History, Natural History & the Arts
In June, the Hudson River Valley Greenway fielded a call from Alan Jay, who just completed paddling the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Waterford with his brother-in-law Michael.
The next day Jay would start his solo adventure paddling the Hudson River toward New York City – he needed a Hudson River Water Trail Guide. [Read more…] about Kayaker Alan Jay Paddles From Buffalo to Manhattan in 31 Days
The Nolan Family immigrated from Ireland and settled in Stillwater, Ballston, and after the Civil War, in Waterford, all in Saratoga County. The Nolan’s were a large family, a good many had served in the war, and most enlisted for the rewards of the bounty paid to the volunteers.
Michael Nolan, the father of the Nolan girls, had enlisted in the storied 77th Infantry Regiment based out of Saratoga. The 77th fought in many of the war’s epic battles. Michael had enlisted for three years and served out his full term. Prior to the war he resided in Stillwater and was employed as a farm laborer. [Read more…] about The Nolan Sisters: A Famous Waterford Poisoning Case
Even before the United States entered the Second World War, Americans joined Great Britain’s war effort – among those who volunteered was Capital District native Eugene E. Chouiniere.
Chouiniere was 19-years-old when he died in a British Royal Air Force (RAF) mission to Germany. The crew included three Brits, two Canadians and three Americans. Letters to the families of the crew from the RAF stated that “it must be regretfully accepted and officially recorded that he [Eugene] does not have a known grave,” and thus their aircraft was “lost without a trace.”
Now independent historians think they know where the aircraft, a Avro Lancaster R5695EM-C Bomber, rests 80 years after it went down. [Read more…] about Cohoes Airman Eugene Chouiniere, Missing Since WWII, Being Memorialized
Waterford, NY’s involvement in the Industrial Revolution was more significant than its geographical size would imply. Family-owned and operated business ventures were the norm and usually a first and second-generation operation.
Names that immediately come to the fore such families as brothers Hugh and Canvas White, the Knickerbocker, Kavanaugh, Button, Breslin, and King families all demonstrated the business model of the period; manufacturing firms that employed many hands from Saratoga County and surrounding communities. [Read more…] about The Eddy Family: Capital Region Industrialists
The 20th President of the United States, James Garfield, was born in a log cabin in Ohio and was a mule driver on the Ohio & Erie Canal. A graduate of Williams College, he later became an attorney and a skilled orator, and was elected to Congress in 1862.
He then served as a Major General during the Civil War. In the 1880 election Garfield conducted a “Front Porch Campaign” and narrowly defeated another Civil War General, Gettysburg hero Winfield Scott Hancock. [Read more…] about John Porter: Garfield Assassin Prosecutor from Waterford
This might just be the image of a once well-known but now forgotten canal man who boasted fast cash and could bellow sweet, eloquent canal ballads near Waterford and Cohoes, active for decades between the 1870s to the early 20th century.
On December 22, 1938, Works Progress Administration (WPA) worker R. P. Gray came into the acquaintance of one Tom Kilboy. Gray was part of the Federal Writers’ Project, created in 1935 “to provide employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians, and other white-collar workers” according to the Library of Congress.
It was in that work that Kilboy had been interviewed in his apartment at 2307 Broadway, West Troy – today’s Watervliet. [Read more…] about Erie Canal Balladeer Tom Kilboy: A Short Biography
The Hudson River Valley Greenway (HRVG) and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) have announced the completion of two projects to improve a total of 4.2 miles of the Empire State Trail (EST) in Waterford and Cohoes. [Read more…] about Empire State Trail Improvements in Waterford & Cohoes
The following 
letter was original published in the trade magazine American Stationer on May 1st, 1890.
To the Editor of The Stationer
As the heated term of the year draws near I presume that any number of stationer clerks [stationary store clerks] are asking themselves as to how, when and where they shall spend their vacations. I want to give them a bit of advice regarding a summer outing. [Read more…] about 1890 Hikers: Albany to Lake George and Back
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced that cleanup of contamination a historic cooperage site on the old Champlain Canal is expected to resume this month.
In its early years, Friedrichsohn Cooperage (also spelled Fredrickson) made and refurbished wooden kegs and barrels. DEC says the cooperage dates to 1817, but some historians claim as early as 1791. Tradition has it that meat-packer Samuel Wilson of Troy (Uncle Sam) was among the company’s customers. [Read more…] about Clean-Up Planned For Historic Cooperage Site On Old Champlain Canal
The Preservation League of NYS has received a $33,000 grant from the 1772 Foundation. This grant is expected to allow the League, in partnership with Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, to identify and study vacant and underutilized historic buildings along a portion of the NYS Canal System and Empire State Trail that could be sensitively repurposed to provide services for recreational travelers along that corridor.
The survey area will focus on a 90-mile radius around the League’s Albany headquarters, from Utica to Whitehall, all within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. [Read more…] about Empire Trail Historic Assessment Being Conducted, Utica to Whitehall