History, Natural History & the Arts
George Mercer, a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, took a summer trip to Saratoga Springs with a buddy after sightseeing at West Point. He had a pretty good time, but not a great time.
He enjoyed the nightlife, but wasn’t impressed with the ladies; he went boating on Lake George, but complained of the heat. Sounds like today, right? Try 1860. [Read more…] about 1860: A Southern Tourist Gives Saratoga, Lake George Mixed Reviews
Charles Evans Hughes, a Glens Falls native, was Governor of New York from 1907 to October 1910, when he resigned to accept appointment as a U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice. He resigned from the court in June 1916 to accept the Republican nomination for President, narrowly losing to incumbent Democrat Woodrow Wilson. He later served as U.S. Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the United States.
Many places in the Adirondacks lay claim to the distinction that Charles Evans Hughes slept there. A century ago, it was at the home of Louis and Charlotte Hyde, now The Hyde Collection art museum, where Charles and Antoinette Hughes stayed overnight on June 24th, 1922, the night before dedication of the Helen Hughes Memorial Chapel, built in memory of their daughter, at Silver Bay Association in Hague on Lake George. [Read more…] about Charles Evans Hughes Doc Screening in Glens Falls on Saturday
The Arts District of Glens Falls has announced plans to unveil the latest installment of public art during the Glens Falls Collaborative’s Wing Fest, held from noon to 3 pm on April 30th in Downtown Glens Falls. The unveiling ceremony with remarks by the artist, sponsor, and the Arts District will be held at 1 pm. [Read more…] about Arts District of Glens Falls Unveiling New Public Art April 30th
Trivia clue: He was the vice-presidential running mate of Grover Cleveland in 1888.
Correct response: Who was former U.S. Sen. Allen G. Thurman of California?
“The patriot of Columbus cannot be allowed to wither in retirement,” M.F. Tarpey said, when placing Thurman’s name in nomination, according to June 8th, 1888 report in The Morning Star of Glens Falls. “His fame is not his alone; it is the proud heritage of the American public.” [Read more…] about Political Anecdotes from the Past
Call it the little newspaper that hoped it could.
“What! another paper in Washington County!” publisher George A. Nash wrote in the first issue of The Commercial Advertiser of Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, on November 26th, 1879. [Read more…] about The Little Newspaper That Hoped It Could
These days clairvoyant is not a term that is often used in describing a doctor’s ability to diagnose disease. Yet, in the last half of the 1800s it was not uncommon to seek out a “clairvoyant physician” when a person was concerned about changes in their health.
Laura Smith Ellsworth, a self-proclaimed spiritualist, medium and clairvoyant physician who would devote her life to spiritualism, grew up in Charlton, in Saratoga County, NY. The daughter of Henry and Jane Smith, the youngest of their three children, Laura was born in 1862 and baptized in September of the same year at the Charlton Freehold Presbyterian Church. [Read more…] about Laura Smith Ellsworth: Devoted Spiritualist
The Whitehall correspondent submitted a long-winded, pun intended, weather report for the Dec. 28, 1889 issue of The Granville Sentinel: “The atmosphere was in great commotion here Sunday night – evidently having urgent business elsewhere – and things movable presented a decidedly twisted appearance in town Monday morning.”
A contemporary editor likely would ask the reporter to consult the National Weather Service about the speed of the wind, and would have boiled down the verbiage to something like, “Severe winds in Whitehall uprooted trees and blew off roofs at Whitehall on Sunday. But dramatics frequently trumped details in 19th century newspapers. [Read more…] about Flowery & Imprecise: 19th Century Weather Reports
Truman Kingsley of Glens Falls, Warren County, NY was a drummer in the Civil War. When he returned home from battle, he never stopped drumming.
Kingsley, who was 44 when he enlisted in the Union Army, was older than many of his fellow veterans, who averaged 25.8 years old when they served, according to the American Battlefield Trust. [Read more…] about Truman Kingsley: ‘Boss Drummer’ of the Civil War
The St. Mary’s Band of Glens Falls played a quickstep the evening of October 26th, 1887 as the musicians paraded from Church Street to Glen Street to escort U.S. Senator Frank Hiscock from the Rockwell House hotel to the Glens Falls Opera House, where the freshman senator from Syracuse was to be keynote speaker at a Republican rally. [Read more…] about Gilded Age Syracuse Senator Frank Hiscock: ‘We Will Bury Free Trade’
A march to raise awareness of threats to women’s rights is planned for Glens Falls, Warren County, NY on Saturday, October 2nd. Organizers of the march, along with Planned Parenthood and other advocacy groups, have called on people to march nationwide in the face of quickly diminishing rights for women in many parts of the country and the world.
New York State has always been a leader in women’s rights and more specifically, reproductive rights – abortion was legal in NYS two years before Roe vs. Wade. [Read more…] about Women’s March Planned For Glens Falls October 2nd