Vivian Yess Wadlin
Water Works
Fall 2023
Following the example of natural waterways, this article meanders. Hopefully, it makes connections between that H2O and some other facets of our vast land and its history that led to America’s unparalleled prosperity. Water was a natural bounty that provided a figurative and literal path to earnable wealth for our forebears, and continues for us [Read More…]
Connecting Oceans / Carleton Mabee
Fall 2023
The globe in my New Paltz Campus School fifth-grade class- room clearly showed the Panamanian isthmus; Mrs. Compton, head-enlightener, pointed out that a channel was dug to connect the two oceans. Shipping options increased. Ho Hum. Not until the book, The Path Between the Seas, by David McCullough, made it onto my reading list that [Read More…]
The Social Relief Society Welcomes You to Cottekill…
Summer 2023
The Inviting Postcard The bucolic image above is a postcard. Its postal cancellation reads: “Cottekill, N.Y. August 6, 1941, AM.” The Social Relief Society (SRS) advertising text on reverse sets the mood: “The S.R.S. Home is beautifully situated in the Catskill Mountains 900 feet above sea level in Cottekill, Ulster County, N.Y. Reasonable rates. All [Read More…]
Ulster County Hamlets: A-Z
Summer 2023
The list below requires a little explanation. For instance, Rosendale is listed as a hamlet, but that is the common name for the village running along Route 213. The Town of Rosendale, however, encompasses many hamlets and the village of Rosendale is just one. Acccording to the town’s website, others are Binnewater, Bloomington, Bruceville, Cottekill, [Read More…]
Thanks To You, Our Advertisers & Readers, We Begin Our 40th Year
Spring 2023
About Town began in the Summer of 1984 as The Guide To New Paltz. The Guide’s founders were Liz Weisz, Elena Erber, Karen Thompson, and yours truly. By 1988, the publication had grown to incorporate other Ulster County towns. To accommodate the expanded area, we changed its name to About Town (AT). Within a few [Read More…]
A Solid Heritage
Spring 2023
This article is edited, corrected, and shortened from its original publication in About Town, Summer edition 1993 Head west from Rosendale village on Route 213 and after the Turco Water Company caves, make a right at the Brooklyn Bridge. OK, so it is not precisely the Brooklyn Bridge. It is a replica of John and [Read More…]
College Hill, Poughkeepsie, NY
Winter 2022
Looking at the postcard images throughout this issue, it is easy to understand Poughkeepsie’s “Queen City” designation. In the 1800s, Poughkeepsie was a beautiful, bustling, wealth-generating place bursting with industry, culture, philanthropy, imagination, and education. The city’s most significant enabler, the Hudson River, and later the railroads, brought materials, people, and investment to the area. [Read More…]
Where There’s Smoke…
Fall 2022
This is a story that jumps around like water on a hot griddle. It jumps in time and it jumps in geography. When the smoke clears, I hope you have a greater appreciation for the history of our local fire departments, your investment in them, and their hundreds of volunteers. March 17, 1891. Highland. The [Read More…]
The Draining and Refilling of the Swartekill Swamp
Summer 2022
Over my almost eight decades, I’ve witnessed the transformation of land once farmed by my grandparents. It has gone from farmed to fallow, to brambled meadows, to tightly-packed small-tree groves, to now, a few good-size 60+ year-old mature trees. Another transformation on that land was quicker. Sandwiched between the mostly parallel roads of Plutarch and [Read More…]
New D&H Canal Museum to Open
Spring 2022
The website of the D&H Canal Historical Society makes this simple declaration: “The mission of the D&H Canal Historical Society is to highlight the importance of the D&H Canal and preserve its stories, landscapes, and artifacts.” One of the Society’s important accomplishments was the establishment in 1976 of a museum. They gathered artifacts, ephemera, stories, [Read More…]
America’s Pedestrian & Ulster County’s Man of Mystery
Winter 2021
Two articles on this subject appeared previously in About Town. One with permission of Rodale Press and the other I wrote in 2008. The latter is available on our website. The article below covers some of the same information but also material from a 2014 Rodale Press published book, “The Last Great Walk” by Wayne [Read More…]
The Era of Oscar of New Paltz
Fall 2021
Oscar Tschirky, aka, Oscar of The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, NYC, NY […] was a man of the world. His featured Waldorf domains were the Palm Gardens, the Empire Room, Peacock Alley, The Sert Room (murals by Jose Maria Sert), the Grand Ballroom, and the private supper rooms, all part of the hotel’s iconic dining scene… This [Read More…]
Poughkeepsie’s Woodcliff Pleasure Park
Summer 2021
July 14, 1927, at 7 pm, it opened. Finally, Poughkeepsie had something to compete with other famous amusement parks up and down the Hudson, and in nearby cities and states. Poughkeepsie welcomed the Woodcliff Pleasure Park… This pictorial layout is presented here as a downloadable PDF file: Poughkeepsie’s Woodcliff Pleasure Park (PDF)
It’s Snow Time
Winter 2020
Whether or not we get snow, ‘tis the season for it. And that means hiking, snowshoeing, ice climbing, snowmobiling, ice skating, plowing and shoveling…or a warm toasty fire and a good book. After checking the forecast and the wind-chill chart below, decide your day’s itinerary from the possible alternatives listed. See Fireside Reads, and Out [Read More…]
Jean Vanderlyn Unvarnished
Winter 2020
My friend, Ken Ericksen, and I were talking about the race track that was on the flats west of New Paltz back in the 1920s. “You know,” he said, “there used to be a little girl from New Paltz who was a great trick rider back in the thirties. She still lives in New Paltz.” [Read More…]
New Paltz Village: Then & Now
Fall 2020
In that other lifetime, before we all learned the name, structure, and pitilessness of a virus, I was preparing a presentation titled Then And Now for the New Paltz Historical Society in November. Here are a few of the images I was planning to share… This pictorial layout is presented here as a downloadable PDF [Read More…]
Opening the Gates to Wellness
Spring 2020
Anyone heading east on the Mid Hudson Bridge or driving on Route 9 south of it can’t be faulted for thinking the huge shining edifice cropping out of the stone cliff above the roadway is a dazzling new hotel. The almost completed construction of the Vassar Brothers Hospital takes modern design and the institution’s facilities [Read More…]
A Little Kingston TLC History
Spring 2020
Care of the sick in Kingston, as in all communities and throughout history, began with home care as alternatives were few, expensive, and far away, not to mention, often not effective or downright deadly. It is only in the last half-century that we take good hospital care as a given. The earliest reference I found [Read More…]
Postal Roots
Winter 2019
Karen Berelowitz and Stephen Blauweiss’ comprehensively researched, beautifully written, and lushly illustrated account of The Life and Death of the Kingston Post Office should be in the library of anyone who appreciates historic architecture and works to preserve it. The book is a memorial to that most beautiful post office building as well as a [Read More…]
Early Ulster County Post Offices Appearing in Postcards
Winter 2019
Most of the cards below are from about 1910-1930, and the postmarks from 1908 to 1950. Any that are postmarked will be given that date, but the cards could be older. Offices moved around frequently, often because the postmasters were patronage positions until as recently as 1969. The Woodstock card above is postmarked October 5, [Read More…]
