Rhinecliff estate that inspired Edith Wharton faces uncertain future
It was thought that the expression “keeping up with the Joneses” is derived from the lifestyle maintained at Wyndclyffe, but Wharton’s recollections are at odds with that.
Local History
Check out the 225-year-old Albany Institute of History & Art
With three floors of exhibition space, classrooms, a children’s gallery, a world-class archival library, a museum shop and the Crisan Café, the Albany Institute is an appealing destination for tourists and locals alike.
How a Kingston-born lawyer became the Civil War spymaster
Sharpe’s approach to intelligence-gathering was praised by the CIA more than a century after his death. One writer said if it had been employed pre-911, that attack may never have happened. What might have been…
Nellie McKay performs A Girl Named Bill: The Life and Times of Billy Tipton in Hudson
It wasn’t until his death that his three adopted children found out why this talented musician had shunned the spotlight (and doctors): Billy had been born, in 1914 in Oklahoma City, as Dorothy Lucille Tipton. She adopted a male persona in order to break into a music business that was still not very friendly to women performers, and went on to live as a man so persuasively that the two women with whom he had multi-year common-law marriages claimed never to have known that “Billy” was biologically female.
A. J. Williams-Myers African Roots Community Center Library now open in Kingston
Like its sister library in Poughkeepsie, the A. J. Williams-Myers African Roots Community Center Library was created to promote literacy through teaching and learning about the African roots experience, particularly in the Hudson Valley.
Journalist, political advisor discuss the history of U.S. presidential transitions
Mark McKinnon and Alexander Heffner will discuss the historical transfer of power and the future of American politics at the FDR site in Hyde Park. McKinnon, former advisor to two governors and co-creator/host of Showtime’s The Circus: The Greatest Political Show on Earth; and Heffner, journalist/essayist/educator and currently host of The Open Mind on PBS will consider presidential transitions from Roosevelt to Trump, just days before the 45th president’s inauguration.
World War II veteran Dr. Paul Lurie looks back on Pearl Harbor, 75 years later
“Everybody seemed ready to enthusiastically do whatever they could. Politics just kind of evaporated.”
Plans to protect historical and musical Rhinebeck church
Father Richard McKeon, who has been the Church of the Messiah’s rector since 2010, says, “People ask me, ‘Why save the building?’ and I say we have a beautiful building and it has a place in the community.”
Woodstock’s first Christmas Eve
Through times of war, economic turmoil, and periods of political and social upheaval, December 24 has continued to serve as an integral part of Woodstock’s foundation.
Polar Express Night: a good excuse to check out restored Hyde Park Station
This spot was used briefly in Hitchcock’s film North by Northwest: the bit where the train comes to a halt for an unscheduled stop and the Feds get on. It’s thought that the facility could possibly reopen as an active passenger station, if the idea of extending Metro-North’s Hudson Line commuter rail service farther north is ever realized.