Category: Local history

Contributing writers will sally into archives and recover stories and voices from the past, from many communities in this independent stretch of hills between wide rivers and the Taconic and Hoosic ranges and the Green mountains.

  • Issue:

    An editor whose paper, wrecked by fire, kept printing

    The offices and printing plant of The Glen’s Falls Messenger were destroyed in a massive fire that swept through downtown on May 31, 1864, consuming 112 buildings and houses.Yet editor and publisher Norman Cole did not miss putting out an issue of the weekly newspaper, thanks to the help of a competing newspaper publisher in read more

    An editor whose paper, wrecked by fire, kept printing
  • Issue:

    A newspaperman who toiled till his last breath

    Even on the day of his death, Editor W.A. Wilkins of The Whitehall Times did not miss deadline, although he worked from home instead of the newspaper office. “He complained of mental lassitude during the day and did not engage in his work with his usual zest and satisfaction,” the newspaper reported in its Aug. read more

    A newspaperman who toiled till his last breath
  • Issue:

    A politician, a resort, and a mystery poem

    An 1878 meeting of political minds, or perhaps just a social visit, at the top of Mount McGregor sparked some speculation of a literary nature. “Can it be that our distinguished ex-governor has begun to woo at last, and that he is beginning — practicing as it were — upon the gentle muses?” The Saratogian read more

    A politician, a resort, and a mystery poem
  • Issue:

    A Civil War veteran who retired to local pasture

    Between 8,000 and 10,000 people gathered in Greenwich on Aug. 26, 1885, for a Veterans Reunion. Among the 600 Civil War veterans who were guests of honor was “War Horse Charlie,” an equine veteran that had called Washington County home since 1864. Charlie was one of about 3 million horses and mules that served in read more

    A Civil War veteran who retired to local pasture
  • Issue:

    A 19th century fall pastime: gathering chestnuts

    The vision of chestnuts roasting on an open fire in December could be squelched if Jack Frost nipped at one’s nose in September. “We have good promise of a fine crop of chestnuts,” the Fort Ann correspondent of The Granville Sentinel reported on Sept. 22, 1876. “Frost holding off is favorable for large nuts with read more

    A 19th century fall pastime: gathering chestnuts
  • Issue:

    Vigilante groups sprang up locally — and spurred a backlash

    A former Saratoga Springs tally-ho driver who had fallen into reckless living experienced a forced conversion on his way home from a night of carousing. “He was suddenly confronted by several men wearing white caps, who gave him some sound and telling advice, and warned him that unless he kept better hours and discontinued drinking, read more

    Vigilante groups sprang up locally — and spurred a backlash
  • Issue:

    Vermont, New York became rivals over rail link

    Government transparency jumped the track in 1972 as New York and Vermont competed to become the northernmost link in a new Amtrak passenger rail route between Washington, D.C., and Montreal. “The Rockefeller administration is taking federal officials for a train ride Friday, but nobody seems to know how much the trip will cost or who read more

    Vermont, New York became rivals over rail link
  • Issue:

    In heyday of canal shipping, a race against ice

    It was a risky venture, but Albert Stewart, “the potato and apple king of Washington County,” dispatched one last shipment from Fort Edward on Thanksgiving Day of 1888, despite the icy waters of the Champlain and Erie canals. Barges had been stalled at various points along the canals for days, and some potatoes awaiting shipment read more

    In heyday of canal shipping, a race against ice
  • Issue:

    Placing bets as politicians reached the homestretch

    A Republican rally at Whitehall, N.Y., was not, as it turned out, the best place for Democrats to line up wagers on the 1888 presidential election, in which Republican Benjamin Harrison was challenging Democrat Grover Cleveland’s bid for a second term. “Two Glens Falls Democrats and one from Fort Ann went to Whitehall the other read more

    Placing bets as politicians reached the homestretch
  • Issue:

    Bequest for library yielded a grand public building

    When Salem, N.Y., received a bequest in 1890 to create a local library, the village’s leaders embraced it as an economic development opportunity. The soon-to-be-constructed Proudfit Hall would provide space not just for the proposed Bancroft Library but also for retail shops, offices and a 700-seat auditorium. “With the erection of the Bancroft Library, the read more

    Bequest for library yielded a grand public building