Little Chapel on the River

April 25, 2005
Bounds and her partner lived across the street from the World Trade Center; they both wrote for the Wall Street Journal
and were getting ready to go to work when the planes struck the towers on 9/11. They made their way to friends uptown, and in the following months, they parked themselves in a variety of temporary accommodations, as their building was uninhabitable. One friend brought them to Guinan's, an old Irish bar in the small, upper Hudson River town of Garrison, N.Y.—and Bounds soon felt at home. She gradually let herself become enmeshed in the Guinan family saga, as well as in the intertwined tales of the regular customers. Before long, "the invisible red velvet rope" lifted, and she was helping out at the bar and setting up shop when the aging owner was hospitalized for diabetes-related surgery, buying a ramshackle home nearby and generally becoming included in the Guinan extended family. Bounds's story isn't flashy or dramatic; it's as low-key as her new, non-Manhattan friends. It modestly reminds us that in this uncertain world, when you come to a place that speaks to you, you should hold it dear and treasure it while it lasts. Photos. Agent, David Black.