History, Natural History & the Arts
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has expanded and enhanced several fishing and paddling access sites across the state, including those with universally accessible features.
Check out the list below for your next adventure: [Read more…] about Recently Upgraded Public Water Access Sites
On April 24, 1877, on orders from President Rutherford B. Hayes, federal troops withdrew from the state house in Louisiana — the last federally defended state house in the South — just 12 years after the end of the Civil War.
This withdrawal marked the end of Reconstruction and paved the way for the unrestrained resurgence of white supremacist rule in the South, carrying with it the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black Americans.
What began with Hayes’s elevation to the Presidency following the disputed Election of 1876, is now having dramatic political consequences 150 years later. [Read more…] about The Voting Rights Act & The Great Betrayal of 1877
On August 17, 1923, about a thousand white men and women took part in a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony near Warwick, New York.
According to newspaper reports, motorists traveling between Warwick and Florida in the southwestern part of Orange County on August 16th were stopped by Klansmen and asked for a “password” to enter area where the Klan rally was being held in an open field near the highway. [Read more…] about In The 1920s Thousands of New Yorkers Joined The Ku Klux Klan
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced Environmental Protection Fund grant awards totaling $978,820 for urban forest assessment and planning projects across the state. [Read more…] about Nearly $1 Million in Urban Forestry Grants Awarded
During the Civil War, Colonel Simeon Sammons received authority to recruit a regiment in the counties of Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, and Saratoga, with headquarters at Fonda. On August 26, 1862, it mustered into the service of the United States for three years as the 115th New York Infantry Regiment, known as the “Iron-Hearted Regiment.” [Read more…] about The 115th New York: The Iron Hearted Regiment During The Civil War
Alexander Macomb, the elder, (1748–1831) was a fur trader, land and currency speculator, and slaveholder who supported the British during the American Revolution and provided the occupying British army with trade goods. [Read more…] about The Two Alexander Macombs: A Slaveholder & A Duplicitous Negotiator
The Florida Historical Society will host a Seward Day Parade on Saturday, May 14th, honoring the Village of Florida’s native son William Henry Seward, New York Governor, State Senator, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State under President Abraham Lincoln. [Read more…] about William Seward Day Parade in Florida, NY on Saturday
The Seward/Mapes Homestead has announced a talk nineteenth century American health care, set for Thursday, October 24th, from 7 to 9 pm, led by Carolyn Ivanoff.
Ivanoff will examine healthcare in Victorian America, and how Americans were their own doctors and caregivers. [Read more…] about 19th Cent Medicine: Everyone Their Own Doctor
This week on The Historians podcast, Amsterdam Recorder columnist Dan Weaver discusses Philips Park, a recreational site in the town of Florida, NY, in the Mohawk Valley that closed after brutal murders in 1950. Weaver also looks at the history of an early settlement of free African Americans in the area. He operates the Bookhound bookstore in Amsterdam, NY. Listen to the podcast here. [Read more…] about Phillips Park in the Mohawk Valley
On Thursday, November 2, 2017 from 7 to 9 pm, the Seward/Mapes Homestead will present a virtual tour of the Arlington National Cemetery to benefit the Seward/Mapes Homestead Restoration. The fundraiser will be held at the Florida Senior Center, 3 Cohen Circle, Florida, NY.
The virtual tour will follow the history of Arlington from its origins during the Civil War as a burial place of necessity, to its current celebrity as the most prestigious cemetery in the United States. Once the great antebellum plantation of the Custis & Lee families, Arlington’s green slopes shelter over 275,000 United States veterans from every war. [Read more…] about Virtual Tour of Arlington National Cemetery Nov 2nd
On Thursday, April 27, from 7 pm to 9 pm. at the Senior Center (next to the Florida Library), at 4 Cohen Circle in Florida, NY, Civil War historian and re-enactor Yvonne Bigney will tell the story of 12 year-old Johnny Clem’s experience in the Battle of Chickamauga.
Clem was one of many children who served in the Civil War. In 1863, escaped slave, “Contraband Jackson”, served as a drummer boy and stretcher-bearer in the 79th Infantry Regiment – U.S. Colored Troops. It was an all-black unit that incurred heavy casualties. Fifteen year-old Tillie Pierce served as a nurse at Gettysburg. They were just three of the thousands of boys and girls engaged in the Civil War; whether on the front lines or back home, active in vital adult roles that would astonish us today. [Read more…] about Children Who Served In The Civil War
On Thursday, December 14th, the Seward/Mapes Homestead Restoration Committee of Florida presented the Village of Florida’s governing Board with a $5,000 check toward the restoration of the Seward/Mapes Homestead. Added to a $4,000 contribution made earlier in 2016, the organization raised a total of $9,000 toward a New York State matching fund grant for historic preservation. [Read more…] about Seward/Mapes Homestead Raises $9k For Preservation
On Thursday evening, October 27, from 7 pm to 9 pm, Civil War re-enactor and historian Carolyn Ivanoff will present “Ghosts of Gettysburg Battlefield,” at the Florida Senior Center, in Florida NY.
Ivanoff will provide an overview and description of the three day battle, along with maps, and contemporary and period photographs. [Read more…] about Ghosts of Gettysburg Seward Homestead Fundraiser
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