History, Natural History & the Arts
The following text is from articles printed in March 1832 about the destruction of one of the Hudson River lighthouses on a tidal marsh flat near Stuyvesant Landing, only shortly after its construction in 1830.
A massive, moving field of spring ice crushed the 20 by 34 feet stone structure and killed four children. [Read more…] about 1832: A Stuyvesant Lighthouse Disaster Kills Four Children
In many respects the American Revolution was a civil war pitting Americans loyal to the Crown against other Americans loyal to the vision of a new nation they sought to create. Neighbor fought against neighbor, brother against brother, father against son. One of the epicenters of this desperate struggle was New York’s Hudson Valley.
Suffering for the Crown: The Hudson Valley Loyalists and the Violence of Revolution (University of Virginia Press, 2026) by Kieran J. O’Keefe details the extreme violence, persecution, and displacement experienced by white, Black, and Native American Loyalists during the Revolution. [Read more…] about Hudson Valley Loyalists and the Violence of Revolution
For a century and a half prior to the American Revolution the people of New York had been accustomed to act through representative committees in order to win one concession after another for self-government.
During the Dutch period the Twelve Men (a committee chosen in 1641 by the residents to advise Willem Kieft on relations with Native Americans), the Eight Men (Remonstrance of the Eight Men, 1644), the Nine Men (Remonstrance of the Commonality, 1649, led by Adriaen van der Donck), and other groups, wrested rights for the people from autocratic New Netherland governors and the West India Company. [Read more…] about New York’s Revolutionary Committee Records: Correspondence, Safety & Conspiracies
Have you ever been curious whether your cellar was once used as living quarters or a hiding spot for enslaved people? For many years, our understanding of places where enslaved people lived was shaped by southern examples — often small, rundown houses set apart from plantation mansions.
However, recent research into Dutch communities in the Hudson Valley has revealed a much different reality. [Read more…] about Were Slaves Living in Your Cellar? A Look At Hudson Valley Slave Quarters
Slavery in the North is a topic that not many understand. Researchers have only in the past decade or so begun to really take a deeper look at slavery in urban northern areas, such as New York City – whose enslaved population was second only in size to that of the South. [Read more…] about The Magnitude of Dutch Slavery in the Hudson Valley
A new biography of the 8th president of the United States, the first chief executive not born a British citizen and the first to use the party system to chart his way from tavern-keeper’s son in Columbia County, NY, to the pinnacle of power.
Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) was one of the most remarkable politicians not only of his time but in American presidential history. [Read more…] about America’s First Politician: A New Martin Van Buren Biography
Have you ever read someone’s handwriting that’s just un-readable – looked over a note from a friend or loved one and said, “how do you expect me to read this?!”
We found ourselves in this exact situation while examining three handwritten letters in Staatsburgh Historic Site’s archives. Unfortunately, we could not ask the sender what they had written, because the sender was the 8th President of the United States, Martin van Buren. [Read more…] about Martin Van Buren & Morgan Lewis: It’s Complicated
The Dutch held onto their New Netherland colony for some forty years. They lost it to the English twice, at gunpoint in 1664 and by treaty in 1674. But although officially gone, the Dutch were not forgotten. In addition to their cultural legacy, the Dutch language held on stubbornly across the region for a long time. [Read more…] about When Did We Stop Speaking Dutch in New York State?
From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to Columbia County, New York (Black Dome Press, 2024) written by Anna Duhon, Gretchen Stevens, Claudia Knab-Vispo and Conrad Vispo with the support of The Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program and Hudsonia features 36 discreet natural habitats in the Hudson Valley’s Columbia County and is beautifully illustrated with over 750 full-color photographs, maps, graphs, tables, and charts. [Read more…] about A Cultural & Ecological Field Guide to Columbia County, NY
Is a person born destined for greatness, or do circumstances somehow draw them to rise to that place? Born in humble circumstances, and likely seen by those around him as destined to a life behind a plow, Morgan Henry Chrysler, through bravery and devotion to his country, rose to greatness. [Read more…] about From Civil War Private to General: Morgan Henry Chrysler
The Hudson River Valley Greenway (HRVG) released the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail 2023 Trail Use Report. The report includes visitation numbers to eight different trail sections on the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail (AHET) from 2022 to 2023 using automated counters to count users and a visual trail use survey to analyze user types. [Read more…] about Albany-Hudson Electric Trail 2023 Trail Use Report Released
The Hudson River Valley Greenway (HRVG) has released the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail 2022 Trail Use Report. HRVG constructed and operates the Albany–Hudson
Electric Trail (AHET), a 36–mile recreational “rail trail” in Rensselaer and Columbia Counties.
The report includes visitation numbers to four different trail sections on the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail (AHET) using automated counters to count users and a visual trail use survey to analyze user types. [Read more…] about Albany-Hudson Electric Trail 2022 Use Report
The Columbia County Historical Society has announced the ca. 1850 Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse, located on Route 9H in Kinderhook, has been nominated to the New York State Register of Historic Places after a unanimous vote by the State Board for Historic Preservation.
The nomination will now be reviewed by the National Park Service for inclusion on the National Register. A second Columbia County structure, the Harder Mill in Hudson, was also nominated. [Read more…] about Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse Nominated to NYS Register of Historic Places
The Columbia County Historical Society (CCHS) has announced a new permanent outdoor exhibit featuring eight narrative panels set along the treeline of its rural properties on Roue 9-H: the c.1850 Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse and the 1737 Luykas Van Alen House located at 2589 Route NY-9H in the Town of Kinderhook. [Read more…] about Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse & Luykas Van Alen House Get Interpretive Panels
Martin Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782, in a modest family tavern in Kinderhook and returned to the town following his one term as president in 1841. He spent the next twenty years as a political candidate, an innovative farmer, and an engaged community member.
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, the Friends of Lindenwald, and the Village of Kinderhook have invited the public to participate in the annual observance of Martin Van Buren’s birthday on Sunday, December 5th. [Read more…] about Martin Van Buren: A Commemoration in Kinderhook
The book The Livingston Lion: Henry Beekman Livingston’s Revolution (Epigraph, 2021) by historian Geoff Benton is the first biography of Revolutionary War soldier Henry Beekman Livingston. [Read more…] about A New Biography of Henry Beekman Livingston
The Columbia County Historical Society (CCHS) has entered into a partnership with the new Preservation Carpentry Certification course at Columbia-Greene Community College (CGCC) to complete a restoration project at the James Vanderpoel “House of History,” located at 16 Broad Street in Kinderhook. [Read more…] about Community College Partners In Columbia County Restoration Project
Historian and preservationist Ruth Piwonka has been named the 2020 Martha Washington Woman of History.
This award is given annually by Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site to a woman who has made a contribution to the history of the Hudson Valley through education, promotion, or preservation. The honor was inspired by Martha Washington, an outstanding woman in history who resided in the Hudson Valley with her husband, General George Washington, during the last days of the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about Kinderhook’s Ruth Piwonka Receives Woman of History Award
Historian and preservationist Ruth Piwonka is this year’s recipient of the Martha Washington Woman of History Award. This award is given by Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site each year to a woman who has made a contribution to the history of the Hudson Valley through education, promotion, or preservation. The honor was inspired by Martha Washington, who resided in the Hudson Valley with her husband, General George Washington, during the last days of the Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about Kinderhook Historian Named 2020 Woman of History
In the late summer of 1664, four English frigates arrived off shore New Amsterdam. Rather than resisting, the Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, surrendered the city and colony to the English.
Although the Dutch briefly regained control of the colony in 1673, it was restored to English rule in the Treaty of Westminster the following year, marking the end of Dutch New York.
Despite the English conquest, the Dutch language continued to thrive in New York and northern New Jersey for generations, persisting into the twentieth century in certain areas. [Read more…] about When Did New York Stop Speaking Dutch?
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