Kingston

Preview The New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston on Sunday

November 18, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Decades before she took her fabled name, abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth was born enslaved in Ulster County, NY under the name Isabella.

Covering more than 500 acres and a mile of Hudson River shoreline, the future Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston, NY, was once an industrial site for production of cement, quarry stone, and ice harvesting. Sojourner Truth State Park will be first new State Park since 2019. [Read more…] about Preview The New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston on Sunday

Ulster County, Ramapough Lenape Renewing 1665 Esopus Treaty

August 2, 2022 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

On October 7, 1665, a peace treaty was signed between the indigenous Esopus people (the Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation / Ramapough Lenape Nation) and European settlers in what is now Ulster County, NY. The treaty brought to a close hostilities between the two parties that had begun in 1659, known as the Esopus Wars.

Both parties promised to cease hostilities, to establish a course of justice and conduct trade with each other. In addition to the cessation of fighting, the treaty proclaimed, “That all past Injuryes, are buryed and forgotten on both sides” and “that it may bee kept in perpetuall memory.”

A ceremonial peace tree planting and treaty renewal will be held on Friday, August 5th in Kingston. There have been 13 renewals of the treaty found in the Ulster County archives, dating from 1669 to 1745, and six more times in the last ten years. [Read more…] about Ulster County, Ramapough Lenape Renewing 1665 Esopus Treaty

Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

April 25, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

Tjerck Claeszen DeWitt immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) from Grootholt in Zunterlant in 1656. Grootholt means Great Wood and Zunterland was probably located on the southern border of East Friesland, a German territory on the North Sea only ten miles from the most northerly province of the Netherlands.

By 1657, Tjerck DeWitt married Barber (Barbara) Andrieszen (also Andriessen) in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church and moved to Beverwyck (now Albany). While in Beverwyck, he purchased a house. At this time Albany contained 342 houses and about 1,000 residents, about 600 of whom were members of the Dutch Church. [Read more…] about Simeon DeWitt: America’s Surveyor General

New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring

March 4, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Governor Hochul has announced that a new State Park to open to the public later this spring in Kingston, Ulster County, NY will be named for 19th century African American abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth.

Covering more than 500 acres and a mile of Hudson River shoreline, this park was once an industrial site for production of cement, quarry stone, and ice harvesting. Sojourner Truth State Park will be first new State Park since 2019. [Read more…] about New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring

We Should Celebrate New York State’s Birthday on April 20th

March 3, 2022 by Bruce Dearstyne 1 Comment

New Yorkers, and New York’s historical community in particular, should be gearing up to commemorate and promote New York State’s birthday on April 20th.

That was the date in 1777 when the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, an ad hoc group elected the previous year to guide New York’s Revolutionary War efforts and develop its first constitution, completed its work. [Read more…] about We Should Celebrate New York State’s Birthday on April 20th

Senate House Announces Limited Re-Opening

July 20, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Senate House State Historic Site in Kingston has reopened its facilities for tours and museum visitors with health and social distancing guidelines to protect visitors and staff.

The Site’s buildings had been closed to the public since March due to health and safety concerns related to the ongoing pandemic. [Read more…] about Senate House Announces Limited Re-Opening

4-20: New York State’s Forgotten Birthday

April 5, 2020 by Bruce Dearstyne 3 Comments

New York State’s 243rd Birthday is coming up on April 20.

That is the day that the convention of representatives, an outgrowth of the New York Provincial Congress, approved the first state constitution in 1777, at Kingston. (Some people say the appropriate date is actually two days later, April 22. On that day, the convention’s secretary Robert Benson, read the new constitution aloud to Kingston citizens in front of the court house. In effect, Benson’s dramatic reading proclaimed the new state into existence.) [Read more…] about 4-20: New York State’s Forgotten Birthday

A Christmas in Kingston in the 1880s

December 24, 2019 by Lowell Thing 3 Comments

“I went out after a Christmas tree and some laurel, through seas of mud,” Jervis McEntee of Kingston wrote on Christmas Eve 1881, “to the place where I always go on the cross road between the Flat-bush and Pine bush roads. It rained a part of the time and turned into a snow storm on our return.”

Another year, McEntee’s usual places for a tree were so wet that he settled for a small hemlock on the side of the hill where he lived. It was a hill that offered a panoramic view of the entire village as well as the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River. His father James, an engineer who had helped build the nearby Delaware and Hudson Canal, had built the first house on the hill and the family still lived there. [Read more…] about A Christmas in Kingston in the 1880s

Black History in the Hudson Valley Call for Papers

December 10, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Hudson River Maritime Museum, the Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center, TMI Project’s Black Stories Matter, the Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, the Harambee Coalition, and the Kingston Land Trust/Pine Street African Burial Ground Project have announced they are seeking proposals for the Conference on Black History in the Hudson Valley, Saturday, October 3, 2020. The conference will be held at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, 50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY.

The focus of this conference is the history of Black and African-American residents in the Hudson Valley, including communities and work along the canals and tributaries of the Hudson River. The Conference on Black History in the Hudson Valley is open to researchers of all levels, with special sessions for short presentations of research-in-progress from students and historians alike. [Read more…] about Black History in the Hudson Valley Call for Papers

18th Century Autumn Festival Planned for Kingston

October 3, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Senate House State Historic Site in Kingston is set to celebrate the autumn season with the 18th Century Autumn Festival on Saturday, October 19, from 11 am to 3 pm.

The demonstrations will include meat smoking, pressing apples into cider, blacksmithing, and hearthside cooking. Hands-on activities include dipping candles, making cornhusk dolls, and playing 18th century toys and games. The Third Ulster Militia and First Ulster Militia will be demonstrating 18th century camp life. Entertainment by Stephen Gratto includes juggling, stilt walking, balancing acts and more. [Read more…] about 18th Century Autumn Festival Planned for Kingston