History, Natural History & the Arts
Before East Line Road marked the boundary between the town line between Ballston and Malta, it marked a community. Today, only a roadside sign hints at what once stood at the crossroads of Route 67 and East Line Road:
“East Line. An early community ca. 1780. ME Church built in 1809. Nearby was a hotel, a tavern, and by 1837 an RR stop.” [Read more…] about East Line Hamlet: A Forgotten Crossroads
During the American Revolution, the Province of New York was a stronghold of Loyalism. While a difficult matter to estimate with any degree of certainty, available records would seem to indicate that the Loyalists may have constituted an actual majority of the total population.
The statement has even been made that New York furnished more men to the British forces engaged in the war than to the American. [Read more…] about Champlain Frontier Loyalists During the American Revolution
In March 1844, Melissa Botsford of Meriden, Connecticut, defiantly left her local Methodist church because it supported slavery and other “sins” that permeated America.
Botsford was among one hundred thousand other abolitionists who abandoned their evangelical churches throughout the decade. These protesters came out with a stern apocalyptic warning: God would soon judge America ― and its churches ― for the sins of slavery and race prejudice. [Read more…] about Apocalyptic Abolitionism & The End of Slavery
Spring sun warmed the air early Saturday morning, May 12, 1855, when the famous abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass and his associates started their ten-minute walk from the New Haven Railroad Station in Mamaroneck to their destination in Rye Neck, an inconspicuous corner of Rye, in Westchester County, New York.
Leading the group was the Reverend Levin Tilmon, president of the First Colored American Congregational Grove Company of Rye Neck, the formal dedication of the “Meeting Grove” being the reason for Douglass’ visit. [Read more…] about The Grove: Abolitionist Congregations in Rye, NY
Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) has announced the recipient of services for their pilot program, Preserving Sacred Heritage: Expanding Opportunities for Sacred Sites as Community Pillars. AARCH will complete a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the mid-century modern Plattsburgh United Methodist Church. [Read more…] about Mid-Century Modern Plattsburgh Church Recognized by Preservationists
There was no place in the Christian Church for racism, according to the Rev. Charles O. Judkins, longtime pastor of Christ Church Methodist in Glens Falls, NY. “You don’t belong in the church if you are a Klansman,” Judkins proclaimed at the annual Methodist Troy Conference in 1925.
Judkins was a prominent pastor, theological scholar, social justice advocate, and political influencer who frequently traveled to make speeches at urban cities. [Read more…] about 1920s: The KKK in Essex & Warren Counties
What follows are excerpts from Carter G. Woodson’s The History of The Negro Church (1921) which illuminate the early development of the organized Black churches in what is now New York State before about 1800. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) was a prominent black leader and intellectual of the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Virginia in 1875 to formerly enslaved parents, he was educated at Berea College in Kentucky, the University of Chicago, and finally, Harvard, where he earned his Ph.D. in History. Woodson championed awareness of black historical experience by teaching and initiating the first Black History Week, which became the basis for the later Black History Month. He was a tireless writer also who published many volumes during his life, including his classic The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). [Read more…] about The Black Church in New York: Excerpts from Carter G. Woodson
Round Lake Auditorium, located in the historic Round Lake village in Saratoga County, NY, has served as a cultural center for over a century. First established in 1868 as the Round Lake Camp Meeting Association, it has evolved into a unique piece of Capital Region history. Notable figures, including Ulysses S. Grant and Cornelius Vanderbilt, have visited the village of Round Lake, enhancing its deep history. [Read more…] about Round Lake Auditorium: Some History
George Whitefield stood as one of the most visible figures in British North America between the 1740s and 1770. He was a central figure in the trans-Atlantic revivalist movement and a man whose legacy remains influential to evangelical Christians today.
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Historian Jessica Parr, author of Inventing George Whitefield: Race, Revivalism, and the Making of a Religious Icon (University of Mississippi Press, 2015), introduces us to the Reverend George Whitefield. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/025.
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