Orange County

Continental Army Encampment at New Windsor

May 28, 2012 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Sunday June 3 at 2:00 PM, in celebration of New York State Museum Week, a military drill will be held to honor the soldiers who secured our independence.

Surrounded on all sides now by housing developments and in certain areas completely built over, the Continental Army winter encampment, at New Windsor, in 1782-83, was, during its short existence, the second largest city in New York State.

Soldiers fashioned out of the ancient forest, approximately 600 buildings, arrayed in tidy rows, replicating battlefield formations. Though a mighty gathering, the effects upon the vicinity were fleeting. The army moved on in June 1783, leaving only a wife, abandoned by her ne’er do well husband, with two young children and quartermasters responsible for disposing of the encampment. Surplus army equipment, as well as nearly all of the log structures, were sold at public auction. Following the Revolutionary War, farmers cleared the land; making stonewalls out of the collapsed fieldstone chimneys of the huts. By the mid-19th century, except to the most discerning eye, all traces of the Continental Army had vanished.

Learn about the historical significance of the New Windsor Cantonment and the soldiers encamped there during the final winter of the war. At the time, the 7,000 soldiers at New Windsor, and a few thousand more in the vicinity of West Point, were the only force standing between the people of New York and New England and 12,000 British troops in New York City, just 60 miles away.

New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site is co-located with the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor on Route 300, 374 Temple Hill Road, in New Windsor, NY, just three miles south of the intersection of I-87 and I-84. For more information please call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22.

Lecture: Using Artwork in Historical Research

April 25, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Traditional historical research draws primarily upon the written word- such as letters, journals, memorials, official documents and historical publications. Historians have shown less interest in historical visual arts that are often as important as written ones. In a lecture entitled “A Striking Likeness: Using Artwork for Historical Research and Using Research to Study Artwork,” Saratoga National Historical Park Historian Eric Schnitzer will take a brief look at artwork focusing on themes related to the American War for Independence and how careful study of the visual arts can add new dimensions to our understanding of the past.

The event will be held at Fort Montgomery State Historic Site (in Orange County) on Thursday, April 26th at 7 PM.

PLEASE NOTE: Seating is limited to 50. You may reserve seats by calling 845-446-2134. Leave your name, phone number and number of people in your party.

Illustration: The Burial of General Fraser engraved by William Nutter, after John Graham, published by John Jeffryes, May 1, 1794.

Stella Bailey Honored with Woman of History Award

April 11, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On Saturday, March 31st, Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site honored Stella Bailey, the 2012 Martha Washington Woman of History Award during their annual program “The General’s Lady.” Bailey was selected for her dedicated service in preserving Hudson Valley history over fifty years. The ceremony was held in the Ritz Theatre lobby located on Broadway in Newburgh, NY.

Elyse B. Goldberg, Historic Site Manager, said in her welcoming address and conferring of the award, that though time did not permit her to list all the organizations and positions that Ms. Bailey has held over the years to be mentioned, Stella is at present the Executive Director and Financial Officer of the Fort Montgomery Battle Site Association, President of the Town of Highlands Historical Society, and the Highland Falls Town/Village Historian.

Tom Meyering, President of the 5th New York Regiment, James K. Burr, Adjutant, 5th New York Regiment, and Joseph D’Onofrio, Mayor of Highland Falls each independently nominated her for the honor and made remarks to commend Bailey for her commitment and dedication in preserving Hudson River Valley history.

Family and friends of Ms. Bailey were in the audience along with some previous recipients of the Woman of History Award. They included author/historian Patricia Favata, City of Newburgh Historian Mary McTamaney, City of Newburgh Records Management Director Elizabeth McKean, and community activist Mara Farrell.

Dressed in their Revolutionary War military attire, members of the 5th New York Regiment led the audience cheer at the completion of the award presentation and Bailey’s acceptance speech.

The event was sponsored by the Palisades Parks Conservancy and the Friends of the State Historic Sites of the Hudson Highlands.

Photo: 2012 Winner Stella Bailey, third from left surrounded by past winners Mary McTamaney, Elizabeth McKean, and Mara Farrell along with Historic Site Manager Elyse Goldberg (provided).

New Director for Newburgh Bay, Highlands Historical

April 6, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands has announced that lifelong Newburgh resident Johanna Porr will serve as the organization’s new director. Porr assumed the position last week.

“To be able to study the largest historic district in New York State is certainly fun, but to be entrusted with a role to use that understanding to help rebuild this city is an honor,” she said in a statement release to the press.

As director, Porr’s duties include fundraising, directing future research and programs, overseeing the remaining renovations to the Captain David Crawford House, creating useful networks in the fields of public history and academic history and increasing membership within the group the statement said.

“The Historical Society has been and will continue to be a resource for people who want to learn more about Newburgh’s history or those who are interested in restoring homes here,” she said.

Porr “wants to establish an inspiring new direction for the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands while maintaining everything Newburgh has come to love about the organization. Her goals are to keep up with the current trends in the academic world, exchange information and ideas with other historical societies in New York and beyond and to use the society’s resources to make Newburgh’s history
more relevant to today’s citizens,” the press statement said.

“It’s important to find the academics who are already doing the research and connect them with the people on the ground who have a better idea of the questions the public is interested in,” said Porr. “I’d like to see more serious focus on scholarly research being done in the Hudson Valley.”

Porr has been an historical interpreter at Washington’s Headquarters, where she has both volunteered and been employed for nearly a decade. She attended Franklin College in Switzerland where she studied European history, earned an M.P.A. from Marist College and recently spent time in Virginia doing archaeology at Historic Jamestown and historic-trades research at Colonial Williamsburg.

“Newburgh is a fascinating place,” said Johanna, who grew up in city. “We call it ‘History City’ because you can take any major movement and tie it back here somehow; you can always find a way to understand the scope of American history through the narratives that are available in Newburgh.”

The new director is the daughter of former Newburgh city manager Harold Porr and Joan Mauriello, who volunteered as a preservationist and historical activist while Johanna was growing up.

“This society is one of the earliest and we’ve been building a collection and archive since 1884,” Johanna said. “I’m proud to be part of such a strong institution, especially since the viability of Newburgh’s future is inseparable from its legacy.”

New Windsor Revolutionary War Encampment

April 4, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site will host a weekend of Revolutionary War military firing demonstrations and period activities on Saturday April 28 and Sunday April 29, presented by the Brigade of the American Revolution, an international organization dedicated to recreating the life and times of the common soldier of the War for Independence, 1775-1783. Formed in 1962, the BAR celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

A battle demonstration takes place at 2:00 PM each day with colorfully uniformed soldiers firing muskets and maneuvering to the music of fifes and drums. The soldiers will also set up tents, prepare cooking fires and demonstrate other aspects of 18th century life.

Visitors will also see women and children, the family members of the soldiers who traveled with the army. Members of the Brigade of the American Revolution use this weekend to teach the latest knowledge in recreating life from that era. The presentations are an enjoyable experience, something to be long remembered. Through lectures and demonstrations, a wide variety of 18th century period life is revealed. New Windsor Cantonment site staff is present to perform blacksmithing, and military medicine throughout the weekend. The new exhibit galleries provide an overview of life at the New Windsor Cantonment and 18th century artillery.

The variety of dress worn by participates provides a living window to the past. Green-coated Loyalists, Germans in blue, collectively called Hessians and British regulars in red, stand poised to defend the interests of the King and Parliament. Among the Patriot forces, you will find not only Continentals, like the Light Infantry, dressed in blue coats as they would have been at the Battle of Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, but also regiments in gray, brown or whatever color happened to be available at the time.

In addition to the special programs and activities, the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor and the New Windsor Cantonment Visitor Center are open. These buildings feature the story of the Purple Heart, the history of the New Windsor Cantonment, Revolutionary War artifacts and the exhibit The Last Argument of Kings, Revolutionary War Artillery. A picnic grove is available and there is free parking.

The site is open to the public Saturday April 28 and Sunday April 29 from 10:00 to 5:00 PM. On Sunday the visitor center does not open until 1:00 PM. For more information please call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22. Admission is free. The New Windsor Cantonment is co-located with the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor on Route 300 (Temple Hill Road) in the Town of New Windsor, four miles east of Stewart Airport and three miles from the intersection of I-87 and I-84 in Newburgh, New York.

Knox HQ: Newburgh Addresses Crisis Event Sunday

March 8, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Written at the Ellison House in early March 1783, the two letters that came to be known as the Newburgh Addresses stirred passions within the Army. The author called for the officers of the Continental Army to threaten a march on Philadelphia and use military force to compel Congress to redress their longstanding grievances. Had the conspirators been able to make good on this threat the United States, considered the beacon of freedom and democracy for the world, might have developed quite differently.

Whether this threat was real or just an elaborate bluff, the implications of the letter shocked George Washington. Throughout its long troubled history the Continental Army had been kept together by its officers despite dreadful conditions, bitter defeats, and soldier mutinies. If the officer corps turned against the country, who could prevent the military from dictating to its civilian masters?

Washington countered the first letter by expressing his “disapprobation of such disorderly proceedings” and directed that the officers meet in the Temple Building on March 15th to hear the latest report of the Committee of the Army to Congress. In the second letter dated March 12th, the author argued that Washington by not banning further meetings actually supported their tough rhetoric. They could not have been more wrong.

Unexpectedly and certainly not welcomed by the conspirators, General Washington appeared at the meeting and he addressed the esteemed gathering. The Commander-in-Chief poured out his heart to the officers but so deep was their resentment that most of them were still unmoved. In a fit of desperation he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a letter from Congressman Joseph Jones, one of the Army’s staunchest supporters. He struggled to read it to them because his eyesight was failing. His speech, in his own hand, was in large letters but the Jones letter was written in smaller script making it very difficult to read. He finally set the letter down and pulled from a pocket his new spectacles. Just a few at headquarters had ever seen him wearing them. This was his first use of them in public. Washington put on his spectacles and in a self-effacing manner said:

“Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.”

Gone for that poignant moment was the iconic great captain on horseback and in his place was revealed a fellow sufferer, aged beyond his years. This humble admission of human frailty unleashed a tidal wave of emotion. Some openly wept. Others felt the burn as the feelings of shame increased the flow of blood to their faces. Overcome by this compassionate response, Washington quickly gathered his papers and left as unceremoniously as he arrived.

Experience a dramatic reading of the events culminating with the conspiracy to force Congress to redress longstanding army grievances this Sunday March 11, 2012 at 2 PM at Knox’s Headquarters State Historic Site. Call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22 for more information or to make reservations.

Photo: The 1754 John Ellison house, Knox’s Headquarters, viewed from the 18th century bridge over Silver Stream (provided).

Northern Army Last New Windsor Encampment

February 28, 2012 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Sunday March 4, at 2:00 PM, there will be a presentation on General Washington’s main army of over 7,000 soldiers and 500 family members who encamped at New Windsor that winter at the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site.

Soldiers at New Windsor fashioned approximately 600 buildings, arrayed in rows, replicating battlefield formations. Though a large gathering, the effects upon the vicinity were fleeting. The army moved on in June 1783, leaving only a wife, abandoned by her ne’er do well husband, with two young children and quartermasters responsible for disposing of the encampment. Surplus army equipment, as well as nearly all of the log structures, were sold at public auction. Following the Revolutionary War, farmers cleared the land; making stonewalls out of the collapsed fieldstone chimneys of the huts. By the mid-19th century, except to the most discerning eye, all traces of the Continental Army had vanished.

Participants will learn about the historical significance of the New Windsor Cantonment and the struggle to preserve and interpret the final winter encampment of the northern Continental Army. At the time, the soldiers at New Windsor, and a few thousand more in the vicinity of West Point, were the only force standing between the people of New York and New England and 12,000 British troops in New York City, just 60 miles away.

The Hasbrouck Family of Newburgh and Slavery

February 22, 2012 by A. J. Schenkman 3 Comments

Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh, New York, sits on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. It was the headquarters of General George Washington from the spring of 1782 to August of 1783. Before it was the headquarters of General Washington, however, it was the home of Colonel Jonathan Hasbrouck and his wife Tryntje DuBois. [Read more…] about The Hasbrouck Family of Newburgh and Slavery

Stella Bailey to Receive 2012 Woman of History Award

February 17, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site announced that this year’s recipient of the Martha Washington Woman of History Award is history advocate Stella Bailey.

Bailey, co-founder of the Fort Montgomery Battle Site Association, has been involved and dedicated to preserving Hudson Valley History for over 50 years. She has worked in over 20 different organizations. At present, she is the Executive Director and Financial Officer of the Fort Montgomery Battle Site Association, President of the Town of Highlands Historical Society for 32 years, and Town/Village Historian for 19 years. Bailey also finds time to write “Then and Now” columns for the News of the Highlands while busy with community projects such as the Senior Citizen’s Group and the Local Development Corporation for Main Street revitalization.

The Fort Montgomery Battle Site Association is the non profit friends group that supports the preservation and restoration of the Revolutionary War battle site. Opened to the public in 2001, the Battle site features a media room, conference room, and museum.

Bailey will be added to the list of previous winners of this award, including local historian and author Janet Dempsey, Times-Herald Record columnist Barbara Bedell, City of Newburgh Historian Mary McTamaney, City of Newburgh Record Keeper Betsy McKean, and last year’s recipient community activist Mara Farrell.

Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site presents the “Martha Washington Woman of History Award” as part of their annual Woman’s History Month program, “The General’s Lady”. This event will take place on March 31st starting at 1:00 PM at the Ritz Theatre lobby in Newburgh, NY. In addition to presenting this prestigious award, “The General’s Lady” program includes a reception and a special speaker.

The program is open to the public. For more information, please call 845-562-1195.

Bear Mountain Inn Reopening Saturday After Renovations

February 17, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The historic Bear Mountain Inn at Bear Mountain State Park, which had been closed for renovations for over six years, will reopen its lodging facilities to the public this Saturday, February 18, 2012.

Originally built in 1915, the Inn has been extensively renovated to include 15 luxury guest rooms and suites designed by Thomas Hamilton and Associates, and over 20,000 square feet of flexible event space. Room rates will range from $189 to $450/night. The Inn also welcomes guests to the 1915 Cafe, which features a local and sustainable menu, and the Bear Mountain Trading Company, where visitors can find park souvenirs, crafts, local food items, and jewelry.

Bear Mountain Inn is an historic landmark, listed on the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places. Upon its opening, The American Architect declared the Bear Mountain Inn to be one of the “finest examples of rustic Adirondack architecture in America.” Park employees constructed the Inn using natural materials, including stone and wood found in the park. The Inn’s interior is outfitted in the rustic style with handcrafted chairs, sofas, tables, light fixtures, and other accessories to complement the building’s design and woodland setting.

The Inn has hosted such dignitaries such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. It has also welcomed the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, New York Knicks, Green Bay Packers, champion boxer Jack Dempsey, and entertainment headliners Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and Kate Smith to name a few.

Bear Mountain State Park is considered the flagship of the Palisades Interstate Park System. The park is 45 miles north of New York City, in the Hudson Highlands. Facilities include playing fields, picnic groves, rowboat docks on Hessian Lake, swimming pool and bathhouse, nature trails including the first segment of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, an ice-skating rink, basketball court, Trailside Museums and Zoo, Iona Island Estuarine Reserve and Bird Refuge, Perkins Memorial Drive and Tower, the Bear Mountain Merry-Go-Round and pavilion as well as four stone lodges, Cliffhouse and the Overlook Lodge.

Event catering is under the leadership of award-winning Executive Chef Michael Matarazzo. The Bear Mountain Inn is managed by Guest Services, Inc., of Virginia, a private hospitality company that has provided food, hotel, resort and leisure services since 1917.

More information about Bear Mountain Inn can be found online.

Photo: Bear Mountain Inn Dining Room, circa 1923.