New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Environmental History

The Swamp: Tanneries, Bucktails, Loco Focos & Democracy

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"Der Lohgerber" (The Tanner) illustrates a small nineteenth century tannery from Was willst du werden? Bilder aus dem Handwerkerleben (What Do You Want to Be? Pictures from the Life of Craftsmen), 1880“The Swamp” was a lowland area in Lower Manhattan centered around Beekman’s Swamp, bounded roughly by modern-day Gold, Frankfort, Pearl, Water, and Ferry streets just south of the Brooklyn Bridge in the Financial District.

In the 17th century the marshy wetland was known by the Dutch as Bestevaer’s Kripplebush. It was later acquired by the Beekman and Roosevelt families and filled and drained over the 18th and early 19th centuries. [Read more…] about The Swamp: Tanneries, Bucktails, Loco Focos & Democracy

Rescued Mussels Being Returned to Lower Grasse River

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Mussels recovered at the Lower Grasse River in October 2025 (scientists recorded the species, length, age, and whether the mussels were alive or dead as an indicator of the vitality of the relocated mussel)An ongoing New York State Museum project is returning nearly 500,000 rescued freshwater mussels to the restored ALCOA Superfund Site in the Lower Grasse River near Massena, NY.

The State Museum was awarded an $713,000 cooperative agreement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lead the five-year effort, which is also expected to advance research informing future freshwater restoration efforts. [Read more…] about Rescued Mussels Being Returned to Lower Grasse River

One of America’s Oldest Natural History Museums Closing

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Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, July 2025 (provided)The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will permanently close its Philadelphia museum to the public on Sunday, September 27, 2026. “For nearly 200 years, the museum has been a welcoming space, creating memories for generations of families, schoolchildren, nature lovers and scientists,” an announcement made to the public says. “The Academy is more, however, than the galleries and display areas. Our collections containing more than 19 million specimens and our critical scientific research must be prioritized.” [Read more…] about One of America’s Oldest Natural History Museums Closing

Mapping NYC’s Historic Waterfront Development

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Detail from Sectional Aerial Map of the City of New York, No 28, Coney Island, Gravesend, Brooklyn, 1951 (Aero Service Corp, NYC Municipal Archives)Most people have seen surveyors at work — marking boundaries, determining distances, angles and positions. It’s the kind of essential data necessary for all types of construction projects, and is an ongoing endeavor for all cities.

The New York City Municipal Archives holds a variety of records from government agencies responsible for surveying what now are the five boroughs, ranging from Brooklyn maps documenting 19th century road placement to aerial photographic maps from the 20th century. One notable collection of maps and notebooks depicts waterfront development. [Read more…] about Mapping NYC’s Historic Waterfront Development

Rewilding: Wildways Create Wild Connections

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fisher provided by Adirondack Wildlife RefugeThe fisher, once all but extinct in the Adirondacks, has now firmly re-established itself here. According to John Davis, an Essex County writer and activist affiliated with the New Mexico-based Rewilding Institute, the fisher is “a rewilding success story.” [Read more…] about Rewilding: Wildways Create Wild Connections

A Common Adirondack Public and Private Stewardship

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Entering Adirondack Park sign photo credit, Eric Meier;Keith McKeever, retiring Public Information Director at the Adirondack Park Agency (APA), accepted much-deserved recognition at their recent meeting for his many years of admirable public service. In his short acceptance remarks, Keith implored all listening “to hold the line” for the Adirondack Park’s open space.

Keith’s message, as I recall it, was that the goal of protecting private open space is connected quite directly to the goal of more community development including necessary infrastructure directed to the Park’s settled areas in Hamlet and Moderate Intensity Use areas. [Read more…] about A Common Adirondack Public and Private Stewardship

Bronx Beavers: Rewilding the Bronx River

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The Bronx River in Shoelace Park, in The Bronx.Wildlife cameras and conservationists along the Bronx River captured footage of a North American beaver (Castor canadensis) near the Mitsubishi Riverwalk in the Bronx Zoo, marking the first confirmed resident since a previous short-time resident disappeared in 2018.

Biology student and Bronx River Alliance intern R.J. Hawkins found the new beaver on trail cameras set April to May. A fresh tree gnawing and saplings cut down also proved a beaver was living and working in the area. [Read more…] about Bronx Beavers: Rewilding the Bronx River

Alvah Dunning: The Guide Behind the Adirondack Hermit

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Alvah Dunning in Arpad G. Gerster’s etched portrait, “The Hermit of Raquette Lake,” based on a photograph by Seneca Ray Stoddard (Doris Ulmann Collection, University of Oregon Libraries)In March 1902, eighty-five-year-old Alvah Dunning traveled from the Adirondacks to New York City for a sportsmen’s exhibition. By then, photographs and newspaper profiles had made his white beard and weathered face familiar. Visitors were not meeting an unknown woodsman.

They were being introduced to “Uncle Alvah,” a man presented as one of the last survivors of the Adirondacks before railroads, hotels and private preserves changed the region. [Read more…] about Alvah Dunning: The Guide Behind the Adirondack Hermit

Niagara’s Manhattan Project Legacy Haunting Homeowners

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Angry local residents at a meeting Monday, July 20 with EPA and DEC officials about Niagara County radiation ocntaminationElevated radiation levels have been detected in the yards of over 120 homes in Niagara County, NY. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been conducting the first radiological survey of the area since 1984 and at least four families have fled their homes.

Governor Kathy Hochul has called on the EPA to step up testing and accelerate distribution of resources to those affected [Read more…] about Niagara’s Manhattan Project Legacy Haunting Homeowners

The Stench of Old New York: Pollution and Public Health

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Peter van Berkel's 'Scheepjes op kalm water' (Ships on Calm Water), late 20th or early 21st century.pngBetween 1748 and 1751, Swedish botanist Pehr (Peter) Kalm (1716-1779) made a journey through Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Canada. The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences had selected him to explore the territory and collect plants that would thrive in Scandinavia’s cold climate.

On his return, Kalm published a three-volume journal of his experiences, translated into English in 1770/1 as Travels into North America. By 1772, there were renderings in German and Dutch, as well as a second English edition. The book provided a reasonably reliable account of America’s natural history and social structure in the eighteenth century. [Read more…] about The Stench of Old New York: Pollution and Public Health

The St. Lawrence River’s ‘Slick of 76’ Oil Spill

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The Nepco 140 spilling oil off Mason Point in the Thousand Islands in 1976 (Photo courtesy Save the River)Fifty years ago, on June 23, 1976, a National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) oil tanker ran aground, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the St. Lawrence River.

The so-called “Slick of ‘76” has become a thing of folklore and a warning of environmental devastation in the Thousand Islands and beyond. It even spawned a musical. [Read more…] about The St. Lawrence River’s ‘Slick of 76’ Oil Spill

New York’s Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

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O. P. Taylor's Triangle #1 oil well near Petrolia, NY, taken on June 12, 1879. This was the first successful oil well in Allegany CountyApproximately 35,000 orphaned oil and gas wells are estimated to exist in New York State, many drilled and abandoned before the existence of modern environmental regulations.

The latest DEC Does What? podcast, produced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), spotlights the work of their Division of Mineral Resources, which address the threats that unplugged oil and gas wells have on the environment and public safety across New York State. [Read more…] about New York’s Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

After NY Wetlands Rules Struck Down, DEC Plans Webinar Tuesday

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wetland (DEC photo)In April, Albany County Supreme Court issued a decision in Chautauqua Lake Prop. Owners Assn., Inc. v State of New York annulling the recently revised 6 NYCRR Part 664 freshwater wetlands regulations in their entirety.

The court said the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) failed to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) during the adoption process. [Read more…] about After NY Wetlands Rules Struck Down, DEC Plans Webinar Tuesday

Verplanck Colvin’s State Land Surveying Legacy

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Colvin's Adirondack Survey courtesy Crown Point Historic SiteThe NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) latest episode of the bi-weekly podcast “DEC Does What?!” spotlights the work of the department’s forestry staff who manage the boundaries of state lands.

They discuss the history of land surveying and the man who started the process in the 1800s, Verplanck Colvin (1847–1920). [Read more…] about Verplanck Colvin’s State Land Surveying Legacy

Henry Davis Minot’s Adirondack Warbler & ‘Diary of a Bird’

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Portrait of Henry David Minot, circa 1880-90Henry Davis Minot was born near Forest Hills (part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston) in 1859, the sixth of seven children of William and Katharine Maria Sedgwick Minot.

He took an early interest in ornithology (the study of birds), recording careful observations, including, at the age of 11, what he believed to be a new species of bird in 1871 (it turned out not to be the case). [Read more…] about Henry Davis Minot’s Adirondack Warbler & ‘Diary of a Bird’

National Wilderness Act Violations & Why They Matter in NYS

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Man operating a chainsaw in the woods (courtesy Wilderness Watch)As an advocate for the “forever wild” Forest Preserve, Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve periodically reviews the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s work plans to ensure that activities such as trail maintenance on the public’s Forest Preserve are undertaken in compliance with Article XIV of the state constitution, the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, and DEC regulations. [Read more…] about National Wilderness Act Violations & Why They Matter in NYS

George Foster Peabody and Lake George

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George Foster PeabodyGlen Underwood, the author of the recently published Discovering George Foster Peabody (Abenia Cottage Press, 2025) was at the Lake George Historical Association recently to discuss the life and legacy of the banker and philanthropist. The program included the unveiling of a portrait of Peabody that will hang in the museum.

Appropriately enough, the museum overlooks Shepard Park, named in honor of Peabody’s close friend, Brooklyn politician Edward Morse Shepard (1850-1911). Shepard is remembered at Lake George today largely because the Village park bears his name. Peabody, who actually paid for the park and gave it to the Village, has fared less well. [Read more…] about George Foster Peabody and Lake George

Landscape & Social Change in Poughkeepsie

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Main Street to Mainframes: Landscape and Social Change in PoughkeepsieSUNY Press has re-published Main Street to Mainframes: Landscape and Social Change in Poughkeepsie by Harvey K. Flad and Clyde C. Griffen in a Second Edition. A social and urban history of the city on the Hudson River in Dutchess County, NY, tracing its transformation from a 19th-century market town to a 21st-century urban region.

The book examines economic shifts, immigration, race, housing, and revitalization efforts through a blend of social history and spatial analysis, using Poughkeepsie as a case study for broader trends in American small-city development. [Read more…] about Landscape & Social Change in Poughkeepsie

Songbirds Struggle With Noise Pollution

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Hermit thrush singingOne of the great joys of early May in the Northeast is the dawn-break aubade of songbirds returning to summer habitats or passing through to their nesting grounds in higher latitudes.

Mornings that only a month ago were silent – save the croaking crows and shrieking blue jays – are now filled with a polyphonic chorus of trills, chirrs, and fluted arias that quicken both body and soul. [Read more…] about Songbirds Struggle With Noise Pollution

When the Trees Came Back: The Battle to Save Vermont Forests

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When the Trees Came Back Vermont Forest HistoryWhen the Trees Came Back: The Great Battle to Save Vermont’s Forests by Robert A. Mello (Vermont Historical Society, 2026) chronicles the recovery of Vermont’s forests, which were 75% deforested by the 1880s due to farming and logging.

The book highlights how advocates, citizens, and lawmakers reversed this environmental disaster, restoring the state to roughly 75% forest coverage today. [Read more…] about When the Trees Came Back: The Battle to Save Vermont Forests

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