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Tag: history

Events

Cheese Factory System Lecture offered by Schoharie Crossing

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Schoharie Crossing will be hosting the first of their Third Thursday Winter Lecture series on January 20th at 7pm via the online platform WebEx.  Patrick Reynolds from the Oneida County Historical Center will discuss Jesse Williams and the Cheese Factory System.

Just North of Rome, NY, the modern cheese industry was born in 1851.  Jesse Williams was a successful farmer and cheese maker but believed by working together as cooperative dairies, farmers could maximize their profits.  This led him to start the first cheese factory in the United States, a move that revolutionized agriculture not only locally, but across the nation.

On the 100th anniversary of Jesse’s cheese factory, John H. Kraft, president of Kraft Foods, proclaimed that “pioneers like Jesse Williams… [fathered] the ideas and tools that have made America great.” This man, Kraft said, “exemplified the spirit which has made the dairy industry the largest agricultural industry in America.”

Jesse Williams died in 1864 at age 67. At that time Oneida County was making over eight million pounds of cheese per year.  Williams never patented his cheese-making inventions but gave them to the agricultural world.

Patrick Reynolds is Director of Public Programs at the Oneida County History Center.  He is a graduate of the Cooperstown Program in Museum Studies.  He has worked in museums throughout the United States including Hanford Mills Museum, Berks County Historical Society, Rome Historical Society, and The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

This program is free and open to the public.  No registration is required. A link to the WebEx can be found on the Schoharie Crossing Facebook or by contacting the site directly.  For more information about these programs, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our Facebook page.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 78 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter

Winter Presentations from Schoharie Crossing

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The Erie Canal historic site, Schoharie Crossing will host several online programs this winter on a variety of history related topics. Presentations will be offered in two series: Lunchbox Lessons and the Third Thursday Lectures. Both series will be offered live online and most will be recorded for later viewing on YouTube.
In January, the Lunchbox Lesson will be on Tuesday the 11th at 12noon featuring site staff discussing the importance and history of broom manufacturing in the Fort Hunter area. On the Third Thursday, Patrick Reynolds from the Oneida County Historical Society will discuss Jesse Williams and the Cheese Factory System at 7pm on the 20th.
During the month of February, the Lunchbox Lesson will discuss food preservation and its impact on westward expansion at 12noon on Tuesday the 8th. Bill Merchant will discuss the D&H Canal for the Third Thursday Lecture at 7pm on the 17th.
For March, the Lunchbox Lesson will discuss Women’s Suffrage on Tuesday the 8th at 12noon. Former NYS Archives staff, Craig Smith will speak on fascinating facts within the historic canal contracts held in the state’s collection on the 17th at 7pm.
On April 21st, Derrick Pratt from the Erie Canal Museum will present on the historic Weighlock building in Syracuse. That program starts at 7pm and wraps up our Third Thursday Lecture series.
These programs are free for the public and available on the Webex meeting platform. No registration is required, and links can be found on NYS Parks website or social media. If you would like a direct link email, please contact the site. For more information about these programs, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our Facebook page.

Erie Canalway IMPACT! Grants Support Education and Tourism along the Erie Canal

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Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, in partnership with the NYS Canal Corporation, is pleased to announce that seven organizations have been selected to receive Erie Canalway IMPACT! Grants totaling $64,323. Funded projects include vital work to showcase canal heritage and welcome people to explore the canal in their local communities.

“We are thrilled to support these community-driven projects to strengthen the Canalway Corridor as a vibrant place to live, work, visit, and play,” said Bob Radliff, Executive Director of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. “These exciting projects will foster greater awareness and pride in New York’s canals that will have lasting benefits for residents and visitors.”

The grants range from $2,000 to $12,000 and will leverage an additional $161,107 in private and public project support. Over the past 13 years, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has made 90 grants to communities and non-profit organizations that have spurred $2.4 million in additional investments in heritage preservation, recreation, and education.

New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian U. Stratton said, “It is an honor to join with the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor in supporting education, recreation, and tourism along New York’s canal system. The history of our canals provides the framework for our State’s great legacy, and we look forward to supporting and enhancing awareness of these storied waterways for years to come through these IMPACT! Grant projects.”

2020 ERIE CANALWAY IMPACT! GRANTS
Corn Hill Navigation, Pittsford

Award: $8,954

Improve educational and program delivery with new technology at a new visitor center being developed at Corn Hill Landing in Rochester.

 

Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse 

Award: $9,015

Develop programming related to the Empire State Trail including a Syracuse-based Trail Ambassador Program and trail amenities that raise user awareness of the museum. Pilot both weekend and Corridor-wide trail rides.

Explore & More: The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Children’s Museum, Buffalo

Award: $11,454

Design and present an Erie Canal themed educational play experience every Wednesday throughout 2022 that will engage children and families.

 

Friends of Stewart Park, Ithaca 

Award: $5,900

Design and install five outdoor interpretive signs that showcase the history of the Erie Canal and Cayuga Lake as they relate to the City of Ithaca.

 

National Abolition Hall of Fame, Peterboro

Award: $12,000

Design and install two outdoor interpretive signs within the Village of Canastota to raise awareness of the National Abolition Hall. Funds will also support a reenactment of a dramatic event that shaped the abolition movement in the United States.

 

Schoharie River Center, Esperance

Award: $12,000

Implement a series of educational programs with at-risk urban and rural youth to investigate water quality on the Erie Canal/Mohawk River and adjacent tributaries.

 

Village of Brockport, Brockport
Award: $5,000
Design and install a pair of outdoor interpretive signs that celebrate the history, design, and operation of the Village’s iconic lift bridges.

 

ABOUT THE ERIE CANALWAY NATIONAL HERITAGE CORRIDOR
Nearly 200 years after its construction, the Erie Canal remains an iconic symbol of American ingenuity and determination. The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor preserves our extraordinary canal heritage, promotes the Corridor as a world-class tourism destination, and fosters vibrant communities connected by more than 500 miles of waterway. It achieves its mission in partnership with the National Park Service, New York State agencies, non-profit organizations, local residents, and more than 200 communities across the full expanse of upstate New York.
www.eriecanalway.org

Doolittle performs at Schoharie Crossing

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Doolittle performs at Schoharie Crossing

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is excited to host storyteller Joe Doolittle for the second installment in the return of our annual Not Just for Kids Storytelling series on Sunday, August 8th starting at 6:00pm.  Storytelling performances occur each week of the month and are open to the public of all ages.  Local tellers, with well-crafted tales will perform during the 29th year of this program at Schoharie Crossing.

Doolittle, who resides in Scotia, will tell, “If the Waters Could Talk, the Stories They’d Tell…” This storyteller delivers with his humorous, good-natured style for audiences throughout upstate New York. He loves to tell personal and family stories and has developed many historically based tales about the early history of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys and the Erie Canal. Doolittle is also co-producer of Story Circle at Proctors in Schenectady.

The lineup for the rest of the series is: August 15th, Margaret French. August 22nd, Jeannine Laverty. August 29th, Sandy Schuman.

Not Just for Kids Storytelling will be held outside, under a tent near the Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie Street, Fort Hunter, NY 12069. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to sit on. In case of rain, there is limited seating inside the Visitor Center and we will stream on Facebook.  The program begins at 6pm and is free to the public due to the generous support of a Saratoga Arts’ Community Arts Grant that has been made possible with funding by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.  Karen’s Produce and Ice Cream is also another wonderful supporter of these programs.

For information please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: www.parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

Lunchbox Lesson: Erie Eats

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Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site (opens in a new tab) will host the next installment of the Summer 2021 Virtual “Lunchbox Lesson” series.  Join us on Wednesday, July 28th at 12 noon for a presentation by Derrick Pratt of the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse.

Pratt, who is the museum educator and interim curator at the Erie Canal Museum, will discuss their “Erie Eats: The Erie Canal Foodways Project” and new exhibit.  Erie Eats showcases the diverse ways in which the Erie Canal radically impacted how people in New York State and beyond interacted with the most basic building blocks of human life, food and drink. Through a major exhibition, public programs, historic preservation, and innovative community partnerships, the Erie Canal Museum is highlighting the many ways in which the histories of the Erie Canal and foodways have intersected over the last two centuries and continue to interact into the future.

This program is free, will run about 45 minutes and is offered via Webex. The link is available on our Facebook page, or by contacting Schoharie Crossing.   If you are unable to attend the 12pm program, it is slated to be recorded for later online release.

Schoharie Crossing will offer this and other free online lunch time programs during the next several months covering a range of interesting history topics.  Links for the programs can be found on Schoharie Crossings NYS Parks webpage, on their Facebook, or by contacting the site.

For information about this program series, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing/details.aspx (opens in a new tab) .

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

Not Just for Kids Storytelling Returns to Schoharie Crossing!

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Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is excited to announce the return of the annual Not Just for Kids Storytelling series on Sunday evenings in August, starting at 6:00pm.  This storytelling performance each week is open to the public of all ages.  Local tellers, with well-crafted tales will perform during the 29th year of this program at Schoharie Crossing.

On August 1st, Kate Dudding will perform, “Pandemic Ponderings: Stories of How I’ve Been Coping and Finding Joy.” Dudding is a storyteller from Saratoga County and has won several Regional and National storytelling awards such as the Northeast Region ORACLE Award from the National Storytelling Network.

August 8th, Joe Doolittle of Scotia will be at the site to tell, “If the Waters Could Talk, the Stories They’d Tell…” This storyteller delivers with his humorous, good-natured style for audiences throughout upstate New York. He loves to tell personal and family stories and has developed many historically based tales about the early history of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys and the Erie Canal. Doolittle is also co-producer of Story Circle at Proctors in Schenectady.

Margaret French will perform the program, “Nudging Reality,” on August 15th.  She a regular storyteller at Caffe Lena and at Woodlawn Commons in Saratoga. French is also a member of the StoryCircle of the Capital District, LANES (the association for storytellers in the Northeast), and the National Storytelling Network.

August 22nd, Jeannine Laverty will tell, “Summer’s on the Move.” Laverty lives in Saratoga and has been telling international folk tales since 1979.  She has taught weekend workshops in storytelling for adults at Sagamore and other Adirondack sites since 1980 and performs as part of the storytelling ensemble, SweetLand Storytellers.

Wrapping up the 2021 series on August 29th, Sandy Schuman will perform, “NY’s American Anthems: The Stories of Yankee Doodle, Take Me Out To The Ballgame, God Bless America, and More.”  Schuman is a winner of the Susquehanna Folk Festival Liars Contest and the St. Louis Jewish Storytelling Contest and has been featured at The Northeast Storytelling Conference, Riverway Storytelling Festival, Caffè Lena, Proctors, Tellabration, and Limmud Boston.

Not Just for Kids Storytelling will be held outside, under a tent near the Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie Street, Fort Hunter, NY 12069. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to sit on. The program begins at 6pm and is free to the public due to the generous support of a Saratoga Arts’ Community Arts Grant that has been made possible with funding by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.  Karen’s Produce and Ice Cream is also another wonderful supporter of these programs.

For information please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: www.parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

National Canal Museum program for Schoharie Crossing

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Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site (opens in a new tab) will be hosting Martha Capwell Fox of the National Canal Museum to present, “Geography, Geology, and Genius: How Coal & Canals Ignited the American Industrial Revolution,” on Thursday, June 24th at 6:30pm via Webex.

This presentation describes how a rather unique set of circumstances–the geography of rivers and mountains, along with geology that includes anthracite, iron ore, and limestone of northeastern Pennsylvania led several men with incredible energy, inventiveness, and courage brought about the beginnings of heavy industry in the US.

Martha Capwell Fox is the Historian and Archives Coordinator for the National Canal Museum/ Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc. The National Canal Museum is dedicated to telling the story of America’s historic towpath canals and interprets the history and culture of canals as well as the science and technology behind their building, through exhibits and hands-on activities. The museum occupies the first floor of the Elaine and Peter Emrick Technology Center in beautiful Hugh Moore Park, a 520-acre City of Easton park nestled between the Lehigh Canal and Lehigh River in Pennsylvania.

This program is offered for FREE and is open to the public. No registration is required; the Webex link goes live at 6:20pm and can be found on the Schoharie Crossing Facebook or NYS Parks website.

For information or a direct link for this program, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: www.parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter

Lunchbox Lesson: Preservation League of New York

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Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site is excited to host the next installment of the Summer 2021 Virtual “Lunchbox Lesson” series.  Join us on Wednesday, June 23rd at 12 noon for a presentation by Erin Tobin of the Preservation League of New York.

Tobin will discuss the work that the Preservation League does, provide updates on special projects, and share information on how communities and individuals can seek tax credits on their historic structures. She serves as the Preservation League’s Vice President for Policy and Preservation and has been with the League since 2007. Tobin directs all aspects of the League’s Public Policy and Technical Services Programs. Her work includes collaborative pursuit to a statewide policy agenda that advances historic preservation in New York State at the federal, state, and local levels, and builds and maintains a statewide coalition to assist the League in achieving its goals. She also oversees the League’s Technical Services and preservation grants programs, including oversight of the Seven to Save Endangered Properties Program and all preservation workshops and community outreach.

This program is free and offered via Webex. The link is available on our Facebook page, or by contacting Schoharie Crossing.   If you are unable to attend the 12pm program, it is slated to be recorded for later online release.

Schoharie Crossing will offer this and other free online lunch time programs during the next several months covering a range of interesting history topics.  Links for the programs can be found on Schoharie Crossings NYS Parks webpage, on their Facebook, or by contacting the site.

For information about this program series, please call the Visitor Center at (518) 829-7516, email SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit our web page: www.parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/schohariecrossing.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual state parks, historic sites, golf courses, boat launches and recreational trails, which are visited by 71 million people annually.  For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com, connect on Facebook, or follow on Twitter.

Dueling and Rationing History Programs Offered!

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Dueling and Rationing History Programs Offered

by Schoharie Crossing and the Fulton County Historical Society

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site (opens in a new tab) and the Fulton County Historical Society and Museum (opens in a new tab) have partnered to provide a two-part presentation program series this month.  These programs will be offered for free via Zoom and livestreamed on the Fulton County Museum Facebook page.

On Thursday, May 12th at 6:30pm, David Brooks from Schoharie Crossing will be presenting, “DeWitt’s Duel: Political Rivalry at Ten Paces.” The life of DeWitt Clinton is an interesting exploration into the politics of early America and New York State. Recognized now as the Father of the Erie Canal, New York State Governor and former mayor of New York City, Clinton had tended to personal and political rivalries to accomplish legislative goals. Discover some of the intrigue, wrangling, and dirty politics that lead ultimately to DeWitt’s duel on the plains of Weehawken, New Jersey.

Two weeks later, on Thursday, May 26th at 6:30pm, “Service on the Home Front: Rationing During WWII” presented by Samantha Hall-Saladino, Executive Director of the Fulton County Historical Society will explore how the American people felt the effects of World War II long before they fought in it. When America entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it became clear that the creation of a nationwide mandatory rationing program would need to be created. Discover the ways Fulton County residents fulfilled this patriotic duty.

These programs will begin at 6:30pm and are offered for free via Zoom or you can watch live on the Fulton County Museum YouTube page: https://tinyurl.com/FultCoHS (opens in a new tab) . Be sure to like the FCM and Schoharie Crossing on Facebook for more great programs.

For information about this program series, please call the FCHS (518) 725-2203, contact SchoharieCrossing@parks.ny.gov, or visit the web page: www.fultoncountyhistoricalsociety.org

George Washington Birthday Celebration Free Virtual Events

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The Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park is proud to present a George Washington’s Birthday celebration with three FREE Virtual Events by three Distinguished Historians on three Nights. Please note the dates and start times. These events are made possible through an Anonymous Donor.

  • Edward G. Lengel – George Washington and the Nemesis of War – Monday, February 22, 2021 – 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
  • Mary V. Thompson – “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret”: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon – Thursday, February 25, 2021 – 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
  • James Kirby Martin – Remembering George Washington: In Context – Monday, March 1, 2021 – 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

To register, please visit: https://fortplainmuseum.org/ or contact the museum at info@fortplainmuseum.org – if you are interested in purchasing speaker books, please visit: https://fortplainmuseum.square.site/ – thank you for your support!