A place with much history, both locally and in the sports world, faced near disaster in late 2024. Less than two years later, the Watertown’s Oakley Country Club has rebuilt and welcomes golfers and others to the first place where the “father of American golf” worked in the United States.
John Verderese, President of the Oakley Board of Directors, vividly remembers when he learned about the fire that occurred early in the morning of Dec. 6, 2024.
“I got some early morning text messages with some video, and it was of an office that had … water in it, and I assumed that had to be our controller’s office, which is on the lower floor, and we had some kind of a flood,” Verderese said. “I found out that it was our club manager’s office upstairs on the third floor that had a foot of water in it, and then they realized we had a fire.”…