History, Natural History & the Arts
The city of New Rochelle has a relevant place in the founding history of the United States. It was here that in 1689 a small community of French Protestant refugees would settle.
Known as Huguenots, they exercised considerable influence on America’s course towards self-determination. George Washington descended from a Huguenot refugee on his mother’s side. [Read more…] about Huguenots & New Rochelle’s Spirit of Liberty
From Philadelphia, on July 3rd, 1776, John Adams mailed a letter to his wife, Abigail, in Boston. The letter explained the historic decisions agreed upon by the Continental Congress and the plans for celebration.
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” ~ John Adams
[Read more…] about Andre-Arnold Project Highlighting Westchester Co Treason Sites
The teaching of anatomy at European medical schools had become standard practice by the middle of the sixteenth century. Instruction included the dissection of a human corpse. Initially, bodies at hand were those of (male) criminals or heretics.
The occasional dissection of a woman, it being a public event, attracted large numbers of spectators by the prospect of the exposure of female organs. A dissection at the time was both education and spectacle. It was attended by professionals, painters, and the curious alike. The cutting up of a body was a celebration of scientific progress. [Read more…] about Body Snatching at New Rochelle: Cobbett & Paine
The 1920s witnessed a new era of Americans who were at ease committing their hard earned dollars toward the privilege of being spectators of live sport. In horse racing, John McEntee Bowman became the President of the United Hunts Racing Association, an organization of cross-country enthusiasts in 1922.
Bowman was an impressive fellow, certainly one of the best rags-to-riches stories in turf history, from immigrant groom to multi-millionaire owner and track operator, while developing a successful national business brand, the Biltmore Hotel chain. Through his flagship hotel and banquet facilities in New York City, Bowman was able to cultivate the social side of jump racing during the winter months, which increased the sport’s following immensely. [Read more…] about Horse Racing History: Westchester County’s Bowman Park
In 1976, as the nation prepared to celebrate its 200th birthday, my parents were already a year into the hunt for records of an elusive ancestor: Sanbun Ford, a founder of the town of Milton, in Saratoga County. [Read more…] about Sanbun Ford: An American Revolutionary Rediscovered
The Committee to Save the Thomas Paine Memorial Building has announced a celebration of the building’s designation as a New Rochelle Historical Landmark, set for Sunday, September 6th, at 1:30 pm.
The brief outdoor ceremony will feature community leaders and supporters, Committee members, and Board members of the Huguenot and New Rochelle Historical Association and the Thomas Paine National Historical Association. [Read more…] about New Rochelle’s Thomas Paine Memorial Building Event
In the third episode of the podcast series Legends and Lore of the Empire State, A New York Minute In History explores the inspirations behind Washington Irving’s Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820). [Read more…] about The Inspiration Behind Ichabod Crane And The Headless Horseman (Podacst)
Like millions this past 4th of July weekend, my family tuned in to Disney’s streaming of Lin Manuel-Miranda’s epic Hamilton.
The performances indeed blew us all away. Our toes tapped under our tray tables to Daveed Diggs’ electric portrayal of Thomas Jefferson and “What Did I Miss?” Our hearts pained over Phillipa Soo’s gorgeously rendered entreaties “Look Around” and “That Would Be Enough.”
But all these indelible lyrics underscored why we will never be satisfied. Despite the brilliance of the script and cast, in dramatizing the life and times of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda left us longing for narratives beyond those of the Founding Fathers and their rarefied circle. Now we want to know what will come next to fill the ever more obvious omissions in our nation’s history. [Read more…] about The Hamilton Musical And History’s Unsung
Shortly before the City of New Rochelle recently became nationally famous (or infamous ) as an epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, a controversy was developing over the threatened destruction of the Thomas Paine Museum Memorial Building on North Avenue. [Read more…] about A Last Chance To Save The Thomas Paine Museum
During the American Revolution (from July 6 until August 18, 1781), the Odell House in the present Westchester County hamlet of Hartsdale served as the headquarters of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien d e Vimeur (comte de Rochambeau).
Nearby fields and hills in the current Town of Greenburgh accommodated approximately 6,000 soldiers in the French expeditionary forces under his command. [Read more…] about Revolutionary War Farmhouse Will Be Preserved