April 30th, 2021 is Arbor Day. On Arbor Day 2012, NYS DEC Forest Rangers and Foresters had recruited us to help plant young potted and bare root trees on an eroding section of Adirondack Forest Preserve south of Warrensburg in what was then known as the Hudson River Recreation Area. The saplings had come from the DEC Saratoga Tree Nursery. [Read more…] about Seven Years Later Arbor Day Efforts Yield Results
Albany
New Don Rittner Film Being Premiered at Albany Film Festival
The NYS Writers Institute is hosting the premiere of local historian and filmmaker Don Rittner’s new film “Karen or Bust” on Saturday, May 1st, during the Albany Film Festival. [Read more…] about New Don Rittner Film Being Premiered at Albany Film Festival
Inaugural Albany Film Festival To Feature Unique Events
Movie fans, filmmakers, and authors are invited to join the NYS Writers Institute at the inaugural Albany Film Festival, an eclectic program of virtual and in-person events exploring the intersection of writing and film to be presented April 24th through May 3rd. [Read more…] about Inaugural Albany Film Festival To Feature Unique Events
Train Ferries: The Hudson River’s Most Unusual Steamers
Among the many hundreds of steamboats plying the Hudson River when that waterway served as a primary method of moving people and freight, a few stand out as unusual. The most remarkable of these is perhaps the railroad transports, used to ferry railroad cars.
Also known as train ferries, or car ferries (not to be confused with auto ferries), they were fitted with railway tracks and doors at each end to allow for loading and unloading. [Read more…] about Train Ferries: The Hudson River’s Most Unusual Steamers
Grover Cleveland’s Albany Inauguration for Governor
Albany was a busy place on New Year’s Day 1883, the day of a collegial turnover of power from a Republican to a Democrat who had won election by an 11-percentage-point margin. [Read more…] about Grover Cleveland’s Albany Inauguration for Governor
America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store
Before F. W. Woolworths’, Whitney’s, or even Myer’s department store, there was Pease’s Great Variety Store, located in the Temple of Fancy at 516 and 518 Broadway in Albany, NY.
As with other fancy goods stores, Pease’s catered to the middle and upper middle class selling highly decorated goods like ceramics, prints, furniture and other decorative household items that progressively thinking people might have wanted to purchase. [Read more…] about America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store
New Book Focuses On Growth of Schenectady in 1760-1800
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
John F. Gearing’s new book Schenectady Genesis, Volume II: The Creation of an American City from an Anglo-Dutch Town, ca. 1760-1800 (Colonial Schenectady Project, Ltd., 2020) looks back into Schenectady’s history: from the post French & Indian War period, into the War for Independence, and later Schenectady’s own fight for independence from Albany. [Read more…] about New Book Focuses On Growth of Schenectady in 1760-1800
Albany Celebrated Grover Cleveland’s 1884 Nomination for President
After the 1884 Democratic National Convention closed at Chicago, the nation’s attention turned to Albany, where nominee-in-waiting Grover Cleveland was doing his best not to make news prematurely. [Read more…] about Albany Celebrated Grover Cleveland’s 1884 Nomination for President
Frances Perkins, One of America’s Most Influential Women, Remains Unrecognized
Frances Perkins, who served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor in all four terms of his administration, is often credited with designing many of the New Deal’s social welfare programs, including Social Security. As such, she ranks among the most influential women of the 20th Century.
Few however, know that Perkins began her career in the Hell’s Kitchen area of the city of New York, work that as inspired inn part by a chance meeting an Irish Tammany Hall District Leader Tom McManus. [Read more…] about Frances Perkins, One of America’s Most Influential Women, Remains Unrecognized
Shakespeare Monologues in Ten Broeck Gardens
The Albany County Historical Association has partnered with Confetti Stage to present “A Summer Afternoon’s Dream: Shakespeare Monologues in the Ten Broeck Gardens,” set for Saturday August 22 from 2 to 3:30 pm. [Read more…] about Shakespeare Monologues in Ten Broeck Gardens