In its heyday, the Bowne Hospital was a state-of-the-art wonder. There were several spacious solaria, and every enclosed space was festooned with windows, awash with light. Adjustable beds lined the long porticos, open to the breezes.
Referred to affectionately as “Amazing Grace,” the computer pioneer, mathematician & military commander was awarded 40 honorary university degrees during her lifetime.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last November that, as part of an effort to erect more statues of women throughout the state, one of Sojourner Truth will be sited along the Empire State Trail. Town leaders in New Paltz think that it should be here, as New Paltz is the place she called home for 18 years, and they’ve both passed a resolution and launched an online petition to bring Truth home.
Feb. 5- David Miller, former superintendent at Eastern New York Correctional Facility in Napanoch, will talk about the infamous Attica riot, the hostage stand-off at Sing-Sing and escapes from several facilities, including Eastern.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Hudson Valley was the brickmaking capital of the world, producing more than a billion bricks a year and employing nearly 10,000 people in more than 120 brickyards. By the late 1970s, the once-mighty molded-brick industry was no more. One by one, the great yards had closed their gates, leaving behind a small-but-colorful legacy of people who remember the industry in its prime.
A primer on Kingston’s own soldier/statesman.
Thursday, January 11: “Captain Dixie” Kiefer was a US naval commander during World War II who saw so much action that his men joked that the ship’s compass needle always pointed to him, on account of all the shrapnel in his body. While awarding him a medal, the Secretary of the Navy dubbed Kiefer “the Indestructible Man.” But shortly after the war ended, Kiefer perished, along with five other Navy men, in an airplane crash on Mount Beacon. A group called the Mount Beacon Eight is working to attain recognition for those who died alongside Kiefer in the 1945 plane crash.
Books collecting the autographs of others, along with poems and other mementos, were once common. Today they live in only for special occasions, like weddings or graduations.
In the late 19th century, the Hudson Valley was home to at least 135 commercial icehouses, collectively capable of storing as much as three million tons of ice during the winter months.
The Friends of Historic Saugerties will present a discussion, “Lost Industries of Ulster County: Brickmaking and Ice Harvesting” on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 2 p.m. in the community room of Saugerties Public Library, 91 Washington Ave. Admission is free and open to all.
The business of media is changing, but local, on-the-ground, fact-checked journalism is needed now more than ever.
