Capital-Saratoga

Harvest Faire At Fort Crailo September 13th

August 29, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On Saturday, September 13th, Crailo State Historic Site and the Friends of Fort Crailo present Harvest Faire, an outdoor event free to the public (a nominal donation is asked to enter the museum exhibit), and part of the Hudson River Ramble. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held on Sunday, September 14th. The festivities run from 11 am to 4 pm.

Crailo’s grounds set the scene for 17th- and 18th-century re-enactors, music, and demonstrations. Among the re-enactors are 17th-century Dutch settlers, a rope-maker and tinsmith, and Native Americans with a recreated wigwam. This year will also include demonstrations of wheat threshing. [Read more…] about Harvest Faire At Fort Crailo September 13th

Underground Railroad History: Vigilance Committees

August 25, 2014 by Paul Stewart 22 Comments

As the 1830s drew to a close and the 1840s began, committees were formed in some cities in the north to protect freedom seekers from re-enslavement, and to assist them in their flight to freedom in the north or in Canada. As slave catchers sought freedom seekers, these “vigilance” committees provided legal assistance, food, clothing, money, employment, and temporary shelter.

Such a committee formed in Albany in the early 1840s, and one continued to exist up to the time of the Civil War. Albany’s anti-slavery newspaper, Tocsin of Liberty, identifies ten people, Blacks and whites, as members of the executive body of the local Vigilance Committee in 1842. Some are familiar names from the city’s history, such as Thomas Paul and Revolutionary War veteran Benjamin Lattimore. [Read more…] about Underground Railroad History: Vigilance Committees

New Exhibit: The Edgar Holloway Art Collection

August 20, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) will debut a new, rotating exhibit, Prospect of America: Selections from the Edgar Holloway Art Collection, on Monday, September 8th at 7pm at the 87th Annual Meeting. The exhibit series runs through December 20, 2014. The exhibit is sponsored in part by the McCarthy Charities.

In the early 1970s, Rev. Thomas Phelan was inspired to raise awareness of Troy and the surrounding area’s amazing architectural and industrial heritage. Valuing the power art has to move people to action, Rev. Phelan commissioned English artist Edgar Holloway to spend three summers, from 1973 to 1975, in Troy to document the historic buildings and street scenes. His three years in New York resulted in over 80 watercolors and 15 etchings that have become a historical record themselves of the way Troy, Cohoes, and other outlying areas looked in the mid-1970s. Through Holloway’s art, people began to see the inherent beauty in these often neglected buildings. Advocacy groups formed and several buildings were preserved through the actions of individuals inspired by art. [Read more…] about New Exhibit: The Edgar Holloway Art Collection

Call for Entries: 2014 Erie Canalway Photo Contest

August 13, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Entries are being accepted through August 30, 2014 for the 9th annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest. Winning photos will be featured in the 2015 Erie Canalway calendar, which will be available free of charge in December.

Amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit prints and digital images in four contest categories: Bridges, Buildings and Locks; Fun and Festivities; On the Water; and the Nature of the Canal. Images must be taken within the National Heritage Corridor, which is comprised of the Erie, Oswego, Cayuga/Seneca, and Champlain Canals, their historic alignments, and surrounding communities. [Read more…] about Call for Entries: 2014 Erie Canalway Photo Contest

Bob Cudmore: How ‘The Historians’ Came to WVTL Radio

July 30, 2014 by Bob Cudmore 1 Comment

My first foray into local history was in 2000 when Steve Dunn and I co-produced the WMHT television documentary “Historic Views of the Carpet City: Amsterdam, N.Y.” Amsterdam is my home town. That same year my first book came out, self published. You Can’t Go Wrong: Stories from Nero, N.Y. and Other Tales (2000). [Read more…] about Bob Cudmore: How ‘The Historians’ Came to WVTL Radio

Summer Sampler History Camp at Crailo

July 21, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Crailo State Historic Site has announced its annual Summer Sampler History Camp for kids. This year’s Summer Sampler takes place August 4-8 from 10 am to 12 pm each day.

Participants can pick and choose the days to attend, from just one day up to all five. Each day will include activities, crafts to take home, and a snack. Historic reproductions, interactive games and exploration of the river’s edge will bring a different theme related to Crailo and the area’s rich history to life each day: [Read more…] about Summer Sampler History Camp at Crailo

Free Directory of Canal Sites and Museums Available

July 11, 2014 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has produced a new directory of canal sites and museums to introduce New York State residents and visitors to more than 45 sites all along the NYS Canal System. The directory is available at numerous canal sites and visitor centers along the Erie, Oswego, Cayuga-Seneca, and Champlain Canals.

Each site showcases a different part of the canal’s legacy—from its famous locks and low bridges, to its transformation of New York State, to the prominent role it continues to play in shaping communities along its shores. [Read more…] about Free Directory of Canal Sites and Museums Available

Yankee Doodle Band Concert at Crailo

July 1, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Crailo State Historic Site has announced that the historic Yankee Doodle Band will be performing in Crailo’s riverside park in Rensselaer, NY on July 10 at 7:00 pm. Bring chairs or blankets and a picnic dinner and join us for the patriotic and stirring songs of the Yankee Doodle Band as the sun sets over the Hudson River. This event is free to the public.

Organized in 1928 the Yankee Doodle Band has played all over the country from Miami to New Orleans to Hawaii. Members of the band range in age from their teens to their 90’s and will play a blend of Sousa marches, Broadway show tunes, popular hit songs, and music from the movies. [Read more…] about Yankee Doodle Band Concert at Crailo

Amsterdam to Albany: An Address by Russell Shorto

June 11, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Russell Shorto, the 2013 New Netherland Research Center Senior Scholar and author of The Island at the Center of the World and Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, as well as other acclaimed works, will talk about Dutch cultural heritage from Amsterdam and its influence on Albany, New York.

The talk will be followed by a signing of his most recent book Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, named one of Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2013 and described as “an expertly told history of a city of new, shocking freedoms and the tough-minded people that developed them.” Copies of the book will be available for sale. [Read more…] about Amsterdam to Albany: An Address by Russell Shorto

New York Tenant Farmers: Little-Used Resources

May 19, 2014 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Professional genealogist Jane E. Wilcox of Forget-Me-Not Ancestry in Kingston will present a talk on New York tenant farmers at the New York Public Library in New York City on Tuesday, May 20 at 5:30 p.m.

Wilcox’s presentation, “Looking for Your New York Tenant Farmer: Little-Used Resources,” will focus on the tenants of the major colonial manors and patents of the Hudson Valley between Westchester and Rensselaer and Albany counties. Wilcox will discuss the types of records that were created in New York’s manorial lease-holding land system and will explain how and where to find documents that recorded the lives of the tenants. Included with the talk will be a handout with genealogical resources. [Read more…] about New York Tenant Farmers: Little-Used Resources