Learn about Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia
Friday, Nov. 9: Theater piece at Vassar library in Poughkeepsie to honor first woman to obtain a doctorate.
Local History
Remembering Margaret Hamilton’s Dutchess County connections
The green-tinted visage and screeching voice of the Wicked Witch of the West became the stuff of nightmares, but by all accounts, Margaret Hamilton was a gentle person in real life, and got on well with children.
Out from Chagall’s shadow: “The Virginia Project” in High Falls
Opening on Saturday, October 27: Virginia Haggard was an accomplished and interesting woman in her own right who spoke several languages. She was the well-educated daughter of a diplomat and an aspiring artist herself.
Quarryville United Methodist Church celebrates 150 years
Everyone is invited to share in the celebration on Sunday Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. at the church on Stay Rd. There will be a service of remembrance and memories followed by refreshments. This is an opportunity to come and share your memories of the church or stories your parents and grandparents told.
Russell Shorto discusses New Netherland influence on NY at Dutchess
Tuesday, Oct. 16: Shorto was one of the first historians to be allowed access to Albany’s rich archive of primary documents from the era of Dutch colonization of what is now New York, as they were being translated into English by the New Netherland Project. The best-known product of those early researches was his 2004 blockbuster The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan, and the Founding Colony that Shaped America. It’s an engaging tale of how the philosophical fruits of the European Enlightenment, borne to New Netherland by Dutch settlers, seeded New York City’s destiny as a cradle of diversity and liberalism and a welcoming harbor for immigrants.
Don’t lose your head: Attractions near the real Sleepy Hollow
By the time Washington Irving moved to Sunnyside, he was renowned on two continents as “the first American man of letters.” He had already written both of his most famous stories, “Legend” and “Rip Van Winkle”; covered Aaron Burr’s treason trial for a newspaper; co-founded the literary magazine Salmagundi; coined the phrase “the almighty dollar,” as well as the nicknames “Gotham” for New York City and “Knickerbocker” for one of its residents; spawned the fiction that Christopher Columbus’ contemporaries believed the Earth to be flat; and, with his accounts of traditional Yorkshire Yuletide celebrations in his Bracebridge Hall stories, planted the seed of inspiration in Charles Dickens that would soon lead to the writing of A Christmas Carol.
A look at mid-century country life in the Catskills
“Laurels by Laura” is an account of life in Shandaken that will leave readers nostalgic for days gone by, even if they weren’t there to see them.
Learn about Perrine’s Covered Bridge at history talk and tour
Saturday, October 13: It’s the longest-standing Burr arch covered bridge in New York and the second-oldest covered bridge in the state
Old New Paltz Stone House Day returns to Historic Huguenot Street
Historic Huguenot Street became an immersive experience in history as dozens of reenactors and costumed interpreters offered demonstrations and performances throughout the day.
Old New Paltz Stone House Day returns
Saturday, September 8: Interpreters in period garb, reenactments, performances, Colonial games and demonstrations will bring history to life throughout the day.
