The presentations are held on the first Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the theater at the residential community Vineyard Commons, located at 300 Vineyard Avenue (Route 44/55) in Highland. The theater holds approximately 160 people, says Wadlin, and with a nice stage and screen is well-suited to host their programs. It can be a bit confusing to find the theater the first time, she says, because it’s not in view from the road. But Wadlin advises visitors to simply “keep bearing right” as they drive through the complex to “Building 6,” which is marked by signage. Parking is available near the theater and is the same as it is for tenants of the complex, who have become some of their regular patrons at the programs, says Wadlin. Parking is free and reservations aren’t necessary.
Other doings of the society
In addition to the presentations, the Preservation Society sponsors other programs that the public is invited to attend as well. They recently did a history tour of the Hudson River on a small boat from Poughkeepsie and they once held a “trolley tour” following the route that the trolley used to take from Highland to the train station in New Paltz.
Planned for the future is a project along the lines of what Esopus does with their Tugboat Festival and Saugerties with their annual public art project, where this year, for example, small replicas of the Saugerties Lighthouse were painted by artists and auctioned off at the end of the summer. Town of Esopus does the same thing with miniature tugboats, and now Highland may have a trolley theme for a similar event, with handcrafted trolleys painted and auctioned off for charity.
Next up is a tie-in between TOLHPS and Highland Landing Park when it’s finished next year, says Wadlin, with the Preservation Society pledged to help fund and erect a history walk around the park. The signage will be somewhat like that on the Walkway Over the Hudson, explaining the history of the people of Highland and its past industry, including the sturgeon fishing once done there.
Less certain is the role that TOLHPS will play in the library building controversy in downtown Highland. “I don’t know that we’ll be involved,” says Wadlin, “but we will ask our members whether they want us as the board to be involved in pursuing saving the building from being razed if it’s sold. My personal preference is ‘yes, save the building,’ because it’s part of our very quickly-vanishing local fabric. It’s a nice building and could be fixed up to be very close to what it was originally and the library can go to any number of other places.”
The board
Wadlin has been with the TOLHPS for 15 to 20 years, she says, and is a past president and vice-president of the group. She was born and raised in New Paltz and has a degree in economics from Marist. Wadlin also publishes (and is primary writer for) the About Town publication that covers local history and general interest stories in Ulster, Dutchess and Columbia counties. She’s in her 30th year of putting the publication out.
Wadlin came by her interest in history through her father. “He told wonderful stories about what he remembered and had a great memory,” she says. Wadlin uses some of those stories in her pieces for About Town, along with images of the vintage postcards of the region that she collects.
Charles Glasner is the current president of TOLHPS and Candace Schuster the vice-president. Glasner, an antiques dealer with a background in engineering, is very knowledgeable about preserving buildings and structures, says Wadlin, and Schuster, she adds, works with the costume department at Vassar College and is an expert on fabric and paper preservation. Highland Town Clerk Rosaria Peplow is the group’s treasurer and a longtime member of the organization.
Membership dues to join the TOLHPS are $10 for an individual, $5 for students or $15 for a family. Business, lifetime and supporting memberships are also available. Details are on the website.
For more information, find the Town of Lloyd Historical Preservation Society on Facebook.com or visit www.tolhps.org. To join Wadlin’s “history buff e-mail list” to receive notice of TOLHPS programs or other events involving historical significance, send your e-mail address to [email protected].
