Delaware River

Northeastern Crayfish: Tiny Predators, Big Impact

May 29, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Crayfish fill my childhood memories. I spent summers playing in streams, flipping over rocks, and, if I was lucky, catching glimpses of these mysterious little creatures. Most crayfish are nocturnal and dart backwards to escape danger.

An early summer morning last year at Crystal Lake State Park, near Barton, Vermont, brought me back to these moments when I saw a crayfish along the shore in the gently lapping waves. As I knelt for a closer look, I realized I knew so little about crayfish in my backyard. [Read more…] about Northeastern Crayfish: Tiny Predators, Big Impact

Ethnic Cleansing & Wartime Refugees in the Hudson Valley, 1754-1763

May 27, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), many Mahican and Munsee-speaking people in the Hudson Valley felt themselves pressured to relocate to new areas both inside and outside of the Valley as the result of an ethnic cleansing project conducted by Sir William Johnson.

This created a refugee crisis that led to a varied of responses from both colonial officials and the Mohawks and other members of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Six Nations. [Read more…] about Ethnic Cleansing & Wartime Refugees in the Hudson Valley, 1754-1763

Help Document New York Weather Impacts

April 30, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

MyCoast NY is a public web tool which offers an opportunity to contribute and access photos of flooding, shoreline change, and storm damage from anywhere in the state.

When you submit a photo, it is automatically linked to real-time weather, river, and tidal gauge data to help provide context for the photo. [Read more…] about Help Document New York Weather Impacts

The Life and Times of John Stark

April 1, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Live Free or Die: The Life and Times Of John Stark (Page Publishing, 2025) by William Baker Jr. is the story of how one of the American Revolution’s best battlefield commanders triumphed over the self-interest of others to play a major role in securing victory for the new republic.

Most often referred to as the “Hero of the Battle of Bennington,” John Stark also played pivotal roles in the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Battle of Trenton. [Read more…] about The Life and Times of John Stark

American Shad: Once A Hudson River Staple, Now Fished-Out

December 2, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

American shad (Alosa sapidissima) is a migratory fish species with rich history in the Hudson and Delaware rivers. Indigenous peoples and colonial Americans relied on shad for sustenance, often smoking the flesh and consuming shad roe (eggs) as a delicacy.

American shad supported important recreational and commercial fisheries throughout the 20th century, however the Hudson River stock declined in recent years and as a result, all recreational and commercial fisheries for American shad closed in 2010. [Read more…] about American Shad: Once A Hudson River Staple, Now Fished-Out

New Philadelphia History Highlight’s Former NYC Rival

May 30, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Philadelphia was one of New York City‘s most important economic and cultural rivals in Early America.

Philadelphia: A Narrative History (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024) by Paul Kahan is a comprehensive history of Philadelphia from the region’s original Lenape inhabitants to the myriad of residents in the twenty-first century that underpins that relationship for those interested in New York history.
[Read more…] about New Philadelphia History Highlight’s Former NYC Rival

Philadelphia: An Early History

May 28, 2025 by Dr. Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Two hundred fifty years ago, in May 1775, delegates from thirteen British North American colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress.

Why was Philadelphia chosen as the seat of Congress? What made the city a critical hub for revolutionary ideas, commerce, and culture? And how has Philadelphia’s early history shaped the broader narrative of American Independence? Join the Ben Franklin’s World podcast for an exploration of Philadelphia’s early history. [Read more…] about Philadelphia: An Early History

The Minisink Battlefield Death of Dr. Benjamin Tusten in 1779

May 25, 2025 by John Conway Leave a Comment

He was born in Southold, Long Island on December 11, 1743, and moved with his family to the banks of the Otterkill near Goshen just three years later. His father, a Colonel in the New York State Militia and a judge, wanted him to be farmer, but as he grew older it became apparent he was destined for other things, and he was sent off to study Latin and Greek and mathematics, eventually deciding on a career in medicine. [Read more…] about The Minisink Battlefield Death of Dr. Benjamin Tusten in 1779

Against the Flow: Spring Alewife Runs Were Once Immense

May 23, 2025 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

One of the most exciting rites of spring is the alewife run, an annual event where throngs of fish race upstream from the ocean to inland water bodies on a reproductive journey. These “river herring,” as they are categorized, actually spend most of their lives at sea.

Come spring, when the water warms to at least 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit), schools of alewives gather near river and stream mouths. [Read more…] about Against the Flow: Spring Alewife Runs Were Once Immense

New Amstel: A City Colony’s Rise and Fall

April 4, 2025 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Walloon-born Peter Minuit was the third Director of New Netherland from 1626 until his dismissal for reasons that remain unclear in 1632. Five years later he founded, on behalf of the Swedish government, a settlement on the lower South River (now the Delaware River) which he named New Sweden.

This rivalry between the Dutch and the Swedish for control of the local fur trade came to a climax when Peter Stuyvesant became Director-General of New Netherland in 1647. [Read more…] about New Amstel: A City Colony’s Rise and Fall

Benedict Arnold’s Sullivan County Connection

March 6, 2025 by John Conway Leave a Comment

On February 22, 1767, Benedict Arnold, a young, up and coming businessman, married Margaret Mansfield, whose father was the Sheriff of New Haven, Connecticut.

Arnold, of course, would go on to become one of the most successful of George Washington’s officers in the Continental Army, and shortly thereafter one of the most notorious traitors in American history. [Read more…] about Benedict Arnold’s Sullivan County Connection

Noble Sissle’s Lucky Lake: An Interracial Catskills Lake Colony

February 21, 2025 by John Conway 1 Comment

To many historians, World War I Harlem Hell Fighters Band lead vocalist, composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright Noble Sissle (1889-1975) is the man most responsible for ushering in the Harlem Renaissance.

In Sullivan County, NY history however, he will be forever remembered as the celebrity name behind Lucky Lake, “America’s first and only inter-racial lake colony community.” [Read more…] about Noble Sissle’s Lucky Lake: An Interracial Catskills Lake Colony

Robert Land: Magistrate, Loyalist and Spy

January 7, 2025 by John Conway 1 Comment

In October of 1805, Robert Land, who was then 66 years old, penned his last will and testament, dividing up his considerable holdings in Ontario, Canada among a number of his children and providing a place for his wife Phoebe to reside as long as she might live. [Read more…] about Robert Land: Magistrate, Loyalist and Spy

Farming Sullivan County: Some History & Statistics

October 13, 2024 by John Conway 1 Comment

Cushetunk, the first permanent European settlement in the Upper Delaware River region, part of which would later become Sullivan County, was established in the 1750s by a group of farmers from Eastern Connecticut who wanted to own their own farmland and traveled here to find it.

But those Connecticut settlers were not the first farmers in the region by a long shot. The Native American Lenape tribe, which spent the warm weather months here for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, depended upon farming, along with hunting and fishing, for survival. [Read more…] about Farming Sullivan County: Some History & Statistics

When ⁠Catskills Cauliflower Was King

September 17, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In the early 20th century, ⁠cauliflower was king⁠ in the Western Catskills, and – especially in the good years – farmers called it “white gold.” On the latest episode of the Kaatscast podcast historian Diane Galusha describes the origins of cauliflower farming in Margaretville, in Delaware County, NY; the rise and fall of the industry from the 1890s to the 1950s (and beyond); and the notable contribution of the Van Benschoten family. [Read more…] about When ⁠Catskills Cauliflower Was King

Neversink & Delaware River Covered Bridges: Some History & Design Notes

June 6, 2024 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

New York’s first known covered bridge was built in 1807. It crossed the Neversink River in the hamlet of Bridgeville located southeast of Monticello in the Sullivan County town of Thompson.

The Bridgeville Bridge was an important link in the Newburgh-Cochecton Turnpike, a toll road running from the Hudson River to the Delaware River that was incorporated by a legislative act on February 28, 1806 that was to include a “a good and sufficient bridge across the Neversink-river.” [Read more…] about Neversink & Delaware River Covered Bridges: Some History & Design Notes

Politics, Printers, Bibles & Founding Fathers

May 1, 2024 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

In 1631 Charles I summoned his Royal printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas to court after it was discovered that their reprint of the King James Bible contained a typographical mistake by leaving out the word “not” from the seventh commandment. In between exhortations that “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal,” readers are instructed that “thou shalt commit adultery.” [Read more…] about Politics, Printers, Bibles & Founding Fathers

The 1657 Wreck of the Dutch Ship The Prince Maurice

April 25, 2024 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

On the night of March 8, 1657, as a Nor’easter raged, a Dutch ship, The Prince Maurice slammed into the coast of Fire Island. Aboard were about 129 souls – passengers, crew and Dutch West India Company soldiers.

Ashore were Indigenous people on their coastal night watch, listening to the ship crash against the shoal. [Read more…] about The 1657 Wreck of the Dutch Ship The Prince Maurice

“Locusts of the East”: The Yankee Invasion of New York

March 9, 2024 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

New York by 1820 was becoming a “colony from New England” to use the phrase of President Timothy Dwight of Yale. The “Puritan Pope,” as he was some times called, estimated that 60 to 67 percent of the people of New York had originated in the “land of steady habits.”

The few thousand Puritans who had established a new Zion around Boston in the 1630s were a remarkably energetic, prolific, and self-assertive people. The thin soils on the hilly lands, the harsh winters, and the stern theology of John Calvin created a distinct community spirit and shaped a unique character. [Read more…] about “Locusts of the East”: The Yankee Invasion of New York

The Delaware Company Awarded Preserving America Grant

March 7, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Americana Corner, an online resource focused on the founding of the United States, has awarded a Barryville, Sullivan County, NY, based non-profit history education group, The Delaware Company, a Preserving America Grant. The Preserving America Grant Program was established to help organizations tell the story of America from its founding era through its first century as a nation. [Read more…] about The Delaware Company Awarded Preserving America Grant

Delaware River

We Need Your Help Now More Than Ever

New York Almanack receives no public funds.

It’s supported only by readers like you.

Please give today (a monthly recurring gift is best)