The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is offering $600k in Mohawk River Basin Grants to help municipalities, soil and water conservation districts, school districts, colleges and universities, and not-for-profit organizations to implement the goals and objectives of the Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda 2021-2026, a five-year plan advancing efforts to conserve, preserve, and restore the Mohawk River and its watershed. [Read more…] about Mohawk River Basin Grants Available
Mohawk River
Taddeus Kosciusko: A Hero of Two Worlds (& The Name On That Bridge)
Since it opened to traffic on April 11, 1960, millions of vehicles traveling the I-87 Northway have passed over the Mohawk River on what they think are called on “The Twin Bridges.” That bridge however, is really named for a Polish-American hero of the American Revolution – Taddeus Kosciusko. [Read more…] about Taddeus Kosciusko: A Hero of Two Worlds (& The Name On That Bridge)
Fort Bull – Oneida Carrying Place Archaeology Funded
Fort Bull and the Oneida Carrying Place were important parts of the military and Indigenous landscape that shaped the development of the Upper Mohawk Valley region.
The Oneida Carrying Place, a four-mile overland route that connected the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, was vital to British military campaign strategies beginning with the French and Indian War. The Carry also saw significant action during St. Leger’s American Revolution Campaign (1777), which included the Siege of Fort Stanwix/Schuyler and the Battle of Oriskany. [Read more…] about Fort Bull – Oneida Carrying Place Archaeology Funded
Mary Zawacki On Mohawk River History (The Historians Podcast)
When the last Ice Age began to melt 22,000 years ago, the Mohawk River flowed with more force than Niagara Falls. The deluge of water that was released was so great that it carved an entirely new riverbed.
Eventually, the glacier receded and the Mohawk River settled into its new banks, ready to greet the settlers making their way across the Atlantic to colonize the Mohawk River valley. [Read more…] about Mary Zawacki On Mohawk River History (The Historians Podcast)
Vischer Ferry As A Summer Resort
At the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth century, Vischer Ferry, a hamlet of Clifton Park in Saratoga County on the Mohawk River, was the destination of many picnickers and tourists.
People came from Schenectady, Albany, Troy, Cohoes and even New York City to spend a day, a week, a month or the complete summer in the healthful climate and beautiful surroundings of Vischer Ferry. As quiet 120 years ago as it is today, the village was an ideal spot to escape from the noise and turmoil of the city. [Read more…] about Vischer Ferry As A Summer Resort
Schenectady’s Relationship to Native America
For many people, “American” history begins with European exploration of the continent. From there, the narrative invariably centers on the colonial perspective and, after 1776, the perspective of the United States.
Consequently, the general public is generally uninformed about the history of Indigenous People that both predates New Netherland and the Pilgrims and persists to the present. And this article is by no means capable of addressing this broad historical issue. So let’s turn from this historical macrocosm to the microcosm of one city, Schenectady. [Read more…] about Schenectady’s Relationship to Native America
A Brief History of the Mohawk River
Imagine the Mohawk River flowing with more force than Niagara Falls. Around 22,000 years ago, that’s exactly how it was. During the last ice age, the Laurentide Glacier began to melt, forming a large lake atop the glacier. As the glacier receded north, it opened access to the Mohawk River, which for thousands of years had been buried beneath the two-mile thick block of ice. Suddenly, all that lake water had somewhere to go.
The deluge of water that was released was so great that it carved an entirely new riverbed. It was so great in fact, that geologists gave the river a new name; the Iromohawk. Water rushed down the valley, carving away the cliffs of Clifton Park, the gorge at Cohoes, and the channel at Rexford. The river also curved back onto itself, creating the bend around Schenectady that the Mohawk follows today. [Read more…] about A Brief History of the Mohawk River
DEC Releases Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda 2021-2026
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the release of the Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda 2021-2026, a five-year plan to advance efforts to conserve, preserve, and restore the Mohawk River and its watershed. [Read more…] about DEC Releases Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda 2021-2026
Revolutionary Albany: Setbacks As The War Presses Toward Albany
After a late-summer of preparations, too late in the fall of 1775, the Colonial Army mounted a two-pronged invasion of Canada. General Schuyler invaded Montreal from Fort Ticonderoga and General Benedict Arnold attacked Quebec.
Schuyler fell ill and was replaced by General Richard Montgomery. Montgomery took Montreal and then marched to assist Arnold at Quebec. [Read more…] about Revolutionary Albany: Setbacks As The War Presses Toward Albany
Revolutionary Albany: Supplying Ticonderoga, Dealing With Loyalists & Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Relations
In early May, 1775 the Revolutionary War was underway on largely local scale. The attack on the British forces leaving Lexington and Concord had happened less than a month earlier, and 4,500 British troops had landed in Boston.
The lightly defended Fort Ticonderoga was taken on the morning of May 10, 1775, in a surprise attack by the Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, with the help of Benedict Arnold. The fort had been held by the British for 16 years, since it was taken from the French in 1759. [Read more…] about Revolutionary Albany: Supplying Ticonderoga, Dealing With Loyalists & Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Relations