The brief reign of downhill skiing in the Shawangunks
Although the Gunks are known more for their abrupt drop-offs than for their slopes or their altitude, they did enjoy a brief heyday as a downhill destination.
Almanac Weekly | History
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Secret in the stones
Duck Pond Cabin foundation at Mohonk Preserve evokes era of hands-on learning.
The life & times of Rondout transport tycoon Thomas Cornell
The Cornell Steamboat Company’s fleet was the dominant towing operation on the Hudson from 1880 to the 1930s, peaking at more than 60 vessels.
Written in stone: The surprising career of Pine Hill’s scientist/philanthropist Henry Morton
In 1870 Morton became the first president of the newly founded Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, and used his own personal wealth to equip its labs with steam engines, tools and electrical equipment. He experimented and published widely, and was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. He also spent summers in the Catskills, and in 1897 he established Pine Hill’s first library.
$17M expansion of National Purple Heart Hall of Honor in New Windsor now underway
The Purple Heart is the US military’s oldest medal, created here by General George Washington toward the end of the Revolutionary War to recognize meritorious service. New York governor Andrew Cuomo is touting the museum’s improvements as part of a multifaceted campaign to make New York State, home to nearly 750,000 military vets, “the most veteran-friendly state in America.”
Lenape/Delaware Native American Center concept to be discussed in Stone Ridge
Sat., Nov. 23: The indigenous inhabitants of Lenapehoking, the area stretching from the mid-Hudson Valley in the north to Delaware Bay in the south – including the entire state of New Jersey – were collectively known as the Lenape, meaning “real people.”
“Requiem for Ashokan” opens at Olive Free Library
Olivebridge resident Kate McGloughlin’s family goes back 12 generations in Ulster County, and her maternal ancestors were among the 2,000+ people displaced when the Ashokan Reservoir was constructed between 1907 and 1915. Twelve communities were inundated when a 12-mile stretch of the Esopus Creek was impounded and flooded to provide drinking water for New York City.
FDR site screens new documentary on Frances Perkins, architect of the New Deal
Sunday, Nov. 3: Even if Frances Perkins hadn’t been the first woman ever to serve in a US presidential cabinet, or the longest-serving Secretary of Labor ever (12 years), she would still deserve a shining place in 20th-century history. She was a suffragist, worked with Jane Addams as a Hull House volunteer, advocated passionately for female workers after witnessing the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, became the highest-paid woman in New York State government as Industrial Commissioner, taught Sociology at Adelphi University, fought against child labor and for unemployment and a minimum wage – all before she even joined the FDR administration.
How Jack acquired his lantern
The custom of scaring people by carrying a lit candle inside a hollowed-out vegetable is far older than Colonial America.
How treating supplanted tricking on Halloween in America
There’s scarcely an American left alive today who remembers the days when treats weren’t the primary focus of the practice.