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Rockland County

Heritage Tourism Lessons from the Tappan Zee Bridge

November 3, 2014 by Peter Feinman 4 Comments

designOnce upon a time America was known for its building projects, for its infrastructure, for its vision of a better tomorrow. New York was in the forefront of such optimism and achievement. Think of the Erie Canal which helped make us the Empire State, the Croton Aqueduct, the Brooklyn Bridge, the skyscrapers from the Woolworth Building to the Empire State Building to the Twin Towers, and, of course, Robert Moses. Now the new Tappan Zee Bridge bids to join this pantheon of larger than life achievements made in New York.

Besides all the other concerns related to the bridge, there is the issue of tourism. Back in June, Mary Kay Vrba, tourism director for Dutchess County and leader of the Hudson Valley Path region, spoke to 50 people at “Destination Rockland: Blazing New Trails in Tourism.” Visions of jingling cash registers filled the heads of the participants who envisioned tourists by foot, bike, and later a revitalized bus system bringing people from the east side of the river to Rockland County. Alden Wolfe, chairman of the Rockland County Legislature convened the conference as a “launching point” for future discussion on this subject. [Read more…] about Heritage Tourism Lessons from the Tappan Zee Bridge

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Architecture, Dutchess County, Economic Development, Hudson River, Path Through History, Public History, Rockland County, Tourism, Transportation

In Haverstraw, The House That Inspired Hitchcock

October 30, 2014 by Bill Batson 18 Comments

HaverstrawThe building in my sketch at left, located in Haverstraw NY and the subject of Edward Hopper’s 1925 painting, House by the Railroad, maintains its vigil on Route 9W. Hopper’s haunting depiction of the three-story house came to the attention of the cast and crew of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie classic, Psycho. The painting inspired not only the design of the Bates Mansion in the 1960 production, but the mood of the film as well.

House by the Railroad captures the fading elegance of this victorian-style home, located just south of St. Peter’s Cemetery. His composition shows a solitary structure, cut off from the world by a set of railroad tracks. Today, the building is still visually incarcerated by a heavily trafficked road, power lines, a chain linked fence and the railroad that gave the original painting its name and theme. [Read more…] about In Haverstraw, The House That Inspired Hitchcock

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Architecture, Art History, Film History, Halloween, Rockland County

Sylvia Roth: A Nyack House Haunted by Art

September 9, 2014 by Bill Batson Leave a Comment

NSL155_Featured-ImageWhen printmaker Sylvia Roth moved into her home in South Nyack in 1977, she had no idea it was the birthplace of a major figure in American art, Joseph Cornell. This house on Piermont Avenue seems to have its own designs, selecting artistic occupants for over a century.

Emily Dickinson, Cornell’s enduring muse, wrote that “nature is a haunted house, but art is a house that tries to be haunted.” As Roth describes the creative output of subsequent generations of her family, one begins to suspect that this is a house haunted by art. [Read more…] about Sylvia Roth: A Nyack House Haunted by Art

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Art History, Nyack, Rockland County

Lower Hudson Valley Public Historians Meeting

August 28, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

APHNYS-Regions-Map1The Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS), Region 3, will hold its 2014 meeting on Saturday, September 20, 2014 from 9:45 am to 2:00 pm at the Westchester County historical Society, 2199 Saw Mill River Road, Elmsford, NY. Region 3 includes Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, and Orange counties.

Registration for the 2014 APHNYS Region 3 Meeting should be mailed to: Suzanne Isaksen, APHNYS Region 3 Coordinator, 10 Windrift Lane, Walden, NY 12586-1524. Include the names and titles (e.g. “Town of Montgomery Historian”) of attendees, along with telephone and e-mail contact information. A fee of $10.00 per person is being charged to help defray costs of lunch and refreshments. Make checks payable to APHNYS. [Read more…] about Lower Hudson Valley Public Historians Meeting

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Association of Public Historians of NYS, Conferences, Dutchess County, Municipal Historians, Orange County, Public History, Putnam County, Rockland County, Westchester County

45 Years After Stonewall: Gay Pride Rockland

June 10, 2014 by Bill Batson Leave a Comment

Gay Pride Rockland CountyOver 1,000 people gathered for the first Gay Pride event in Nyack in 1999. As if to prove the positive force that this public affirmation of sexual identity can have, a Village of Nyack Trustee named John Shields, who would later serve four terms as Mayor, publicly came out of the closet that day.

In the late 1990s, if you lived in Nyack and wanted to attend one of the major Gay Pride celebrations that are held around the country each June, you had to travel to Manhattan. Phyllis B. Frank, Associate Executive Director of VCS, Inc. enjoyed the annual pride pilgrimage to the city, but thought aloud to others that “even if we had just a group walking behind one sign, we needed to do something for Gay Pride here in Rockland.” [Read more…] about 45 Years After Stonewall: Gay Pride Rockland

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Civil Rights, Gender History, Greenwich Village, Rockland County

Civil War Politics: Rockland County Homefront Disputes

May 29, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Brian JenningsA evening lecture by Brian Jennings, History Librarian of the New City Library, will be hosted by The Historical Society of Rockland County on Thursday, June 12, 2014. “Civil War, Politics, and Peace: Disputes on Rockland’s Homefront” will include a discussion of the 1860 presidential election, as well as Rockland County’s response to the firing on Fort Sumter.

Jennings will discuss the early companies formed in Rockland County, as well as the response of citizens to support their soldiers and the controversial peace conventions in Rockland. His analysis will be drawn largely from the coverage of events in local newspapers and from enlistment records and census documents. [Read more…] about Civil War Politics: Rockland County Homefront Disputes

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Civil War, Historical Society of Rockland County, Political History, Rockland County

Thurgood Marshall’s 1940s Rockland County Desegregation Case

May 15, 2014 by Bill Batson Leave a Comment

Brook students being turned away from the Hillburn SchoolLike most public school students of color in mid-20th century America, Travis Jackson did not have a white classmate for a significant portion of his education. This demographic detail was not coincidental, but by design and accomplished with the pernicious misuse of public funds to maintain separate schools for black children. [Read more…] about Thurgood Marshall’s 1940s Rockland County Desegregation Case

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Black History, Civil Rights, Education, Legal History, Rockland County

Notes On A High School Local History Conference

April 30, 2014 by Peter Feinman 2 Comments

SchoolThe high school local history conference is something I recommend every county should do. For the past two years, Rockland County has held such a conference. I attended both conferences and spoke briefly at the first one. This post is dedicated to some of the lessons I learned from the conference.

First, the Historical Society of Rockland County and the County Historian are to be congratulated for organizing the conference and for the people who did attend. The list includes the County Executive, the County Clerk, the County District Attorney, the County Legislative Chair, along with various town supervisors and municipal historians. One never knows where one will find history. For example the District Attorney, who in this case followed in his father’s footsteps, may have tales to tell about prosecutions which became part of the fabric of county history. Certainly the presence of these officials delivered a powerful message in support of local history. [Read more…] about Notes On A High School Local History Conference

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Common Core, Education, Public History, Rockland County, Social Studies Curriculum

Mount Moor: Nyack’s Segregated Cemetery

April 29, 2014 by Bill Batson 6 Comments

Mount Moor Historical MarkerCemeteries were segregated in America until the mid-20th century. Even black veterans of America’s armed conflicts were dishonored when buried. Today, Mount Moor Cemetery stands as a monument to the twisted logic of racial discrimination. But the cemetery of approximately 90 veterans and civilians also serves as a symbol of perseverance and defiance.

The gravestones at Mount Moor endure, despite the initial efforts of the developers of the Palisades Mall to obliterate the burial ground. [Read more…] about Mount Moor: Nyack’s Segregated Cemetery

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Black History, Cemeteries, Civil War, Nyack, Rockland County, World War Two

Peter Feinman: The Rockland County State of History

April 24, 2014 by Peter Feinman 6 Comments

Rockland CountyRockland is a compact county located along the border of New Jersey to the south, and the Hudson River to the east. It broke away from the more sprawling Orange County to the north in 1798, in part due to the challenge of governing an area split by the Ramapo Mountains.

Over the years, the area has been home to various peoples who didn’t fit in with the larger Dutch and English populations. The county consists of five towns including one with over 100,000 people, more than one-third the county’s total population. There are 19 villages and numerous hamlets. [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: The Rockland County State of History

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Hudson River, Public History, Rockland County

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