Items tagged with 'history'
The crumbling castle
The castle, as it was seen from the train in November 2009
You might have seen news during the last week of 2009 that part of Bannerman's Castle -- the castle-like structure that sits on an island in the Hudson near Storm King -- had collapsed. (You've probably seen the castle from the Amtrak train on the ride down to New York City -- it's just north of Cold Spring.)
This week comes news that the castle is continuing to fall apart. The island's preservation trust expects even more of the structure to come down through the winter.
Chuck Schumer says he's lobbying the federal Department of the Interior for money to help preserve the building.
Bannerman's Castle was constructed to serve as a military surplus warehouse during the first part of the 20th Century. It was sold to the state during the 1960s.
(Thanks, Duncan)
Ghost signs
The former home of the Barney's department store in Schenectady.
Jessica's post about retro signs inspired Chuck to put together a photo collection of "ghost" signs from around the Capital Region. He explains:
Have you driven by a building in the Capital District, looked up at the building, and noticed what appeared to be a painted advertisement on the building's brick exterior? An advertisement for food or clothing or dry goods, the ad almost faded away with a century of age and neglect? You're trying to figure out what a Uneeda Biscuit is, or where someone actually can buy Bond clothes these days. I've seen several of these "ghost signs" in the Capital Region (also called "faded signs" or "brickads," according to Wikipedia), and I also came across a webpage called lostlandmarks.org that covers the phantom signs of a long-lost advertising run. So over the past few days I took my Nikon D700 and an assortment of lenses, and went out to go ghost sign hunting.
photo: Chuck Miller
Out of the archives for just a day
The New York State Museum will be displaying the Flushing Remonstrance on Sunday, the 352nd anniversary of its signing.
The document was a request from residents of what's now Queens for an exemption to the ban on Quaker practice in the colony of New Amsterdam. It's considered a pre-cursor to the religious freedom provision in the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution.
This pdf includes images of the document, which was partially burned during the 1911 state Capitol fire. Here's an English translation.
thumbnail via Thirteen and the NYYM
Holiday gift guide: local history
Your Capital Region history questions, answered.
Maybe it's just our inner geek, but we love knowing the back-story about the place we live.
Learning who stayed in that old hotel back in the day, what ghost haunts the music hall or the correct pronunciation of Kosciusko just kinda makes our day in a weird little way.
Today's local holiday gift guide suggestion celebrates exactly that type of local history geekdom.
Sunday with mummy
The Albany Institute of History and Art has event lined up for the Sunday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of its mummies collection. From the institute's site:
Dr. Peter Lacovara, senior curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, will lead a lively gallery talk about the mummy Ankefenmut, his coffin, and the connections that Albany and the region have with ancient Egypt. The presentation will also introduce canopic jars, embalming equipment, amulets, and other funerary paraphernalia to explain the science and ritual of mummification. From 1:00 to 4:00 pm our studios will be open for children to create their own hieroglyphic works of art and also to create their own mummies by bringing toys from home to undergo the mummification process.
The talk starts at 2 pm. It's free with museum admission ($10 for adults, $8 students, $6 kids).
The Albany Institute has two mummies -- one male and one female. The male has been identified as Ankhefenmut, a priest and the sculptor of a temple in Thebes. The woman's name is unknown. Both mummies are thought to be about 3000 years old.
The institute also has a mummified pet. It was originally thought to be a cat -- but a CT scan at Albany Med in 2002 revealed that it was actually... a dog.
photo: Albany Institute
A few steps into the past
The vintage photo blog Shorpy featured a 1905 photo of the capitol's Great Western Staircase yesterday. Be sure to click through to see the large versions of the photo.
That staircase has quite the history. From a state assembly tour of the capitol:
The Great Western Staircase, also known as the Million Dollar Staircase, took an unheard of 14 years to construct, from 1883-1897 and cost, more than one million dollars. The delays in constructing this magnificent staircase were two-fold. Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and built by Isaac Perry, the staircase contains 444 steps and reaches 119 feet high. is renowned as an outstanding example of American architectural stone carving excellence.
Here's a more extensive photo tour of the staircase on the site Northeast Architecture, which includes more of the history behind the steps.
From a 1894 NYT article about work on the capitol:
The greatest architectural work on this continent has just been completed in Albany -- in the construction of the western staircase of the new Capitol. Architects who have seen it declare that for originality of design, for beauty, and for accuracy of finish its equal does not exist even in the old country.
The staircase includes the busts and faces of a bunch of historical figures -- a list that was not without some controversy. From a 1898 NYT article:
In carving heads on the great Western staircase in the Capitol, the features of half a dozen men who were prominent only in the local affairs of Albany were made. This has caused considerable ill-feeling, even among Albanian, and it is a question of but a short time, when the faces in stone will be "worked over" from those of obscure persons into those of historical nes.
(Thanks, James G and Dan!)
photo via Shorpy
The Yellow Brick Road
The way to the Emerald City?
Nestled in a quiet spot between Albany and Delmar lies the Normanskill Farm and Hiking Trail. How do you get there, you ask?
Why, just follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Happy birthday, chip
They don't look a day past 155.
Today is the birthday of the potato chip -- born 1853 in Saratoga Springs, NY.
The story behind the chip's birth is a bit fuzzy. Mike looked at the origins last year in an item for AOA:
When Cary B. Moon opened the original Moon's Lake House on Saratoga Lake in the 1850s, he had a good thing going for him from the start. He'd hired George Crum to run his kitchen. Crumb was a Native American with a reputation as an Adirondack guide and an accomplished cook.
Crum brought his sister, Katie Weeks, to work alongside him at Moon's. And it was Katie's kitchen experiment that, legend has it, led to one of our favorite salty, fried treats.
A couple of local businesses have recently tried to capitalize on Saratoga's crunchy history. The Saratoga Specialities Company has started selling the "Original Saratoga Chips made by gourmet artisans to the exact same recipe and packaging used by George Crum in 1853." And Saratoga Salsa and Spice is also now selling its own Saratoga chips.
[via @jengonroff]
photo: Flickr user Jed Sundwall
The Lost Radeau: a shipwreck in Lake George
Joe Zarzynski measuring the Radeau
When we heard there was a shipwreck in the middle of Lake George we kind of went, "Waitaminute, what?"
But there is, in fact, a shipwreck in Lake George. Joe Zarzynski told us so. Zarzynski is a former high school social studies teacher turned underwater archeologist. In the 1980's he spent most of his free time chasing the Loch Ness Monster and Champ -Lake Champlain's version of the Nessie.
He stopped actively looking for underwater "monsters" in the early 90's and focused on shipwrecks instead. The shipwrecks were easier to find because-- you know-- they don't move.
Zarzynski says there are actually lots of shipwrecks in Lake George -- more than 200. And he's helped to find a lot of them. But the most impressive wreck he's found is The Lost Radeau a floating bastion from the French and Indian War -- that rests more than 100 feet below the surface of the lake. Now, thanks to his efforts, you can see it too - just be sure to bring your wet suit.
The oldest building in Albany?
The oldest house in Albany? Not so fast...
The city of Albany is full of old buildings -- so which one is the oldest?
Simple question, right?
Well, it turns out the answer is a little complicated.
The Burden Ironworks Museum
The Burden Ironworks Museum
Today they're calling it "the new Brooklyn" (OK, some people are calling it the new Brooklyn) but industrial historian Tom Carroll is more likely to refer to Troy as the 19th Century Silicon Valley.
Before The Collar City was known for its collars, it was known for producing horseshoes, railroad ties and other iron products -- including a cast for the Centennial Liberty Bell and parts of the USS Monitor.
Carroll has collected that history at Troy's Burden Ironworks Museum -- and he can tell you everything you want to know about they city's industrial history... and then some.
Wait, don't let that scare you off. Some of it is pretty interesting stuff.
The National Bottle Museum
Bottles of fun?
A while ago I heard a rumor that there was a bottle museum somewhere near Saratoga. And, well, that sounded just odd enough for me to want to investigate.
Turns out that not only is there a bottle museum-- it's the National Bottle Museum. Yes, we have a National Bottle Museum. OK, why not?
It occupies an unassuming storefront in an old three story building in the village of Ballston Spa and it holds over 2,000 bottles from medicine and perfume bottles to liquor and beer bottles and just about every glass vessel in between.
So is it worth a trip?
Kosciuszk-who?
The "Twin Bridges" are actually the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge
We can't tell you how many times we've crossed The Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge on the Northway and wondered, "Who was this Kosciuszko guy? And why did they name the twin bridges after him?"
Also, we could never quite figure out how to pronounce his name, which is why we -- and almost everyone else -- refer to them as "The Twin Bridges."
Well, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and one-time Albany resident Alex Storozynski has just answered all of our questions about Kosciuszko in his new book The Peasant Prince.
He took a few minutes out of his weekend to give us the inside scoop on Kosciuszko who, it turns out, was a pretty impressive guy: an engineer, an abolitionist and, oh yeah, the guy responsible for the plan that helped change the course of the Revolutionary War.
A few details and an early map of his battle plans after the jump.
And we also find out how to pronounce "Kosciuszko."
Happy Birthday, Thruway
The New York State Thruway was born on this day in 1954 when its first section -- a 115 mile stretch between Lowell and Rochester -- opened.
In honor of the Thruway's 55th birthday, here are a few facts about New York's ribbon of asphalt...
400 years later...
A 1650 map of New Netherland. That's the Hudson River running down the center of the map.
From part three of Tobias Seamon's look at the Dutch history of New York:
Published anonymously in Antwerp in 1649 but very likely authored by Cornelis Melyn, patroon (manorial lord) of Staten Island, the pamphlet "Broad Advice" horrified the Dutch public with its scathing description of New Netherland's leadership. Written in the form of a play, "Broad Advice" created a full-blown scandal with its depictions of high-handedness, fiscal irresponsibility, debaucheries, and Indian slaughters perpetrated by the colonial administration.
Hmm. It doesn't sound like a whole lot has changed in 400 years.
By the way: the last post about Seamon's series prompted people to suggest a few books about this subject.
map via Wikipedia's entry on New Netherlands
Deadwood on the Hudson
Writing at The Morning News, Tobias Seamon has been chronicling the history of Henry Hudson's famous 1609 voyage -- though this version is probably a little more colorful than the one you already know:
Reading the publicity attached to the quadricentennial leaves readers deluged with cheery keynotes like tolerance, diversity, religious freedom, and melting pot. It'd be unfair to categorize the publicity blitz as a whitewashing of the colonial Dutch record, but still, the realities of these settlements were often much more violent than portrayed. Fort Orange and Manhattan's New Amsterdam, which was capital of New Netherland, were hardly gems of the Dutch mercantile empire. Rather, they were frontier settlements whose chief governors were a series of drunkards, swindlers, war-mongering incompetents, and myopic tyrants.
The title of the series: "Deadwood on the Hudson." Part two was posted today.
Seamon is an Albany native. He wrote a piece for TMN called "Albany, Counting the Ways" back in 2003. From that essay:
Albany, where the streets aren't numbered. Rather, most of the streets are named after birds. For blocks and blocks, Eagle, then Dove, then Quail, and so on. One bird after another. If you ever get lost in Albany, try to remember the last bird you passed.
image: The Morning News
The carousel at the NYS Museum
Say hi to Ann when you visit.
What's the most fascinating exhibit at the New York State Museum?
The giant woolly mastodon? The Iroquois longhouse? The set of Sesame Street?
Ask my kids and they'll tell you it's the merry-go-round on the fourth floor. Ask me-- or other adults that have seen it-- and you might actually get the same answer.
Legs Diamond and The Kenmore Hotel
The Kenmore on Pearl St.
Today it's an unassuming office building. But if the walls of the old Kenmore Hotel on Pearl Street could talk, they'd tell stories of bootleggers, big bands and gangsters.
Here's a little of the back story:
The First Prize Center
Tobin's First Prize Center -- the sign is all that's left.
If you've along Everett Road in Albany, you've seen that huge old sign for the First Prize Center (it's near I-90). And you've probably wondered, "What the heck is the First Prize Center?"
Did they make trophies? Blue ribbons? Those big checks for the Publishers Clearinghouse give-away?
Here's something you probably wouldn't have guessed: hot dogs.
Yes, hot dogs.
The Sloop Clearwater's in town
The Sloop Clearwater --docked in Rensselaer
Just in time for Earth Day, the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater is docked at Riverfront Park in Rensselaer.
The 106-foot wooden replica of a 19th Century Dutch Sloop travels the Hudson between NYC and Albany to spread the word about fighting pollution and remind people of the beauty of the river.
Every once in a while the sloop drops anchor near Albany and gives Capital Region residents a chance to see what it's all about.
The bung factory
Heh-heh. It's the bung factory. Heh.
So it turns out that I know a guy who lives in the bung factory. Yep, the bung factory.
The term brings out the 13-year-old boy in me. Every time I pass the S. Kampf and Sons' Bung Factory on Albany's Jefferson Street, near Dove, it's hard to keep from emulating Beavis and Butthead.
Seriously, is there anything not funny about the term? Try saying it with a straight face. Go ahead -- bung factory. Told ya.
So what exactly is bung? Probably not what you'd think.
Amiri Baraka at The Sanctuary for Independent Media
OK, before you say "Who?" think back to the beat poets of the 60's. Back then poet and activist Amiri Baraka was known as LeRoi Jones and was palling around with the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs. He founded Totem press, published the work of the beat poets and was married to fellow beatnik, Hettie Cohen.
Later he converted to Islam and changed his name to Amiri Baraka. He went on to become a playwright, a Marxist, a professor and even a collaborator with hip hop group The Roots.
This Saturday he'll be at The Sanctuary for Independent Media with New York City-based saxophonist Rob Brown. Baraka will be reading from his new book, "Somebody Blew Up America and Other Poems." It starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10.
Earlier that evening at 6 p.m., the Sanctuary's hosting an opening reception for Brenda Ann Kenneally's new exhibit, a collection of photographs called "Upstate Girls," which examines poverty and working class America through the eyes of women and girls living in Troy.
NY Presidents pop quiz #6
In honor of Presidents Day, AOA has decided to slack off today. A little bit. But only because we're honoring the presidents. And with that in mind, we've put together a little presidential pop quiz -- we'll be posting one question for each of the six presidents from New York today.
Question: What New York president took the name for his economic plan from a Mark Twain story, created a tax bracket that affected only one man and was warned by a presidential predecessor not to take the job?
NY Presidents Pop Quiz #5
In honor of Presidents Day, AOA has decided to slack off today. A little bit. But only because we're honoring the presidents. And with that in mind, we've put together a little presidential pop quiz -- we'll be posting one question for each of the six presidents from New York today.
Question: Which New York president, just 5 feet 6 inches tall, was nicknamed "The Little Magician." And during his presidency the role of first lady was not filled by his wife.
The answer's after the jump.
NY Presidents Pop Quiz #4
In honor of Presidents Day, AOA has decided to slack off today. A little bit. But only because we're honoring the presidents. And with that in mind, we've put together a little presidential pop quiz -- we'll be posting one question for each of the six presidents from New York today.
Question: Which New York president had to give the White House a makeover before moving in? He also -- like Barack Obama -- took the oath of office twice upon becoming president.
The answer's after the jump.
... said charley about 10 for Schenectady