All Over Albany

Walking the history of Pine Hills, with a guide

The cover of Akum Norder's upcoming book, and an app screenshot of the Pine Hills neighborhood tour.

Check it out: The Pine Hills Neighborhood Association in Albany has put together an app-guided walking tour of the neighborhood via the PocketSights app. Blurbage:

Focusing on twenty sites, the tour uses offbeat stories and historic photos to tell the story of the Pine Hills neighborhood's development. It highlights landmarks such as Steamer No.10 firehouse, the Madison Theater, and The College of Saint Rose, as well as lesser-known places such as the St. Vincent Orphan Asylum, the Aurania Club, and the Brady Maternity Hospital.

The org say it's planning a paper booklet for the tour later this year.

PocketSights is available for both iOS and Android, and it's free. It also currently includes other local tours, such as one of downtown Albany. The company behind the app is based in Ithaca.

Take a walk with the tour creator
The creator of the walking tour is local journalist and author Akum Norder. She'll be leading a history walk of Pine Hills next Wednesday, June 28 at 5:30 pm. It's free, but attendance is limited. You can sign up online.

Norder's book -- The History of Here: A House, the Pine Hills Neighborhood, and the City of Albany -- is set to be released next February by SUNY Press Excelsior Editions. You might remember that Akum was writing a similarly-themed blog for the Times Union for a while (and was once a contributor to AOA). She's a wonderful writer with a keen sense for stories. We're very much looking forward to her book.