New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Livingston Manor

The Palatines Along Hoosick Road in Rensselaer County

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account and depiction of the Palatine refugees’ sufferings in Germany from The State of the Palatines for fifty years past to this present time (London, 1710) courtesy the British LibraryDuring the turmoil of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), many Protestant Germans from the Middle Rhine region of the Holy Roman Empire fled to England, with the largest group of refugees – some 13,000 – arriving there in 1709.

The arrival of these “Poor Palatines” caused a rise in opposition to immigration in England. Most were quickly sent to Ireland, but nearly 3,000 were sent on 10 ships to the colonial Province of New York (a group about a third the size of the population of the city of New York at that time). [Read more…] about The Palatines Along Hoosick Road in Rensselaer County

NYS Covered Bridge Society Event In Livingston Manor

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Van Tran Covered BridgeThe New York State Covered Bridge Society is hosting an open house at the Van Tran Covered Bridge on Covered Bridge Road, in Livingston Manor, Sullivan County, NY, on Saturday, October 7th, from 9 am to 3 pm.

The New York State Covered Bridge Society’s mission is to educate the public on the preservation of the State’s authentic and historic covered bridges. The Society has over 200 members from all over the nation and is always open to new members. [Read more…] about NYS Covered Bridge Society Event In Livingston Manor

Columbia County: A Lecture On Copake History

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Pelholm barn with Ezra PellsLocal historian and author Howard Blue will present talk on the history of Copake, Columbia County, at the Roe Jan Historical Society in Copake Falls on Sunday, May 18 at 2:00 pm. Blue’s program is based in part on interviews of local residents from whose family albums he was allowed to copy old photos.

The presentation will focus primarily on the town’s and county’s first settlers, the Mohican Indians, and the 90-year-long, sometimes violent conflict between the Livingston family which at one time owned almost all of Copake and the family’s tenant farmers. Blue will also discuss Martin Van Buren’s role in Copake’s anti-rent movement, Copake in the Revolutionary war years, the existence of slavery in Copake, and Copake’s Civil War era bond issue that helped buy out from the draft some of Copake’s young men. [Read more…] about Columbia County: A Lecture On Copake History