Bronck Museum Tavern Experience

An interesting email from the New Netherland Institute came to me earlier today. The details are below.

The Bronck Museum offer guests a “tavern experience” at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25.

The Bronck houses will be transformed into a mid-1600s country tavern where costumed volunteers will serve guests a beer specially prepared by Crossroads Brewery in Athens to replicate a beer offered at Pieter Bronck’s Beverwijck tavern. During most of the 1650s Bronck and his wife Hilletje Jans were involved in brewing and keeping just such a tavern on the river front at Beverwijck (today’s Albany).

Tickets can be purchased the day of the event for $30. Advance sale tickets are $25 before Aug. 17.

To reserve advance sale tickets, send a check payable to GCHS to: 

Greene County Historical Society, P.O. Box 44, Coxsackie, NY 12051

 

The Bronck Museum will be closed during the day on Aug. 25 for regular season tours in order to prepare the houses for the evening’s festivities.

Storm Damage at Albany Rural Cemetery

This is a blog article that I do not enjoy writing. Last Friday, 27th of July, a fast moving thunderstorm coupled with high winds blew through the Capital District and caused extensive damage in our area. Unfortunately, Albany Rural Cemetery was hit very badly.

Late that afternoon I stopped by the cemetery after the storm to check on a plot in Section 92 for someone. I did see some large branches that had fallen near the plot of Thurlow Weed; however nothing major. Since I was on a mission I did not go elsewhere in the cemetery.

The next couple of days via Social Media and the local news it was brought to  attention that major damage was found in the cemetery after the storm. The gravestones from the former Schuyler family burial plot originally located on the land which is now known as Schuyler Flatts Cultural Park in Menands on Broadway were devastatingly damaged in the storm. The Schuyler plot is on the South Ridge adjacent to St. Agnes Cemetery.

The ancient stones, many unreadable today due to weathering from lying in a prone position for many years were removed along with the remains from the original burying ground and reburied in Albany Rural Cemetery circa 1920.

Today, on the way to St. Agnes Cemetery, I drove to the site and personally saw the damage. It is very bad and might be worse when the remains of the large beech tree are finally removed. Some clearing has begun but the tree is enormous. Below are numerous photos of the damage.

Upcoming Friends of Oakwood Cemetery Tour

Here is an interesting article direct from today's issue of the Rensselaer County Advertiser newspaper.

Oakwood's Next tour: 9 and 1/2 Generals

The Friends of Oakwood Cemetery will present their next public tour, 9 and 1/2 Generals, on Saturday, August 4, from 9AM to 12 noon.

What, you never heard of a half general? Along with the great Civil War generals, Wool, Thomas, Carr, and others, the "half general" is one of the may interesting military stories you'll hear in this popular tour led by Michael Barrett. If you are a military history buff, you won't want to miss it.

Registration preferred. Call 518-328-0090. Pay on arrival. $15 pp; children under 12 are free. Meet at the chapel flagpole. In case of inclement weather, status of the tour will be updated on our Facebook page: Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, NY.

Cemetery Clean-Up Party this Weekend

Although this is short notice, Brian, my friend, who is also helping to restore the Krumkill Road Cemetery is organizing a clean-up this weekend, Saturday, 14 July, 2018. An edited snippet from his FB page about this event is below.

Saturday July 14th, Christopher White, my partner in reclaiming and restoring the Evangelical Protestant Cemetery on Krumkill Road and I are hosting a work party. We’ll be working from about 8:00 A.M. until 12:00 noon. Afterward we’ll provide pizza, wings, soda and other liquid refreshments. There are a couple of areas that we need to concentrate on, and a small army like was organized last summer can make short work of an area that will overwhelm just one or two of us. If you hit like, more people will find out about this work event, and more work can be accomplished. Remember that many hands make light work! If you’d like to attend, comment below and we’ll follow up with you.

Historic Photos on Exhibit at Stephentown Post Office

The following article comes from this week's Rensselaer County Advertiser newspaper.

Historic Photos on Exhibit at Stephentown Post Office

Photographs of Stephentown from 1907 and 1908 are now on display at the Stephentown Post Office. These scenes have been printed from glass plate negatives that were donated to the Stephentown Historical Society by the Lebanon Valley Historicial Society. The views include the Kinderhook Creek and Atwater Village section of Garfield.

These historic images will also be part of a Spring 2019 exhibit of local photography at the Stephentown Heritage Center. Photographers should plan to take their own interesting views and visions of Stephentown throughout the coming year with this exhibit in mind. Complete information will be available early next year.

New Mount Ida Cemetery Gravestone Cleaning & Restoration Project

Yesterday, I was notified by my friends, Alysia and Cameron, who are rehabbing the New Mount Ida Cemetery in Troy that they are securing Joe Ferrannini from Grave Stone Matters to rehab a number of gravestones in the cemetery from Friday 29 June through Sunday 01 July. All of the selected stones will need to be cleaned with D2 and prepped; then Joe will make the necessary repairs to the gravestones.

Alysia and Cameron are asking if anyone is interested in helping with this project. They adopted the cemetery a number of years ago and have made significant progress in bringing the cemetery back. For years it was neglected and forgotten. Today, the cemetery is well on its way to returning to its former glory.

If anyone is interested, the details are below.

Mt. Ida Cemetery
Pinewoods Avenue
Troy, New York

Friday, 29 June 2018
Saturday, 30 June 2018
Sunday, 01 July 2018

Work to begin around 8:30 - 9:00 AM each day

2018 Palatines to America National Conference

The Palatines to America German Genealogical Society 2018 National Conference will be held in Buffalo from 13-16 June, 2018. The theme is Willkommen to Buffalo– Gateway to a New Heimat (home).

"It has been said that during the height of the Erie Canal era (1830-1865) more immigrants passed through Buffalo's Erie Canal district than ever passed through Ellis Island. How fitting that we will have our 2018 conference in that canal district."

The conference will be held at
Adams Mark Hotel & Conference Center
120 Church Street
Buffalo, NY 142202

Speakers include:
John Colletta, Ph.D.; Baerbel K. Johnson, AG; Garry Finkell, Carolyn Heald; Joseph Lieby; Bruce Romanchak; Donald Schwert; and Christopher White.

Please visit the Palatines to America website for more info.
The complete conference program may be found here.