Weekly/Bi-Weekly Newsletter

Newsletter #13, September 18, 2020

Hello Members, Friends and Supporters of the New Paltz Historical Society,

Welcome to the New Paltz Historical Society’s Newsletter.

Newsletter #13, September 18, 2020

* As we approach the first day of Autumn, it looks like it may be awhile before we once again meet at the New Paltz Community Center for a live presentation. We are cancelling our monthly public meetings and local history presentations for the rest of 2020, and possibly longer.

Thankfully, we have an alternate method to bring you our monthly presentations, and that is through using ZOOM for our illustrated talks. We have already had three great speakers, and more are on the way.

Our first ZOOM meeting, Grave Encounters: Hudson Valley Headstone Design, featured Guest Presenter Marisa Hayes, on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. That was followed by an event we co-hosted with Elting Memorial Library of New Paltz, The Missing Chapter, presented by Susan Stessin-Cohn on Monday, August 24, 2020. Then the first talk of the Fall Season was The Preservation of the Fishkill Supply Depot, by Guest Speaker Lance Ashworth, on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.

Upcoming events will be presented as ZOOM meetings on the first Wednesday of each month, at 7:00 pm. Our speakers have been confirmed through December, and as soon as I have lined up our speakers for the new year, I will let you know.

Here is the rest of our 2020 schedule:

Wednesday, October 7, 2020 - Perrine’s Covered Bridge: Fiction & Fact, an Illustrated Talk by Ronald Knapp.

Wednesday, Nov 4, 2020 – Lost Industries of Ulster County – Kingston's Omnibuses & Trolleys, presented by Marilou Abramshe.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020 - Cooking by the Book: Celebrity Chefs, Cookbookery, and the Changing Landscape of American Cuisine, with food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson.

All these ZOOM presentations will start at 7:00 pm. You will receive an invitation by email to register for each of these events. Once registered, you will receive the link to attend the meeting.

We hope to resume the live lecture series as soon as possible, and will inform you of any developments through these Newsletters. Our decisions will be based New York State Policy, sound medical advice, social distancing issues, the Town, County and State guidelines, and Community Center policy and room capacity. Your health and safety is our main concern.

** We continue our series of video lectures originally hosted by the Senate House State Historic Site, in Kingston. This series, “Kingston’s Buried Treasures” featured the forgotten, yet vital people of Kingston, and the events that took place in New York’s first capital, one of America’s most unique communities. Kingston’s history tells more than just the story of a city - its arguably the story of a nation. Through war and peace, boom and bust, Kingston’s place in our state and our national lore has few rivals. One of our past (and favorite) speakers, Paul O'Neill, Commissioner of Jurors for Ulster County, facilitated this series.

Kingston City Hall

This lecture is titled “Kingston City Hall: The House That United Kingston” and is presented by Tom Hoffay. Kingston City Hall is located at 420 Broadway. When Kingston and Rondout Villages merged to become the City of Kingston in 1872, both fought to have the seat of the government built in their sector. To satisfy borth parties, state officials decided the site for the city hall building would be a hill on central Broadway that was located near the borders of the two villages. Architect Arthur Crooks won the building design competition in which 11 architects competed. Construction costs came to $48,000. In 1927 a blaze burned the building's upper floor, roof, and bell tower, and hundreds watched as the two-ton fire bell came crashing down and smashed through the front steps. In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first such listing in the city of Kingston. The city government moved to a new building the next year, leaving the building vacant for over 20 years. After an extensive restoration in the late 20th century, the city has moved back in.

Click https://youtu.be/Zemb9J02Qgc to begin viewing this lecture. This talk originally took place at the Senate House on Aug. 16, 2013.
(Note: the lecture begins at about 58 seconds into the video, and the total time of the video is approx. 1 hour and 36 minutes.)

*** RECIPES & ADVERTISEMENTS – Click here to view a pdf (titled ads & recipes), to view a few recipes from a 1920’s New Paltz cookbook, and some of the advertisements from the sponsors who helped pay for its publication. The clippings open a small window to life in New Paltz 100 years ago. Enjoy!

**** Here is another local self-guided driving/walking tour. Actually, it is four tours, centered on Rhinebeck, created by Nancy Kelly, Rhinebeck Town Historian, and available both online or as a PDF. The tours take you through the history of the Rhinebeck area, and the online or PDF Guides tell you the story of what you will see. Titled Exploring Rhinebeck, the tours can be done in any order, singly or in a group. The individual tours are as follows:

- TOUR #1: The Old Post Road

- TOUR #2: Salisbury Turnpike & Pilgrim's Progress

- TOUR #3: Morton & South Mill Road

- TOUR #4: Salisbury Turnpike

You can access the tours from this link: https://dchsny.org/nkellytours/

***** We encourage you to visit our website and Facebook page.
Click on the link and check it our website: https://sites.google.com/view/newpaltzhistoricalsociety/home.

And here is our Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/newpaltzhistoricalsociety

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome! Let us know what you think of our digital presence on the web.

****** We hope that you are enjoying our Newsletter, and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, let us know by dropping us a line at: nphistoricalsociety@gmail.com.

Stay safe, stay home, wear a mask, and keep 6 feet apart! We will get through this!

Diane, Ashley, Marny, Jack, Dolly, and Susan

You were added to this newsletter’s mailing list because you signed up through our website or participated in one of our presentations. if you would like to unsubscribe for this newsletter, please let us know.

Newsletter #12, August 1, 2020

Hello Members, Friends and Supporters of the New Paltz Historical Society,

Welcome to the New Paltz Historical Society’s Newsletter.

Newsletter #12, August 1, 2020

(NOTE: If you have any difficulty getting any links to open, hold down the Control (CTRL) key in the lower left
of your keyboard, and then place your cursor on the link and left click on it.)

* As we reach the middle of summer, and we have to cancel another live presentation in August, it is becoming more and more obvious to us that it may be awhile before we once again meet at the New Paltz Community Center for a live presentation. The reality is that we will most likely have to cancel our monthly public meetings and local history presentations for the rest of 2020. We are exploring alternate possibilities for the near future including You Tube, Zoom, and other emerging technologies, as a way to bring you a monthly presentation.

Wednesday night, July 29, we entered virtual reality with our first Illustrated ZOOM Meeting, titled "Grave Encounters: Hudson Valley Headstone Design." Our speaker was Marisa Hayes, and her illustrated talk on the design of Hudson Valley headstones featured many images she has collected during her ongoing research in various local Hudson Valley cemeteries. Your response was very good, over 60 people signed up, so we plan to begin regular Virtual Presentations on the first Wednesday of each month, starting on September 2, 2020. We are in contact with past and new presenters to schedule talks to replace those that had to be cancelled, and will announce the results soon.

NOTE: It may be a virtual world we’ve entered, but we are incurring actual costs we hadn’t anticipated, that dues will not cover. Not having actual meetings also eliminates the income we used to receive in the donation jar. If you can help us, and wish to donate anything towards our technical costs, we would appreciate it. You can send a check made out to: New Paltz Historical Society, and mail it to: Jack Murphy, 3 Harrington St., New Paltz, NY 12561.

This lecture is titled “The History of Kingston’s Press Corps: The Rough & Tumble Story of Kingston’s Newspapers” and is presented by veteran journalist, columnist and former newspaper owner, Hugh Reynolds.
Newspapers are very much in the news these days, and will play a big role in our lives during the next three months. This talk focuses on the history of the local newspapers of Kingston, NY.

Click https://youtu.be/qnHG01g2ttg to begin viewing this lecture. This talk originally took place at the Senate House on Jul. 19, 2013.
(Note: the lecture begins at about 1 minute 5 seconds into the video, and the total time of the video is approx. 1 hour and 16 minutes.)

*** REBUS – noun - a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters.

Click here for the Answer Sheet to last month’s Rebus Puzzle, Names of New York State Cities and Towns, by Marny Janson.

Marny is working on another Rebus, which we will feature in an upcoming Newsletter.

**** Interested in a nice, relaxing summer drive? This one brings scenery and history together. Download and print the PDF brochure “Driving Tour of Rondout Reservoir” and you will learn about the Rondout Reservoir, the natural features surrounding it, how it was built, and who lived here. This illustrated 12 page brochure features maps, driving instructions and photos, and was produced by Time and the Valleys Museum. Many of us are familiar with the history and story of the Ashokan Reservoir, but fewer are knowledgeable about the Rondout. With the help of this brochure, and by completing the drive, you will learn much, and have an enjoyable day doing so!

Rondout Reservoir

Enjoy a pleasant drive and stroll through our local history, but, please, remember to be safe and wear your face mask and observe social distancing.

***** Do you or the kids need a little break? Here are links to a couple of jigsaw puzzles to occupy some time. Have fun!

Locust Lawn Farm

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=0176d73d04ed

Cows in front of New Paltz Creamery

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=366d615ac58f

William’s Lake Polar Bears

https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=31bc7a368964

****** Are You RiverWise?

The Hudson River Maritime Museum's solar-powered boat Solaris and the Schooner Apollonia have joined forces to do an educational fleet sail from Kingston to New York City this August. With livestreams, videos, photos, activities, and blog posts to share along the way, they will help everyone become "RiverWise," learning about the maritime heritage of the Hudson River.

Along the journey, which begins August 13, 2020, the Captains and Crews, along with the Hudson River Maritime Museum, will be updating with live and pre-recorded video, photos, activities, history, and more on our social media pages and right here on our Captains' Log - shared by the captains and crew of Solaris and Apollonia. Join them for this incredible journey!

https://www.hudsonriverwise.org/?fbclid=IwAR1pmSfSJo7Tz9nX5xqytrd5q4bQwtrbRkuGCQLBwDJK1Sn_VJ0O-o0WBvU

******* We encourage you to visit our website and Facebook page.
Click on the link and check it our website: https://sites.google.com/view/newpaltzhistoricalsociety/home.

And here is our Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/newpaltzhistoricalsociety

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome! Let us know what you think of our digital presence on the web.

******** We hope that you are enjoying our Newsletter, and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, let us know by dropping us a line at: nphistoricalsociety@gmail.com.

Stay safe, stay home, wear a mask, and keep 6 feet apart! We will get through this!

Diane, Ashley, Marny, Jack, Dolly, and Susan

Newsletter #11, June 29, 2020

Hello Members, Friends and Supporters of the New Paltz Historical Society,

Welcome to the New Paltz Historical Society’s Newsletter,

First, we would like some input from you, the readers. I already sent a separate email, so if you responded to it, thank you!

If you could take a few moments to answer these quick questions, we’d appreciate it.

- Do you read the Newsletter?

- Do you connect to any of the links we post?

- Have any favorites from the links we’ve posted?

- Have you tried the games, or puzzles?

- Do you like the Self-Guided Tours we post?

- Is there anything missing you would like us include in the Newsletter?

Please let us know by dropping us a line at: nphistoricalsociety@gmail.com.

(NOTE: If you have any difficulty getting any links to open, hold down the Control (CTRL) key in the lower left of your keyboard,

and then place your cursor on the link and left click on it.)

* We continue our series of video lectures originally hosted by the Senate House State Historic Site, in Kingston. This series, “Kingston’s Buried Treasures” featured the forgotten, yet vital people of Kingston, and the events that took place in New York’s first capital, one of America’s most unique communities. Kingston’s history tells more than just the story of a city - its arguably the story of a nation. Through war and peace, boom and bust, Kingston’s place in our state and our national lore has few rivals. One of our past (and favorite) speakers, Paul O'Neill, Commissioner of Jurors for Ulster County, facilitated this series.

John Vanderlyn, Portrait of the Artist, 1800

This week’s lecture is titled “John Vanderlyn: Painter of a Nation” and is presented by Joe Tantillo.
John Vanderlyn was born October 15, 1775, in Kingston, New York, son of house and sign painter Nicholas Vanderlyn. After completing his education at the prestigious Kingston Academy he went to New York City and studied art at Alexander and Archibald Robinson's Columbian Academy of Painting. Vanderlyn soon attracted the attention of Aaron Burr, who provided him with financial support and patronage for the next twenty years. Burr arranged for him to briefly study with Gilbert Stuart in Philadelphia, and then sent him to Paris in 1796. Vanderlyn enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He returned to the States in 1800. He painted many portraits and nature views, and worked with panoramic paintings. He lobbied for the establishment of a National Art Gallery and Academy of Fine Arts. He died on December 23, 1852.

Niagara, 1802 by John Vanderlyn

Click https://youtu.be/oIcCS1yzbLs to begin viewing this lecture. This talk took place at the Senate House on Mar. 15, 2013. (Note: the lecture begins at about 1 minute 10 seconds, and the total time of the video is approx.. 54 minutes.)

View of the Vanderlyn Collection at the Senate House Museum, Kingston, NY

** Last Friday, June 19, Juneteenth, 2020, the Village of New Paltz held a celebration to honor Julia Jackson (c. 1800 – 1898), of New Paltz, with a re-dedication and placement ceremony of the Julia "Aunt Judy" Jackson placard at the entrance to the Hasbrouck Park Playground.

Portrait of Julia “Judy” Jackson, often called “Aunt Judy,” circa 1892 in Clintondale.
(courtesy of Katia and John Jacobs’ personal collection)

Guest speakers included: Susan Stessin, Albert Cook, and Jennifer Berry. To read about Julia Jackson, click here.

To view a video recording of the rededication ceremony, click here.

To read a transcript of the speakers, click here.

*** We would like to share a presentation that was part of the Walkway Over the Hudson Lecture Series, which we found interesting and think you will as well.

Walkway Over the Hudson Lecture Series
Spaces of Danger
Navigating the Underground Railroad in the Hudson Valley
Presented by Peter Bunten
Mid-Hudson Antislavery History Project

Click here to go to the presentation.

Viewed as a triumphalist effort of liberation, the Underground Railroad has rightly been called “America’s first civil rights movement”. Beneath the triumph, however, lay danger, risk, and displacement. This Walkway Lecture Series presentation explores both aspects of the Underground Railroad story as it played out for people and places in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York.
Peter Bunten is chairman of the Mid-Hudson Antislavery History Project. Through MHAHP, he is affiliated with the Dutchess County Historical Society, Celebrating the African Spirit, and the Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State. Before retirement, Mr. Bunten worked as the Education Manger for Historic Hudson Valley. He is a native of Poughkeepsie and currently lives in the Bronx.

**** REBUS – noun - a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters.

In some past Newsletters, we’ve featured some Rebus Puzzles that people seemed to enjoy, so our own Marny Janson has come up
with another one for this issue. The clue to each answer is that all are the names of New York State Cities and Towns. Have Fun!!!
You can download and print the Rebus from by clicking here.

***** For those of you who tried the New Paltz Newspaper Puzzle, created by Linda Tantillo, in our last Newsletter, the answers, along with the original articles, can be downloaded and printed by clicking here.

****** The weather is getting nice, and people are looking to get out and about, so you can download and print the attached brochure by clicking here. The brochure features the addresses and descriptions of 50 sites within Kingston’s Stockade District. This Walking Tour of the Stockade National Historic District of Kingston, NY, the first capital of New York State, welcomes you to the neighborhood where New York State was born in 1777. The brochure was funded by the Friends of Historic Kingston and Ulster County Tourism.

Enjoy a pleasant stroll through our local history, but, please remember to be safe and wear your face mask and observe social distancing.

******* We encourage you to visit our website and Facebook page.
Click on the link and check it our website: https://sites.google.com/view/newpaltzhistoricalsociety/home.

And here is our Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/newpaltzhistoricalsociety

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome! Let us know what you think of our digital presence on the web.

******** We are cancelling our live presentation for July, but we are exploring alternate possibilities for the near future including Youtube, Zoom, and other emerging technologies, as a way to bring you a monthly presentation on the first Wednesday of each month. We will inform you of any developments through these Newsletters. Our decisions will be based New York State Policy, sound medical advice, social distancing issues, the Town, County and State guidelines, and Community Center policy and room capacity. Your health and safety is our main concern. We look forward to being able to continue our program of lectures (virtual for now) as soon as it is safe to do so.

********* We hope that you are enjoying our Newsletter, and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, let us know by dropping us a line at: nphistoricalsociety@gmail.com.

A Note on Current Events:

As we watch the continued wave of protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement wash across the United States and the World, the New Paltz Historical Society is deeply committed to revealing the history of African-Americans and local Indigenous People who were so integral in establishing our community. As part of that community, we are dedicated to emphasizing the stories of these marginalized populations as groups and as individuals and how they have positively influenced the culture, identity and collaborative spirit of New Paltz.

We will continue to focus on revealing local history that has often been hidden.

We still have much work to do!

The Executive Staff of the New Paltz Historical Society

Stay safe, stay home!

Jack, Marny, Ashley, Dolly, Diane, and Susan

Newsletter #10, June 15, 2020

Hello Members, Friends and Supporters of the New Paltz Historical Society,

Welcome to the New Paltz Historical Society’s Second Biweekly Newsletter, which will be sent to you every other Monday.

A Note on Current Events:

As we watch the wave of protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement wash across the United States and the World, the New Paltz Historical Society is deeply committed to revealing the history of African-Americans and local Indigenous People who were so integral in establishing our community. As part of that community, we are dedicated to emphasizing the stories of these marginalized populations as groups and as individuals and how they have positively influenced the culture, identity and collaborative spirit of New Paltz.

We will continue to focus on revealing local history that has often been hidden.

Two online exhibits, originally curated by our members Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt Biagini, titled The Missing Chapter, Untold Stories of the African American Presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Before Hudson, 8,000 Years of Native American History and Culture, are available for viewing by clicking on the titles above. Here you can find hundreds of documents, artifacts and images from local collections that focus on the African American and Native history of the Hudson Valley.

Also of local interest, In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York's Hudson River Valley by Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt Biagini, with an introduction by A. J. Williams Myers, is a collection of hundreds of runaway slave notices from the Hudson Valley documenting the brutality and inhumaneness of slavery in the Valley as well as the enduring spirit of self-emancipated blacks.

We still have much work to do!

The Executive Staff of the New Paltz Historical Society

Newsletter #10, June 15, 2020

(NOTE: If you have any difficulty getting any links to open, hold down the Control (CTRL) key in the lower left of your keyboard,

and then place your cursor on the link and left click on it.)

Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch

This week’s lecture is titled “Ezra Fitch: Founder of Abercrombie & Fitch” and is presented by Edwin Ford, Kingston City Historian. Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch (September 27, 1865 – June 16, 1930) was born in Coxsackie, NY. He was the co-founder of the modern lifestyle brand Abercrombie & Fitch and is attributed with the introduction of Mahjong to the United States.

Click https://youtu.be/fFTxeSVXUtc to begin viewing. This talk took place at the Senate House on Feb 15, 2013. (Note: the lecture begins at about 1 minute 08 seconds, and the total time of the video is 56 minutes.)

** Also this week we have a link to a recorded webinar titled “Food and the First World War in the Hudson Valley.” Food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson presents an overview of food rationing, conservation, and production efforts during the First World War, with a special focus on the Hudson Valley, from community canning kitchens around the Valley to farmerettes and special instruction trains.
Click here to view the presentation: https://www.senylrc.org/FoodAndWarWebinar.
The lecture runs approximately 1 hour and 12 minutes. This program was originally a Webinar aired by the Southeastern NY Library Resources Council on June 1, 2020.

*** Are you ready to take a virtual trip through some Dutchess County history? If so, we have one for you titled “Poughkeepsie: A Local Path Toward Racial Equality,” by Bill Jeffway.

This virtual tour, a Dutchess County Equality Trail, that shows the local path, taken through Poughkeepsie, toward racial equality. Whether you are actually on the street ~ or hit the trail virtually ~ we hope you’ll meet people, and see places, that illuminate the path that led to a US constitutional promise of equality after the Civil War, and the ongoing effort to realize that promise. This is the story of individuals, regularly suffering under extreme prejudice, determined to pursue life, liberty and happiness regardless of the stark limitations put on them.

The trail starts on the banks of the Hudson River, where the paradox of slavery in a country promising equality and liberty can readily be seen.

To begin your tour, click on this link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/302c1a635a6849ecb1548ec54a9e326d

This tour is a project of the Mid-Hudson Anti-Slavery History Project and the Dutchess County Historical Society.

**** And, if you are ready for a challenge, strap on your thinking caps, because in this issue, we also have a New PaltzNewspaper Puzzle, created by Linda Tantillo, for your amusement. The puzzle consists of some old articles from the local newspapers, and the challenge is for you to guess the year that the article originally appeared in the news. Click here “Newspaper Quiz” to download and print the puzzle. The answers will appear in our next Newsletter, which will be sent to you on June 29, 2020.

***** We encourage you to visit our website and Facebook page.
Click on the link and check it our website: https://sites.google.com/view/newpaltzhistoricalsociety/home.

And here is our Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/newpaltzhistoricalsociety

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome! Let us know what you think of our digital presence on the web.

***** We do not know what we will be doing for July yet, our presentation is likely cancelled, but we will keep you informed. Our decisions will be based New York State Policy, sound medical advice, social distancing issues, the Town, County and State guidelines, and Community Center policy and room capacity. Your health and safety is our main concern. We look forward to being able to continue our program of lectures and events as soon as it is safe to do so, and are investigating alternate possibilities for the near future. We will inform you of any developments through these Newsletters.

****** We try to include something of interest for many tastes in these Newsletters, but it is difficult for us to know how many people are reading the Newsletters, and what you think about the content. Therefore, we would appreciate hearing from you. Are you following the Newsletter? Do you connect to any of the links we post? Have any favorites from the links we’ve posted? Have you tried the games, or puzzles? Do you want a quiz from time to time? Is there something you would like us include in a Newsletter?

Please let us know by dropping us a line at: nphistoricalsociety@gmail.com. We hope that you are enjoying our Newsletter, and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, let us know.

Stay safe, stay home!

Diane, Ashley, Susan, Dolly, Jack, and Marny