By exploring the social and architectural history, I will help you to connect and deepen your relationship to your home. I can assist you in making decisions about preservation, restoration, and renovation; and provide guidance about sustainable solutions for living a 21st century life while respecting and retaining character defining historic elements and materials.

White Clay Kill Preservation’s owner/operator, Emily Majer recalls an early memory; riding in the backseat of the family Ford Pinto—a soundtrack of either Bach or the Bee Gees, hearing the grown ups talking about the houses they passed driving along country roads. “Federal” . . . “Greek Revival” . . . “Victorian” . . . “facia” . . . “Palladian” . . . “gambrel” . . . and sometimes, “BAD WINDOWS”.

After a childhood spent in old homes; a 1910 brownstone in Manhattan, 1801 farmhouse in Saratoga County, and a 1785 center-chimney English-style colonial in Connecticut; arriving in the Hudson Valley—ground zero for early Dutch, German and English architecture—to attend Bard College, felt like a natural progression.  Settling in to Tivoli immediately, Majer had the good fortune to learn from a cadre of renovators and restorers at work in the northern Dutchess and Columbia County area.

In 2015, she earned a Masters of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Massachusetts, combining two of her passions—hands-on adaptive use of old structures, and a Nancy Drew-like zeal for research. Her thesis project, a Historic Structure Report on an 18th century Red Hook farmhouse, was featured in the December 2015 Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture newsletter.

Majer is the Town Historian of Red Hook, a member of Historic Red Hook Board of Trustees, and serves as the Deputy Mayor of the Village of Tivoli, New York. These positions inform her conviction that historical narrative is a valuable community building tool; that knowledge of the past strengthens the bonds of place and time and enriches our lives.