Columbia County

Copake Iron Works Tours And Talk Planned

June 4, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Historian Jim Mackin will present “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Copake Iron Works But Were Afraid to Ask” at a lecture and slide show on Saturday, June 21st at 2pm at the Roeliff Jansen Community Library, 9091 Route 22 in Copake, Columbia County, NY, followed by a reception and tour of the Iron Works.

Mackin will also host guided tours of the Copake Iron Works Historic District throughout the summer, beginning on June 8th as part of New York State’s Path Through History Weekend. [Read more…] about Copake Iron Works Tours And Talk Planned

Mount Lebanon Heritage Herb Festival Planned

May 30, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The third annual Mount Lebanon Heritage Herb Festival celebrates the illustrious past of herbs in town history as well as the Native American and Shaker traditions in the heart of the Lebanon Valley of New York, considered the birthplace of the herbal pharmacy in the United States.

The event takes place on Saturday, June 7, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the historic grounds of Darrow School, at Mount Lebanon Shaker Village. More than eighteen talks, walks and workshops explore the role of herbs in food, gardens, medicine and health from the early days of the Native Americans to current practices. [Read more…] about Mount Lebanon Heritage Herb Festival Planned

Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum Adds 61 Acres

May 22, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Shaker Museum – Mount Lebanon, in New Lebanon, Columbia County, NY, has completed the acquisition of 61 acres of land adjacent to its North Family site, part of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society National Historic Landmark District.

The parcel, known as the North Pastures, was purchased from the Darrow School, whose campus consists of the former Church and Center Families of Mount Lebanon’s former Shaker community. The purchase was achieved in a partnership with the Open Space Institute, a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to preserving scenic, natural, and historic landscapes, and also with funding from a 2012 grant from New York State. [Read more…] about Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum Adds 61 Acres

Columbia County: A Lecture On Copake History

May 15, 2014 by Editorial Staff 4 Comments

Local historian and author Howard Blue will present talk on the history of Copake, Columbia County, at the Roe Jan Historical Society in Copake Falls on Sunday, May 18 at 2:00 pm. Blue’s program is based in part on interviews of local residents from whose family albums he was allowed to copy old photos.

The presentation will focus primarily on the town’s and county’s first settlers, the Mohican Indians, and the 90-year-long, sometimes violent conflict between the Livingston family which at one time owned almost all of Copake and the family’s tenant farmers. Blue will also discuss Martin Van Buren’s role in Copake’s anti-rent movement, Copake in the Revolutionary war years, the existence of slavery in Copake, and Copake’s Civil War era bond issue that helped buy out from the draft some of Copake’s young men. [Read more…] about Columbia County: A Lecture On Copake History

Hidden History of Columbia County, NY

May 11, 2014 by Editorial Staff 3 Comments

Bordered by the Hudson River and the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, few know Columbia County is noted for a mastodon tooth that rolled down a farmer’s hill in Claverack changing the world’s understanding of prehistoric times. President Martin Van Buren lost his wife, Hannah, in Kinderhook and hardly mentioned her again. Hudson’s gallows were the scene of New York’s last hanging, as hundreds of ticket holders looked on. “Pondshiners” in the hills of Taghkanic made fantastic baskets.

Local author Allison Guertin Marchese explores these little-known stories of people and places in
Hidden History of Columbia County, New York (History Press, 2014). [Read more…] about Hidden History of Columbia County, NY

Peter Feinman: Bring Back the Mastodons!

April 1, 2014 by Peter Feinman 13 Comments

It is time for New York State to boldly go where no state has gone before and go back to the future to resurrect the now extinct mastodon. The effort to bring the mammoth back from extinction recently was the cover article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

Russia and Japan are working to create mammoths. New York should not be left behind in the de-extinction race. I hereby challenge Governor Cuomo to launch a new “Manhattan Project” so we are the first to bring the paleolithic era to life through the creation of Mastodon Park, our own Ice Age animal, the mastodon. [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: Bring Back the Mastodons!

American Revolution:
Trouble at Poughkeepsie and Peekskill

January 13, 2014 by Brian Barrett 4 Comments

A loyalist is a man with his head in England, his body in America, and a neck that needs to be stretched. – an anonymous patriot.

Late in June of 1776, the New York Provincial Convention (NYPC) received a troubling report from the Dutchess County Committee of Safety. It said that Poughkeepsie officials and patriot warships were being threatened by loyalists, so-called Tories. [Read more…] about American Revolution:
Trouble at Poughkeepsie and Peekskill

The Misnamed Columbia County ‘Battle of Egremont’

December 10, 2013 by Brian Barrett 28 Comments

A small, but important part of the American Revolutionary War took place during 1777 at Livingston Manor, Albany County (now Columbia County), New York. The few historical references about this event identify the event as the Battle of Egremont, implying that it happened in Massachusetts.

While it was customary to name a battle after its location, participants or some other feature, these conventions were overlooked in this case and the involvement of Egremont, Massachusetts militiamen seems to be the primary reason for the naming of the battle. However, many participants were from New York militia units, and the battle actually took place in New York. The battle was actually a series of four skirmishes that occurred over two-days. [Read more…] about The Misnamed Columbia County ‘Battle of Egremont’

Program on History of Copake Nov 2nd

October 30, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Historian Howard Blue will do a repeat of his slide show presentation on Copake’s history (in Columbia County) on Sat. Nov. 2 at 4 P.M.

Blue’s program is largely based on interviews with local residents, many of whom shared old photos of the town and its people from their family albums. His talk will include such history gems as the 1840s agrarian revolt in Copake, the town’s unusual aeronautical history, three local former horse racetracks, and ice harvesting in town. [Read more…] about Program on History of Copake Nov 2nd

Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum Preservation Reception

September 11, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, September 25 the Shaker Museum – Mount Lebanon will hold an open house and reception with the Preservation League of New York State to celebrate the collaborative restoration efforts of the two organizations.

The Shaker Museum recently received a loan from The Preservation League of New York State to support the preservation projects currently underway at the North Family. [Read more…] about Mount Lebanon Shaker Museum Preservation Reception