Hudson Valley - Catskills

Martha Washington Woman of History Awardees Named

February 18, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site will present two Martha Washington Woman of History Awards. The 2014 Martha Washington Woman of History Award recipient is author/historian Mary Sudman Donovan.

This award is given each year in honor of Martha Washington, a perennially outstanding woman in history who resided in the Hudson Valley with her husband, General George Washington, during the last days of the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about Martha Washington Woman of History Awardees Named

Presidents Weekend: Events At Knox’s HQ, New Windsor Cantonment

February 3, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Knox’s Headquarters in Newburgh and the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site will be offering a full schedule of activities for the Presidents’ weekend. New Windsor Cantonment was the final encampment of the northern Continental Army, in 1782-83. Here over 7,000 soldiers and 500 family members endured the winter and prepared for a renewal of the fighting in the spring. Instead peace was proclaimed and after 8 long years of war they returned home.

Knox’s Headquarters, the elegant 1754 combination English and Dutch style home, of the prosperous merchant miller John Ellison, was one of the longest occupied military headquarters of the Revolutionary War. Continental Army Generals, Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox and Horatio Gates used the house as headquarters, during various periods between 1779-1783. [Read more…] about Presidents Weekend: Events At Knox’s HQ, New Windsor Cantonment

General Washington in 1782: Traveling the Rondout Valley, Visiting Kingston

January 23, 2014 by A. J. Schenkman 4 Comments

In early spring 1782, General George Washington arrived at the Hasbrouck House in Newburgh, New York for his longest stay – 16-1/2 months. Washington’s time at the Hasbrouck House was one of watchful waiting, followed by a cessation of hostilities, and finally an end to the war.

From the Hasbrouck House Washington made a short trip through the scenic Roundout Valley, stopping at Stone Ridge (or Stoney Ridge), on his way to Kingston, which the British had burned in 1777. En route to his destination, Washington stopped to dine and sleep at the home of Major Cornelius Evert Wynkoop. [Read more…] about General Washington in 1782: Traveling the Rondout Valley, Visiting Kingston

Lecture: Thomas Cole, Frederic Church And Science

January 9, 2014 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

The Hudson River School artists worked at a time when great revolutions were sweeping through science. This Sunday January 12, at 2 pm at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, The husband and wife science team Johanna (biologist) and Robert (geologist) Titus will offer an in-depth look into the interactions of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church with the scientists of their time.

Highlights include the Titus’ discovery of the local mountain that Cole used as a model for the famous centerpiece of his series “The Course of Empire.” The Titus’ will sign copies of their new book, The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age, after the talk. [Read more…] about Lecture: Thomas Cole, Frederic Church And Science

Dutchess County:
Digging For An Underground Railroad Station

December 11, 2013 by Enid Mastrianni 5 Comments

No one knows when African Americans first settled at Baxtertown, but in 1848 the Zion Pilgrim Methodist Episcopal Church was built. The church burned and its roof collapsed in 1930; all that remains visible is a grove of trees on the property of Ron Greene.

Greene, a retired social worker, began researching the history of his land in 2010. “I’ve been hearing about a church here for years.” he said. What he discovered inspired him to lead the effort to get the site recognized as historically important. [Read more…] about Dutchess County:
Digging For An Underground Railroad Station

Archaeology in Westchester County:
An Excavation at St. George’s – St. Mark’s Church

November 21, 2013 by Madeline Kearin 4 Comments

In the town of Mount Kisco in Westchester County, there is a small graveyard known as the St. George’s/St. Mark’s Cemetery, after the two successive Episcopal churches that once stood there. Established in the 1760s, the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its role in the American Revolution. In the late 18th century, the small wooden St. George’s Church was one of the few man-made structures in a sparsely populated area that was transformed into a hostile wilderness with the onset of war.

Accordingly, the church was used by American, British, and French armies as a landmark in their journeys through Westchester County. General Washington’s troops retreated to the church to tend to the wounded and bury the slain after the Battle of White Plains in 1776; Colonel Tarleton brought his army to the church on the eve of the Burning of Bedford in 1779; and in the summer of 1781 the Comte de Rochambeau’s army camped near the church prior to the meeting with Washington that would ultimately bring their combined forces to victory at Yorktown. [Read more…] about Archaeology in Westchester County:
An Excavation at St. George’s – St. Mark’s Church

New York’s Anti-Mask Law Has Roots In The Anti-Rent War

October 30, 2013 by Herb Hallas 3 Comments

Halloween has swung the spotlight of history back on New York’s anti-mask law.

It was one of the first tools used by New York City police to break up the Occupy Wall Street in 2011. Within days of donning Guy Fawkes masks, demonstrators were charged by police for violating the anti-mask law, section 240.35(4) of the New York Penal Law. Its origins go back to a statute passed in 1845 to suppress armed uprisings by tenant farmers in the Hudson Valley who were using disguises to attack law enforcement officers. [Read more…] about New York’s Anti-Mask Law Has Roots In The Anti-Rent War

Exhibit: Albert Bierstadt in NY, New England

August 5, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site has set record attendance numbers for their 2013 exhibition: Albert Bierstadt in New York & New England, which remains on view through November 3, 2013. As of the middle of July, attendance income was more than double the number from the previous year and has exceeded all previous records. The Thomas Cole site has recently announced plans to hire more touring staff to keep up with the demand. [Read more…] about Exhibit: Albert Bierstadt in NY, New England

Art Historian Barbara Novak Being Honored Sunday

April 8, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Barbara Novak is one of America’s premier art historians. Breaking into the world of American art history in the 1950s, when few professors taught the topic, Dr. Novak spent the next 40 years creating a foundation for the study of American art history through her seminal books and teaching.

Now the Helen Goodhart Altschul Professor of Art History Emerita at Barnard College and Columbia University, Novak has inspired generations of students to pursue careers in academic and museum life. Six speakers from a range of fields will offer personal stories of the wide sweep of Dr. Novak’s influence as a scholar and mentor. Dr. Novak will offer her remarks at the end of the event. [Read more…] about Art Historian Barbara Novak Being Honored Sunday

Westchester County Civil War Monuments (Part Two)

March 19, 2013 by Miguel Hernandez 3 Comments

This granite and bronze monument in the Village of Sleepy Hollow, is located near southwestern corner of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and was dedicated on May 30, 1890. by the local GAR post. Inscriptions on the front (west) face include a Latin dedication, along with “Our Union Soldiers” and the following poem: “While Freedom’s name is understood, they shall delight the wise and good; They dared to set their country free and gave her laws equality 1861-1865.”

The monument’s south, east and north faces feature bronze plaques honoring some 240 local veterans. The references to Greenburgh and Mount Pleasant reflect the fact that the Village of Sleepy Hollow lies within Mount Pleasant, which is just north of Greenburgh. The monument is surrounded by a plot containing graves of Civil War veterans. The names of soldiers killed in action are engraved into the monument’s base; those who served are listed on tablets mounted to the base. The work was made in the New York foundry of the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company.
[Read more…] about Westchester County Civil War Monuments (Part Two)