New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Staatsburgh State Historic Site

Staatsburgh State Historic Site Fall Themed Tours, Events Planned

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Staatsburgh State Historic Site (photo by Andrew Halpern provided)Staatsburgh State Historic Site, the Gilded Age retreat of Ruth and Ogden Mills in Dutchess County, New York, will host a book talk and several themed tours this fall – A Life in Service, Gilded Age Scandals, and Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh – along with Susan Stessin-Cohn, author of In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley, 1735–1831.

Overlooking the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains, Staatsburgh is a fine example of a great estate built by America’s financial and industrial leaders during the Gilded Age (1876 – 1917). [Read more…] about Staatsburgh State Historic Site Fall Themed Tours, Events Planned

Staatsburgh Magic Lantern Show Features Nellie Bly’s 1899 Round-the-World Voyage

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Nellie Bly Around the World in 72 Days GraphicA small-town girl with little education, but possessing blazing ambition and talent, Nellie Bly rose from obscurity to worldwide fame by the age of 23. Following her groundbreaking muckraking journalism, exposing the horrors of a mental asylum by going undercover as an inmate, Bly continued to harness the power of sensational journalism by embarking on a journey around the world, setting out to beat the fictional record of Jules Verne’s novel, Around the World in 80 Days (1872). [Read more…] about Staatsburgh Magic Lantern Show Features Nellie Bly’s 1899 Round-the-World Voyage

Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh State Historic Site

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A coachman for the Livingston family probably an enslaved person depicted on the Hyde Park Post Office muralStephen. Belinda. Mary. William. Dinah. Those are the known names among the nine people enslaved at what is now Staatsburgh State Historic Site in Dutchess County, NY. What do we know of their lives in the Hudson Valley and the legacy of slavery within New York today? [Read more…] about Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh State Historic Site

Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh State Historic Site

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Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh May GraphicThe Staatsburgh State Historic Site will hosts a virtual talk, “Slavery, Segragation & Staatsburgh,” on slavery in the Hudson Valley, and the birth of a free Black community, set for Thursday, May 11th, and Wednesday, May 31st. [Read more…] about Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh State Historic Site

Slavery, Segregation & Stattsburgh State Historic Site

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Depiction of Martha Church, a Black cook for a wealthy New York family, drawn by Baroness Hyde de Neuville ca 1808 Courtesy of the New York Historical SocietyIn 1810, there were nine Black people enslaved on the Staatsburgh estate in Dutchess County, NY. In 1910, the staff working inside Staatsburgh, now the Staatsburgh State Historic Site, was exclusively White and European – with only one documented Black resident in the entire hamlet. What happened?

Staatsburgh’s founder, Governor Morgan Lewis, enslaved people of African descent at Staatsburgh. Yet, when his great-granddaughter, Ruth Livingston Mills, lived at Staatsburgh at the turn of the 20th century, the staff was exclusively White and of European descent. At the same time, a free Black community was able to grow and thrive in the surrounding hamlet. [Read more…] about Slavery, Segregation & Stattsburgh State Historic Site

$100K Awarded To Museum Educators

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Pomeroy FundThe Pomeroy Fund for NYS History has awarded 20 history-related organizations across New York State $5,000 each during its fifth grant round to bring back or hire museum educators. [Read more…] about $100K Awarded To Museum Educators

Slavery & Segregation At Governor Morgan Lewis’ Staatsburgh Estate

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Depiction of a Black servant in a New York mansion, titled_The Old Sideboard_ from 1876.(1)The Staatsburgh estate’s founder, Governor Morgan Lewis, enslaved people of African descent at what is now the Staatsburgh State Historic Site. Yet, when his great-granddaughter, Ruth Livingston Mills, lived at Staatsburgh at the turn of the 20th Century, the staff was exclusively White and of European descent. At the same time, a free Black community grew and thrived in the surrounding Dutchess County hamlet. [Read more…] about Slavery & Segregation At Governor Morgan Lewis’ Staatsburgh Estate

Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh

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Depiction of a Black servant in a New York mansion, titled_The Old Sideboard_ from 1876.In recognition of Independence Day, Staatsburgh State Historic Site in Dutchess County, New York, will host the program “Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh,” exploring themes of race, freedom, and citizenship, based on recent research into Staatsburgh’s history, on July 4th. [Read more…] about Slavery, Segregation & Staatsburgh