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:

    The Einstein of Glens Falls

    Local man’s memoir details ties to famous physicist but draws questions By STACEY MORRISContributing writer GLENS FALLS, N.Y.   Stephen Einstein’s book “My Uncle Albert” describes the five boyhood summers he says he spent with Albert EinsteinJoan K. Lentini photo It’s late afternoon, and Stephen Einstein has just arrived at a downtown diner at an read more

    The Einstein of Glens Falls
  • Issue:

    From mountains to fertile swamp

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    Projects aim to preserve diverse swath of land at eastern edge of N.Y. By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer NEW LEBANON, N.Y.   The Shaker Swamp, which extends over nearly 500 acres in New Lebanon, is one of two areas that would be preserved from development under pending conservation projects in the town. John Townes photo A read more

    From mountains to fertile swamp
  • Issue:

    Shearing the flock

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    Spring’s arrival finds an age-old tradition thriving in Vermont By TELLY HALKIASContributing writer RUPERT, Vt.   Andy Rice shears a sheep in 2013 at a farm in West Pawlet, Vt. Rice is among the shearers making the rounds at area farms this spring amid signs that the demand for locally produced wool is increasing in read more

    Shearing the flock
  • Issue:

    Keeping a city’s past intact

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    In Pittsfield, campaign to save church leads to wider preservation effort By JOHN TOWNES Contributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.       The former St. Mary the Morning Star Church in Pittsfield has helped to spawn a new preservation drive in the city after a developer proposed this fall to raze it to make way for read more

    Keeping a city’s past intact
  • Issue:

    On exhibit: A real-life rural town

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    New Lebanon tests a new approach to spurring tourism By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer NEW LEBANON, N.Y.   Ruth Abram is the founder of “Behold! New Lebanon,” a new program that encourages visitors and local people to discover the variety of real-world skills and enterprises among the town’s population. The program coordinates instructional demonstrations at local read more

    On exhibit: A real-life rural town
  • Issue:

    Celebrating W.E.B. Du Bois

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    Center explores context of a civil rights pioneer’s legacy By TELLY HALKIASContributing writer GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. W.E.B. Du Bois wasn’t born until three years after the Civil War ended, but the war and its aftermath were crucial in shaping the views of one of the nation’s first prominent African-American scholars and civil rights activists. With read more

    Celebrating W.E.B. Du Bois
  • Issue:

    To conserve and protect

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    Scouting group keeps multi-generational link to Vermont forest By TELLY HALKIASContributing writer STRATTON, Vt. More than a half century ago, a Boy Scout group from Delaware bought a tract of land in the Green Mountains that has become an enduring example of private environmental stewardship. Today, one of those Scouts, Ross Lanius of North Haven, read more

    To conserve and protect
  • Issue:

    A president’s last refuge

    Its future unclear, mountainside cottage keeps Grant’s memory alive By STACEY MORRISContributing writer WILTON, N.Y.   On a sweltering summer afternoon, a crowd gathered near the top of Mount McGregor to pay tribute to Ulysses S. Grant. The Remembrance Day ceremony at Grant Cottage, where the nation’s 18th president spent his last days, attracted dozens read more

    A president’s last refuge
  • Issue:

    In defense of love

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    By EVAN LAWRENCEContributing writer SALEM, N.Y.   The black-and-white photographs could be of almost any happy, affectionate family from the mid-1960s. They show a husband and wife sharing a conversation or tender moment, playing with their three children on the living room couch, working with a friend on a car in the back yard, the read more

    In defense of love
  • Issue:

    On Hildene’s 400-plus acres, focus turns to ecological stewardship

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    On Hildene’s 400-plus acres, focus turns to ecological stewardship   By TELLY HALKIASContributing writer MANCHESTER, Vt. Stately historic properties make fine museums, though once visitors have seen some of these grand old estates they may figure they’ve already had the full experience. But Hildene, the Lincoln family home in Manchester, has spent the last decade read more

    On Hildene’s 400-plus acres, focus turns to ecological stewardship