In the spring of 1613, a sailor named Jan Rodrigues arrived at the shore of the Hudson River from a Dutch trading ship, likely the Jonge Tobias. Identifying himself as a free individual, he became the earliest documented Black man in New Netherland. Jan Rodrigues is the subject of one of 25 new, peer-reviewed biographical sketches published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society in August, part of the NYG&B’s New Netherland Settlers initiative. [Read more…] about 25 New Netherland Biographies Published
Religious History
A Natural Sanctuary: Staten Island’s St. Francis Woodlands
St. Francis Woodlands, a former Franciscan Friars property in the Staten Island Greenbelt, is full of hidden ecological treasures.
The 25-acre property features a 0.4-mile elevated boardwalk and viewing platform that make the forested environment and upland swamp habitats accessible to all visitors. [Read more…] about A Natural Sanctuary: Staten Island’s St. Francis Woodlands
Rapping with the Dead: New York’s Spiritualist Fox Sisters
The first indication that the Fox Sisters had spiritualist talents occurred on the evening of March 31, 1848 when 11-year-old Kate and 14-year-old Maggie Fox claimed they heard knocking sounds coming from the east bedroom of their parents’ rented farmhouse in Hydesville, Wayne County, NY, about 30 miles east of Rochester.
The next night, the young ladies revealed this strange knocking spirit to their mother and older sister, Leah. The family’s excitement about communicating beyond the grave took no note that the inaugural demonstration had been staged on April first. [Read more…] about Rapping with the Dead: New York’s Spiritualist Fox Sisters
East Line Hamlet: A Forgotten Crossroads
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
Newcomers: Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York
A man thought to be a Muslim from Morocco and a German barmaid fleeing poverty are hardly the images we have of America’s august founders. In Newcomers (Liveright, 2026), Alan Mikhail upends the traditional story of America’s origins through the revelatory tale of a seventeenth-century immigrant couple by the names of Anthony and Grietje.
Married in Amsterdam, the destitute pair emerged from lives of piracy and prostitution in Europe and arrived in 1630s Dutch New Amsterdam, hoping to build a new life. Upon landing on New York City’s shores, the swarthy Anthony was attacked for being the Muslim he was not, while Grietje, branded a whore by crude harbor denizens, would become the model of an independent colonial American woman, defiantly mooning her attackers rather than accepting their derision. [Read more…] about Newcomers: Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York
A Utica Church’s 50 Years of Adirondack Pilgrimages
On November 14, 1902, the Trustees of the Church of the Holy Cross in Utica, New York, purchased four lots on the northwest shore of Twitchell Lake in Big Moose in the Adirondacks. The grantor on the deed was William Thistlethwaite, an Old Forge real estate mogul.
This gave the church 24 acres of woodland which ran a full half mile back to the State’s Forest Preserve and 400 feet of pristine lakeshore lined with ancient red spruce and towering white pine. [Read more…] about A Utica Church’s 50 Years of Adirondack Pilgrimages
Old Hudson Valley Churches Now Community Venues
Due to shrinking congregations and finances, many abandoned church buildings in New York’s Hudson Valley have been reused for other purposes. Some are now apartments or condominiums, fraternity houses, museums, historical societies, businesses and vibrant art venues and community centers. [Read more…] about Old Hudson Valley Churches Now Community Venues
George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, 1790
In August of 1790 President George Washington composed a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, and to its leader, Moses Seixas (1744–1809). Seixas had written a letter to Washington several days earlier.
Washington responded with the brief letter below, expressing America’s enduring commitment to the principle of tolerance and the freedom of conscience. [Read more…] about George Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, 1790
Hoboken: A Tale of Immigration & Frank Sinatra
Located on the River Scheldt (Schelde), Hoboken is a southern district of the city of Antwerp in Flanders. The name originates in the medieval Dutch phrase Hooghe Buechen (Hoge Beuken, or tall beech trees). Today there is a geriatric hospital in Hoboken named Hoge Beuken. The first historical records of the place date from the year 1135.
The New Jersey area of Hoboken on the western shore of the Hudson River was inhabited by Lenape indigenous people who called it Hopoghan Hackingh (Land of the Tobacco Pipe) for its green-veined rock from which they carved their pipes. [Read more…] about Hoboken: A Tale of Immigration & Frank Sinatra
Manhattan’s St. Vincent’s Hospital: A Deeper Dive
A Monument of Charity: St. Vincent’s Hospital and Catholic Health Care in New York City (NYU Press, 2026) by Thomas F. Rzeznik provides the first comprehensive history of this remarkable institution, from its humble beginnings to its abrupt closure. What follows is a Q & A with the author: [Read more…] about Manhattan’s St. Vincent’s Hospital: A Deeper Dive
Hamlet in Manhattan: Relics, Bones & Skulls
Having been central to Catholic devotion for centuries, relics are physical remains of saints or holy figures, believed to be conduits of divine power. Displayed in cathedrals, monasteries, and convents, they invited the worship of churchgoers and pilgrims.
To them, relics connected the material with the immaterial, linked heaven and earth, and forged contacts between past and present. [Read more…] about Hamlet in Manhattan: Relics, Bones & Skulls
19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers
The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 19 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include a nineteenth-century church in Jefferson County that developed and promoted Universalism in Upstate New York, a pre-Revolutionary War house owned by seven generations of the Hulse family on Long Island’s North Shore, and additional documentation for New York City’s Hotel Chelsea recognizing its significance as a center of LGBTQ cultural and creative life. [Read more…] about 19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers
St. Vincent’s Hospital: New York City’s Other ‘Ground Zero’
St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village began in 1849 with a simple, but radical mission: to care for all those in need regardless of race, creed, or financial means. For more than 160 years, the hospital carried out that work, serving notables and the nameless alike, from impoverished immigrants and those stricken by devastating nineteenth-century epidemics to AIDS patients and the victims of the attacks of 9/11.
Part of the former Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers healthcare system in New York City, St. Vincent’s closed on April 30, 2010, was demolished two years later and has become luxury condos. [Read more…] about St. Vincent’s Hospital: New York City’s Other ‘Ground Zero’
Coffee History: Enlightenment, Industry, Slavery & War
We brew it at home, we drink it at work, we socialize over a cup, or stop in at a café for its energy boost—never once reflecting on how the popularization of coffee literally changed the world.
It all began in Ethiopia, where coffee plants (Coffea) grew wild. It was discovered that the seeds of the coffee plant could be roasted and ground to yield a robust beverage with an unexpected effect. It seems to have become popular in the late-1400s and spread to Yemen quickly thereafter. [Read more…] about Coffee History: Enlightenment, Industry, Slavery & War
Emma Lazarus, Nativism & The Gates of Immigration
Poet Emma Lazarus was active from the mid-1860s until her death in 1887. She descended from a well-established Sephardic family in Manhattan. Her presence coincided with the arrival of waves of Ashkenazi refugees from Eastern Europe. Their customs, Yiddish language, and political activism were distinct from the assimilated Sephardic community.
Emma created two contrasting sonnets on immigration, both dated 1883. Set against the socio-political background of their time of publication, these poems highlight some of the historical and continuous controversies surrounding the issue. [Read more…] about Emma Lazarus, Nativism & The Gates of Immigration
Apocalyptic Abolitionism & The End of Slavery
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
1827: An Old Cannon from Bloody Pond Explodes in Glens Falls
July 4, 1827 was a special day in New York and certainly one for celebratory events around the state. It was the 51st anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776). Moreover, July 4, 1827 was the final emancipation of enslaved people in the state of New York, the anniversary of which is being commemorated statewide next year.
Peleg Weaver, age 22, always enjoyed the merriment of commemorative festivities. With a few friends, Weaver planned some July 4th fireworks on Warren Street in Glens Falls, behind the Abraham Wing residence. Abraham Wing (1721–1795) was a founder of Glens Falls and Queensbury. [Read more…] about 1827: An Old Cannon from Bloody Pond Explodes in Glens Falls
Beer, Hops, Reformation & Prohibition
Christianity banned beer from the sacred domain as the Roman clergy continued the Latin habit of drinking wine. The opposition: Christian wine versus pagan beer, was upheld even in the north of Europe. Believers accepted wine’s sacramental role, whatever their climates, social habits, or drinking customs.
The Catholic Church was, at the same time, actively involved in the lucrative business of beer making. The Reformation was not just a schism that breached the unity of the Church, it was also a revolt against clergy-imposed customs that brought about a drastic change – from herbs to hops – in beer production and consumption. [Read more…] about Beer, Hops, Reformation & Prohibition
Benjamin Franklin’s Travels Through Upstate New York in 1776
A 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin passed through upstate New York in the spring of 1776 on a mission to Canada that failed in the moment but helped shape the American Revolution.
Traveling north in poor health, Franklin traveled up the Hudson River, passing through Albany, Saratoga, and up Lake Champlain, reaching Montreal in April 1776. [Read more…] about Benjamin Franklin’s Travels Through Upstate New York in 1776
The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa
In the heart of Ballston Spa, in Saratoga County, NY, on the main thoroughfare of Milton Avenue, sits a stone structure called the First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa.
This edifice, made of gray Vermont marble, was completed in 1896, but the church family goes back to 1791 even before the Village of Ballston Spa was formed. [Read more…] about The First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa