. We're going to give you more than the nickel tour, I guess you would say. And you'll probably see Danny with his pants off at some point. You won't. You're not. No? That's a different video.

Oh, my bad. Yeah. What do we know about this house so far? When was it built? It's a long time ago. Long time ago. Yeah, it's old. Very old.

You know what I don't like? The porches are pitched for the rainwater. Intentionally, yeah. Yeah. But it's really weird being up on the... It's a little bit of an angle. Balcony. So yeah, why don't we wander around and...

Show a little more of the property. Show the place off here at the River Edge Mansion on Good News York. Brought to you by ads on the go. Get ads on the go. Let's show this place off, baby. Sounds good. All right. Everyone, welcome to River Edge Mansion, bed and breakfast.

This is the original homestead, a Shropel homestead, which was construction in 1818. George Casper Shropel was partners in business with Henry Scriba. And Henry Scriba owned most of the land north of the Oneida River and to the east of the Oswego River. And George, being a partner with him, bought 25,000 acres. here and established the town of Scruple. And that was, the town wasn't established until after, but the homestead here was built in 1818. And to do that, they built a mill right on the river,

the Oneida River here, and they constructed a temporary house behind the mansion. And that temporary house they lived in for five years. It took five years to construct this house. and, you know, after they obviously moved in, they ended up putting a barn behind the house after, you know, they had moved into the mansion. And this little jet out to the right here was added on 1829. So the house is 207 years old, and it's registered historic landmark.

And we're so happy to have you guys join us here today. And we'll do a quick tour. We are on 5.85 acres of property. And since we have taken over, behind you, you could see we built the 5,000 square foot event space with artificial turf. So that outdoor events, weddings, people that have garden weddings or so forth, you know, it's a great space for that. And we've since added also the 50 space parking lot here. I think people put tents up. Yeah, we absolutely, yeah. We have weddings and so forth that we'll be doing this year.

Later in the year, we have one in September, one in October, so yeah. And it's quite a great space for it. Hey, John. Yes. I mentioned the original owner's little name was Casper. Casper. Can't expand on that connection? Yeah. So Casper, his oldest son was his namesake, Casper. And the story goes, as the story goes, George Casper married French royalty.

And she was the niece of King Louis, one of the bad ones. When she married, he was not king. But after he became king, she was called back to court, left him with their four children. And he pretty much had to raise those kids. And they were on a trip up in Morristown, New York, kind of a holiday vacation. And Casper drowned. And they returned home. And it is said that the house was haunted with the spirit of Casper.

And that is the original story of Casper to Friendly Ghost. Started in this house. And, you know, obviously has a lot of commercial, commercial promotional things have happened with Casper over the years. But if you look it up, the original story, that's where the original story stems from. No idea. That's amazing. Yeah. So to Mark's point, yeah, the Casper significance. The house was also, and we'll show you part of the Underground Railroad.

We have a trap door in the dining room, which drops down to the basement. And you could see in the basement there was a tunnel. You could see there used to be an opening because it was filled in with different stone and mortar. But when you step back and look at it, you could see it's like a perfect oval, you know, which was filled in. So to be a, to be a, you know, just a bug on the wall here over the years, the things. that might have happened here over the time. But come on, we'll take a walk in. We'll take a look at the river.

So we have plenty of gardens, and a lot of the outdoor events we do, they want to take advantage of the gardens. And a lot of ceremonies down on our docks and decking and a rotunda. So just a wonderful venue for, you know, event and we've done some family reunions here for some big families and they just you know use the property for the day. It's a perfect spot for the genesis sleepover.

Absolutely we have beautiful sweets too. So you know one of the things that's really popular here is that brides and groom even if they're not getting married here they come in the brides come in they get ready for the day with their brides mates get all ready take their pictures here there are before pictures and then go off to the ceremony. Last week, two weeks ago, we had a bride who was picked up on the docks. So prepared here, picked up on the docks by a boat. Their wedding was right down river on her parents' property, and she was dropped off with her dad at their property, and that's how they arrived at the wedding.

So we have all kinds of things that happened. uh you know throughout the property and throughout the year so come on we'll go inside uh by the way we have four porches on the house you know obviously the front porch the upstairs front porch we have a side port two side porches um and uh you know these are all it's original so this is all tongue and groove cedar that's on these porches. And maintaining, as you know, it's an ongoing process. Never end. Yeah. We have to repaint us as soon as you get done. Constantly. Constantly. And, you know, being on the Erie Canal here, the Onet River, we have a ton of boat traffic, constant. Like, and I'm talking traveling boats, 80, 90-foot boats. Like this morning, we saw this enormous,

beautiful yakobai. But the great thing is, from that place, If you're in a boat, you can go anywhere in the world because you can access anywhere you would like to go. Whether you're going to the Hudson River or you're going to, you know, through Lake Ontario out the seaway. So come on in. We'll do a tour.

So you guys are the front hallway. And as you look up, all the cornices, moldings, the flooring, everything you see is original to the house. So all of this was. hand carved. The shutters in the traditional fashion, well you'll see the windows in the house are enormous, all of them throughout the entire house. Back in the 1800s, there was no electricity. You needed light during the day. And to darken the rooms, these shutters were added that fold in right into the sideboard.

We're off. Passbar. Just going to leave them go right now, babe. I don't even know where he is. She's the ground. I shriek. I don't like them. So this is an original door. So the lock sets are all still workable. That's so cool.

So the front and side doors are original to the house. Here, come on, you guys. We'll come in the front suite. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in a podcast, chances. are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. So this was originally the front parlor. and then was converted into one of our suites. In the house, we have five fireplaces, all stone and hand-carved. They're all now converted to gas,

but for one of our suites, you know, and you'll see throughout, make sure that all the furnishings that we have are period appropriate to the house. But this is just one of the suites, really comfortable, queen-sized poster bed, the largest bathroom in the house with an original sink in there up on a pedestal. It's cast iron.

And that is the haunted rocking chair. It moves with Casper now. No, actually that one's upstairs. My cleaning lady section is vacuuming the front hallway and I just started rocking on it. Oh, hell. So we have a rocking chair that I believe was my husband's grandmothers that his mom had. she when she passed, John ended up with it. And it's been in our house before we lived here for years. And, you know, I never, it was just a rocking chair, right? It was in, I think it was in our family

room. And I put it in the upstairs hallway here. And my cleaning lady was vacuuming and she was just coming into the hallway. So she hadn't even started cleaning in the hallway. And the rocking chair was rocking in the corner. This is actually we had to change the password. I love that. It's carried appropriate. He just passed through the wall.

If you guys do a sleep over the this would be where you guys are there. You guys would want to be upstairs. So let's go take a look. So this would be the sweet that you would want if you're doing a sleepover. Oh, wow. Oh, this is the Oneiter River Suite.

Yes, the back, only certain times of the day. Oh, the passport. Yeah. Yeah, like I said, the Oneider River Suite. This one has a two-person jacuzzi, a full bath, obviously, and a king-size poster bed. And this is by far the most sought after suite that we have. Yes. And again, stone fireplace.

So, beautiful, beautiful space. And when you stay here, you can walk out on your own porch, which is right outside. It's obviously just great views of the river, a great peaceful space. Maybe the unicorn needs to make it appear. Should not be a... Yeah, and in the tub.

Permission to get in the tub with a unicorn carefully. Yes. Carefully, I love it. But you can see all these columns are original, with the house, with the Grecian tops that they have on them. This is a Greek revival built in that style. So again, all the porch decking is original. Did you cover the German immigrant kitchen in the basement?

This is crazy that this is in such good shape and it was built so long ago. You said 18? 18, 18. They started construction in 1818. We covered them. Yeah. If you build stuff now, it folds apart in like 10 years. 10 years, yeah.

The craftsmanship is off the hook. The materials to build the house are all very solid. In the house, the ceilings are all very high. Most of the ceilings in the house are 10.5 feet. And the windows span some of them up to 84 inches, which is 7 foot. And depending on the room that you're in. So great light in the house, which is wonderful during the day. And they built it facing kind of east sunrises.

So it has great light throughout the day. So we get so many locals also just staying for like a quick respite get away. Many times people just kids, they need to get away from the kids. The grandmother or father come in for the night. Just last week, two weeks ago, we had somebody that was from Liverpool. We said we need a break. And they just show up and call us and show up and stay for the night. Becca is a, Rebecca is a chef.

And we three-course breakfast for everybody when you say. We deliver morning beverages to your room before breakfast. So, yeah. I mean, we like both of us grew up in this business. We're both in the food and hospitality business. So this is kind of like a dream. It's Rebecca's dream. Awesome.

Tone of B&B on the river. So we did it. Besides him. But come on, we'll continue to take a walk and show you the other sweets that we have. So you'll see a lot of light fixtures in the house or original to the house. This is the only room.

This is what we call family room, really. It's the only room in the house with modern furniture. if you will. But this is kind of for guests to kind of chill out. We have 65 inch screen in here and just can chill out. This light fixture was originally an oil lamp and it's been converted to electric.

You can see the mirrors at the top, which would reflect the light, help reflect the light. And this moves us to the back hall. And then this is the Seneca Rift. which actually has the largest bathroom in the house actually I lied you already gave Matt Danny and I this toilet and it's it's like it's the first time so interesting there is I love this bathroom without doors for the bathroom yeah it's like a different space from the was this a sitting room that got

converted into I can't answer that I don't know it seems very large for the time right right It very well could have been. Maybe even have indoor plumbing. Probably, I don't know. Didn't. Probably didn't. Back in the day, did not.

All these things have been added. My wife and I added all the central air to the house. There was only, we bought it in 2021. Oh, that was a rough time. We bought it late in the year. Okay, so it was a little better at least. Yeah, we closed the place for four months to just get it in shape. Wow.

So, Christine, I have a question for you. So if you want to see, you're commercial, right? I guess it's funny. This would be a... Yeah, yeah, yeah. What would your big selling point be, like your, like the opening thing? Like, you're gonna love this place because it's a, what's the... The grando for...

Unique. It feels good. It's what I'm looking for tonight. It doesn't want this basic vanilla hotels. Yeah, this is like tall. It's an intimate kind of a boutique setting. And that's the way we, that's the way we want it to be. You know?

Cozy. I travel along a lot and I like staying in a place like this because I feel like someone knows where I am. I'm not walking out a long, dark hallway at 10 o'clock at night. By yourself. By myself, exactly. I really, I like places like this when I travel. Yeah. So, I mean, it's a small, intimate B&B.

We tell everyone to make yourselves at home. You're just an extension of your guest to us. That's all. And one of our guests staying in the home. It feels safe. It's beautiful. It does. It's hard to feel safe these days, you know?

Yeah. Plus, Riley, our golden retriever, is at doggy daycare because of the... I really wish him wasn't... Well, we didn't want him to kind of interrupt things. He would have been running up and down the hill, all that. And this is his home. It would probably be too stressful for it. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. get out of him. Oh, he's a character. So. So.

Yeah, he makes friends very quickly. So, you know, the thing about the house is, with the exception of downstairs, two rooms, the kitchen, and that main hallway downstairs, the back hallway, all these floors are original. All the banisters in the house are original. Is this, was this here when you bought it? We did. This is, I don't know why, when you show us the first time, I just, I love this mirror. Well, the mirror is. in the house are pretty off the hook quite frankly you don't see stuff they had to put a two by four

to mount this thing it's so heavy oh for real it's so they created its own stud yeah well they wanted it there though that's what they wanted it and this is the oswego river suite which is the Was closed? We closed it. To do work. We did. We needed to do. Like, this entire room has been renovated.

It's beautiful. We had to. The house was eight inches off. It had dropped eight inches. So we had to jack the house last year. And everything cracked and the windows were crooked. We had to pretty much got this room. Did you practice outside?

We can? Yeah, absolutely. We stayed at one at May, and it had breakfast outside and it was really lovely. It could be definitely served on one of the porches, absolutely, when people was like... Imagine. We're launching a VIP program, maybe we do that for our VH. Hey, by the way, this is the original school room. Really?

Wow. And Shropo. Really? Yes. We're marty for some Botox. And done. I was saying this would be great. Because you can order like these kits to make up your own murder mystery for parties.

Yeah. They let you be the characters and they kind of script it for you. Imagine like renting this out with a bunch of people and doing the murder mystery. Are we so... Well, I can't speak of it very much at this point because we're just finalizing contract. But there will be a movie shot here in the fall. That's fantastic. That's fantastic.

I can't speak any more about it. If all goes well, and we finalize the agreement. Congratulations. Yeah, we'll see. Keep our fingers crossed. We're manifesting it right now, it's happening. Yes. That's great.

I've done a murder mystery party at the century. So it kind of falls into that murder mystery that you were talking about. Hey guys, the team and I had a great time at the River Edge Mansion here in Pennville, just outside of Clay. We're just enjoying the nice porch for a few minutes, and we're going to be on our way. Check out all the stuff from Good News York and all of our growth mode content creator clients. You're going to see some incredible video. And thanks to Danny, the great Danny Tripodi, and of course Jackie Vee for her great work as well. A special thanks to our own Amanda, who is not on camera right now because she's cleaning up our mess probably at this point.

Incredible, incredible job. Everything came together well. Everybody here on the team is just a fucking rock star. I love you guys. Is the Janine to our Ghostbuster Firehouse. I like that. Yeah, I told her that earlier. I like that. Yeah.

And if you don't understand that, it's fine. But if you do, you totally get it. And it's a great comp. That's true. Yeah. That's Mike, Danny, Jackie, Matt. We had a great time here at River Edge. Come visit.

All of it. Can I say it? Oh, no. Piso.