All Over Albany

Colonial ice cream day at Crailo

This could be interesting (and delicious): The Crailo State Historic Site is hosting a "Colonial Ice Cream Discovery Day" August 12. Blurbage:

[D]iscover how colonists in the Hudson River Valley prepared ice cream on hot summer days, long before electricity made it easy to keep things cold. Watch as interpreters in period costume use colonial era recipes, ice cream molds, and a reproduction 18th century ice cream maker called a sabotiere to prepare this summer treat the old fashioned way. A scavenger hunt will highlight items in the museum related to Dutch colonial dairy production, the sugar trade, and more. Visitors of all ages will also learn how to make their own ice cream at home, using basic ingredients and simple techniques.

The events are from noon-4 pm that Saturday. Admission is $3 / free for kids under 12. The museum's exhibits will also be on display that day.

The Crailo State Historic Site is in Rensselaer on the aptly-named Riverside Ave (there are some beautiful homes along that stretch). It was once a home for the Van Rensselaer family and now serves as a museum of colonial Dutch history in the Hudson Valley. It was named after the Van Rensselaer's estate in the Netherlands -- Crayloo or Cralo -- which meant "crows' wood" in Dutch.