New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Menands

A Delft Tile Mystery at Schuyler Flatts, Hudson River

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Circa 1650 delft tile with standing figure of a North American Eastern Woodland Indian manDelft tiles are traditional, tin-glazed earthenware originating from the Netherlands as early as the 16th century. They are best known for their distinctive blue-and-white or polychrome hand-painted designs.

Developed in the Dutch city of Delft during the late 1500s as a local response to imported Chinese porcelain, these tiles were popular in New Netherland and New York, and were used on walls, hearths, and fireplace surrounds. [Read more…] about A Delft Tile Mystery at Schuyler Flatts, Hudson River

The Rise & Fall of the Albany Lumber District (1810s-1910s)

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Tug Boat H R Hebard in Albany Lumber Yard, probably circa 1875Albany’s proximity to the Hudson River made it an ideal trading center, beginning with Native American-Dutch fur trading in the early seventeenth century.

By the late eighteenth century, the city had cultivated a small lumber market consisting of a half-dozen wholesale lumber merchants, clustered just south of the neighborhood around Columbia Street and present-day Clinton Avenue (to the south of what would later be considered the “Albany lumber district” proper). [Read more…] about The Rise & Fall of the Albany Lumber District (1810s-1910s)

Clifton Park’s Stony Creek Reservoir: Some History

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Stony Creek Reservoir, Clifton Park, NYThe Town of Colonie owns the Stony Creek Reservoir located in southern Clifton Park, just above Vischer Ferry, NY.  It was completed in 1953 at a cost of $1,800,000 and covers 297 acres holding 1.4 billion gallons of water that is carried by pipes under the Mohawk River to the residents of Colonie.

The reservoir is used primarily in the late summer months when other Colonie water sources are low.  The creation of this reservoir in 1950 began a long feud between the Town of Clifton Park and the Town of Colonie. [Read more…] about Clifton Park’s Stony Creek Reservoir: Some History

William O. Stillman: Leader of Humane Societies, Friend of Animals & Children

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The Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society's building on Fourth Street inin Troy, NYWilliam O. Stillman was born on September 9th, 1856 in Normansville, now known as Elsmere in the town of the Bethlehem, Albany County, NY. His parents were Rev. Stephen Lewis Stillman and Lucretia (Miller) Stillman.

Rev. Stephen Lewis Stillman was a Methodist minister at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Adamsville (now Delmar) and a descendant of a family that had emigrated from London, England. Lucretia (Miller) Stillman was of Dutch descent. Rev. Stephen suddenly died in 1869, when William was 12 years old. After his father’s death, William and his mother moved to Albany. [Read more…] about William O. Stillman: Leader of Humane Societies, Friend of Animals & Children

The Capitol Region’s Race Course: Island Park

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Island Park racing notice published in the Troy Daily TimesThe Hudson River in New York’s Capital Region has always been a vital transportation link, and it also provides a conduit to undertakings of the past. The area presently occupied by Interstate-787 and its connectors to NY-378 were constructed on what had been a cluster of islands in the Hudson River, near Menands, between Albany and Watervliet.

Even in the 1820s, the road here became noted for unofficial, and illegal, horse racing. [Read more…] about The Capitol Region’s Race Course: Island Park

Albany Rural Cemetery’s Dellwood Avenue Trail Restoration

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Dellwood Avenue trail restorationThe Friends’ Trail Restoration Committee, members of the Adirondack Mountain Club, and some dedicated volunteers spent a weekend rebuilding sections of Dellwood Avenue at the Albany Rural Cemetery to turn the old carriage road into a safer walking trail. [Read more…] about Albany Rural Cemetery’s Dellwood Avenue Trail Restoration

Jermain Family Philanthropy Helped Shape The Capital District

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John Jordan-JermainJohn Jordan left Edinburgh, Scotland in 1755 arriving in White Plains, colony of New York, the same year. Edinburgh had been the family home since Jordan’s father and grandfather fled France for Scotland following the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of French Huguenots in the late 1600s. John struck out on his own and decided to immigrate to America.

John married Mary Ann Daniels, a young woman of Dutch descent, and in 1758 they had a son, John Jordan, Jr. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, John Jordan, Sr. and his wife left New York and helped found the loyalist colony of St. John, New Brunswick, just across the Maine border. Their 19-year-old son, John Jr., stayed behind. [Read more…] about Jermain Family Philanthropy Helped Shape The Capital District

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