Stone Quarries

Architecture: Convicts, Colonnades & National Prestige

October 9, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

In 1748, twenty-year-old Swiss-born Jacob Sperry arrived in the city of New York from Zurich. Trained as a physician, he abandoned medicine as his real passion was horticulture.

In 1771 he bought a plot of pastureland and turned it into the city’s first botanical garden, growing flowers, hothouse plants, and fruit. Despite its distant location on the city’s northern outskirts, his gardens became a (romantic) destination for weekend walkers and a hub for buying floral arrangements. [Read more…] about Architecture: Convicts, Colonnades & National Prestige

Venice Design & Manhattan’s Skyline

January 6, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Spread over an archipelago of islands nestled amongst the marshes of the northern Adriatic coast, Venice was founded in the fifth century AD by refugees who fled the “barbarian” onslaught after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

In 811 its seat of government transferred from the island of Malamocco (one of the earliest settlements) to an area corresponding to present St Mark’s Square which was less vulnerable to attacks from sea. [Read more…] about Venice Design & Manhattan’s Skyline

A Sketch of the Great Northern or Champlain Canal, 1822

August 18, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The following article, “INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. A Sketch of the Great Northern or Champlain Canal. Waterford, 28th Nov. 1822” was first published in The American Farmer of Baltimore, Maryland, on December 20, 1822.

On this day the last stone of the Northern or Champlain Canal, was laid by Governor Clinton, President of the Board of Canal Commissioners, in the presence of a great assemblage of people. [Read more…] about A Sketch of the Great Northern or Champlain Canal, 1822

Rowland’s Hollow: A Lost Crossroads in Saratoga County

May 8, 2025 by Jim Richmond 1 Comment

Saratoga County, NY, has seen nine generations come and go in the almost 235 years since it was carved out from Albany County in 1791. Settlers moved in, established farms, mills, and small communities. Several of these communities have become villages, cities and suburban towns.

Others have remained hamlets and become forgotten crossroads – still vibrant communities with a rich history of memories. Still others have disappeared altogether, no longer visible or remembered. [Read more…] about Rowland’s Hollow: A Lost Crossroads in Saratoga County

New York’s Scows: Workhorse Watercraft

April 6, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The wooden a freight-carrying scow was the most ubiquitous vessel in the waters of the New York, and played a crucial role in various industries. The word scow is derived from the Dutch word for the same type of vessel, schouw, which did not enter use in English until the late 1700s.

Typically towed (although some were rigged as sailing scows) it was generally decked, with a flat bottom hull and vertical sides, and its ends angled upward as a common barge (though typically smaller than a barge). [Read more…] about New York’s Scows: Workhorse Watercraft

New Carvings Added to State Capitol’s Great Western Staircase

February 25, 2025 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The New York State Office of General Services have unveiled the new carvings of “Bronx” and “Nassau” on the Capitol’s Great Western Staircase.

The Bronx and Nassau were not incorporated as counties when construction of the staircase was completed in 1898. With their inclusion, the staircase now includes the names of all of the state’s 62 counties. [Read more…] about New Carvings Added to State Capitol’s Great Western Staircase

New York’s Postwar State Park Architecture

December 23, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

After World War II, the taste for rustic architecture that defined the interwar period of New York’s state park design began to wane. This also happened across the National Park Service system, which fully embraced modern architecture in the mid-1950s. [Read more…] about New York’s Postwar State Park Architecture

James Shanahan: Stone Mason & Railroad and Canal Builder

October 16, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

At Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site you can see all three of the major phases of the Erie Canal – from the original “Clinton’s Ditch,” to the enlargements of the mid-19th century to the Barge Canal of today. You can also see Lock E-12 operated by the New York State Canal Corporation between Tribes Hill and Fort Hunter in Montgomery County, NY.

This lock has a movable dam and is one of only two which also serve as an automobile bridge. It’s known as the “James Shanahan Lock.” [Read more…] about James Shanahan: Stone Mason & Railroad and Canal Builder

Abandoned Stone Quarries of Schoharie County

May 5, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Late in the 19th century, stone was king of building materials and much of the cut stone which helped transform New York into the Empire State came from Schoharie County. There were eight limestone quarries in the town of Cobleskill, with six in the village alone. The largest, located near Barnerville, employed 450 men to fulfill a huge contract with the city of New York, worth the equivalent of approximately $65 million today. [Read more…] about Abandoned Stone Quarries of Schoharie County

Albany’s Unique Architecture: H.H. Richardson

March 22, 2012 by Sean Kelleher 1 Comment

Any visitor to Albany has to consider the unique architecture styles that define the city. New York Almanack had the recent opportunity to talk with Andrew Alberti, the program manager for Lakes to Locks Passage, about Albany’s architecture.

Alberti studied the history of Albany’s architecture when he was a Masters student at the University at Albany’s public history program. [Read more…] about Albany’s Unique Architecture: H.H. Richardson

Stone Quarries

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