History, Natural History & the Arts
The Hudson Valley is more than just scenic vistas — it is a birthplace of American history. From Native Americans to the Gilded Age, history has unfolded all along the Hudson River.
Local historian and occasional New York Almanack contributor A.J. Schenkman traces the histories of one of America’s most historic regions in A History Lover’s Guide to the Hudson Valley (History Press, 2026). [Read more…] about A History Lover’s Guide to the Hudson Valley
You might think that America’s battlegrounds were always seen as sacred, but that wasn’t always the case.
For more than a century after the 1777 Battles of Saratoga what is now the 2,500-acre Saratoga National Historical Park remained what it had been before the battles: private farmland. There were fields and pastures, with a few new buildings. [Read more…] about The CCC Helped Preserve Saratoga Battlefield Park
Lake George, NY resident Harrison Bird (1910-2003) belonged to a rare class of historians, those whose situate the local within the continental and, indeed, the global.
In four books published by Oxford University Press – Navies in the Mountains (1962), March to Saratoga (1963), Battle for a Continent (1965) and Attack on Quebec (1968) – Bird wrote about Lake George, Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Quebec and the northern waterways not as isolated historic sites, but as parts of one strategic corridor: the route by which empires, armies, navies and ambitions moved between Canada and the Hudson Valley. [Read more…] about New York’s Great Warpath & Historian Harrison Bird
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
Where the Hoosic and Mohawk rivers meet the Hudson River was a major Indigenous crossroads. Three major native pathways came together there: 1) The Hoosic River offered the main route east to New England, over the Berkshires and into Massachusetts. 2) The Mohawk River guided the way west. 3) The east side of the Hudson Valley provided a pathway north to Lake Champlain and Canada.
These well-worn trails, on which colonists later built their roads, linked the waterways used by Indigenous hunters, traders, and families moving between settlements. Stone, minerals, and other natural material from as far west as Michigan have been found in this region, revealing a broad network of trade among Native people, long before Europeans arrived. [Read more…] about The Road North: From Native Networks to the Champlain Canal
The United States Patent Commission was created on April 10, 1790, to establish a formal method for submitting and indexing patents. Its first three members were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of War Henry Knox, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph.
As only three people made up the early patent office, the first applications were not closely examined. An inventor simply submitted a written description, a working model, and a $30 fee (equivalent to about $1,000 today). [Read more…] about Early Saratoga County Inventors & The Patent Office Fire
What follows is a report made by the directors of the Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company of the country between the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. The expedition during which this survey was conducted was led by Philip Schuyler in September 1792 to establish a route for the Champlain Canal.
By the act of incorporation, the navigation of Hudson River, from the mouth of the creek on which the grist mill occupied by Colonel Rensselaer [Nicholas Van Rensselaer, 1754-1848, or Colonel Kiliaen van Rensselaer, 1717–1781] is erected in the town of Troy [possibly the Poesten Kill or Wynants Kill] to opposite the house of Mr. Tibbets [George Tibbits, 1763–1849] in Lansingburg is to be rendered navigable for boats drawing four feet water when loaded. [Read more…] about Surveying The Champlain Canal Route, 1792
King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace:continues the contest for North America from the end of Queen Anne’s War in 1713, marking the beginning of the Thirty-Year Peace, through the start of King George’s War in 1744, to its conclusion with the signing of Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle four years later.
While there would be little fighting between the French, Spanish, and British colonies in North America during the Thirty-Year Peace — the Franco-Spanish conflict of 1719 being an exception — for the French and British it did not prove to be peaceful. [Read more…] about King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace
On a bright morning early this fall (in Saratoga, we call this Victory Season), the tow path along the Hudson River near the Schuyler House stretches ahead, shaded by tall grasses and rippling quietly in the Champlain Canal’s still water.
A beaver slips beneath the surface, a reminder that natural forces and human hands have shaped this corridor for centuries. This stretch of river, now quiet and scenic, once pulsed with the commerce and conflict of colonial New York. [Read more…] about Colonial Saratoga: Fur, Families, and the Borderlands
Lucretia Foot Booth was born in 1804 in Troy, NY, the only child of Ebenezer Foot and Betsey Colt Foot. She grew up in a household deeply committed to education. Lucretia inherited a dedication to learning and supporting educational equality for girls, ensuring they received a parallel education from those of their male counterparts. [Read more…] about The Educational Legacy of Lucretia Foot Booth
More than 75 people gathered Sunday at Prospect Hill Cemetery in the Village of Victory, Saratoga County, — just steps from the site of British Gen. John Burgoyne’s 1777 surrender—to commemorate four Revolutionary War anniversaries and rededicate a cornerstone of American memory.
The event, hosted by Saratoga 250, featured the dedication of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Knox Artillery Cannon, the 248th anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga, the 250th anniversary of Gen. Henry Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery, and the 148th anniversary of the Freemasons’ cornerstone-laying of the Saratoga Monument. [Read more…] about Knox Artillery Train Cannon Relay Set for December
The Turning Point Parade and Festival returns to Schuylerville, NY from Sunday, August 3 through Saturday, August 9, 2025. The week offers more than a dozen free public programs designed to celebrate Saratoga’s Revolutionary War legacy while engaging families in hands-on history, science, and cultural storytelling.
Events are free and open to the public, with locations across the Village of Schuylerville and nearby Hudson Crossing Park on the Hudson River in Saratoga County. [Read more…] about 30th Annual Turning Point Parade and Festival, August 3 – 9
While Saratoga’s battlefields recall the thunder of cannon and clash of arms, a recent event in Schuylerville reminded audiences that the American Revolution was also fought with words. At the 4th Annual Turning Point & Women in War Symposium on May 3, heritage tourists and historians gathered to honor Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) — writer, thinker, and patriot — whose pen helped shape the course of independence. [Read more…] about Behind Every Battle A Pen: Mercy Otis Warren
On a cold February 7th in 1791, Saratoga County officially separated from Albany County, marking its beginning as an independent community. Known as “Saratoga” by Indigenous peoples and later formalized by colonial settlers, the county has long been defined by its strategic location and historical significance. [Read more…] about In Saratoga County, History Matters
In 1895, railroad travel through the Champlain Valley got a service upgrade. “Vestibule dining room cars will be run on three of the Delaware and Hudson trains beginning July 1,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on June 29, 1895. “Train No. 102’s dining car will run from Plattsburg to Whitehall, No. 101 from Whitehall to Rouses Point, and Train No. 8 will serve supper from Rouses Point to Plattsburg.”
In other 19th century railroad news collected from Northern New York historic newspapers: [Read more…] about Northern New York Railroad News, 1880-1895
In 1898, James Colby Harrington was known in Schuylerville as an honest and friendly young man, yet only four years later he had gained the title “Schuylerville’s Star Swindler.”
And that is only the beginning, as this story spans 30 years and traverses a thousand miles as it follows the life of this notorious con man. [Read more…] about James Colby Harrington: Con Man Extraordinaire
As the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga approaches, the story of General Philip Schuyler’s house stands as a powerful testament to the resilience of early Americans during the Revolutionary War.
Located in Schuylerville, in Saratoga County, New York, this historic estate embodies the struggle, sacrifice, and determination that shaped a new nation. [Read more…] about Schuyler House: A Tale of Destruction and Rebirth
A distortion of its Haudenosaunee name, possibly meaning “the hillside country of the quiet river,” modern-day Saratoga County is located just north of Albany, New York, and was a vital crossroad during the second year of the American Revolutionary War.
Positioned between Lake George and the Hudson River, the relatively open land of this region connects what were two vital transportation routes, especially during the 1700s. These waterborne highways allowed for the rapid transfer of troops and supplies by boat. [Read more…] about New Interpretation Plan for Saratoga Campaign Sites
The American Battlefield Trust has transferred 25.6 historic acres to the National Park Service (NPS) for permanent care and stewardship, allowing the Saratoga National Historical Park to deepen its interpretive offerings, particularly related to the siege that occurred between the opening and concluding battles of the month-long engagement known as the Battles of Saratoga. [Read more…] about 26 Acres Added to Saratoga National Historical Park
October is the month we celebrate Halloween and the anniversary of General John Burgoyne’s surrender at the Battles of Saratoga. It is also the month which precedes a much anticipated national election, which many look forward to, yet others fear the consequences.
One of the candidates seeking office has used a term, which for better or worse, has entered the American lexicon, “childless cat women.” Intended as a rather nasty insult, it has been seized upon by some as a mantra of opposition.
In Upstate New York, where Halloween includes spooky local lore, and where Burgoyne’s surrender took place, it might be interesting to consider a “childless cat woman” of the past who had also been considered a witch. [Read more…] about The Witch of Saratoga: Angeline Tubbs, History & Folklore
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