THE IMPORTANCE OF (LOCAL) HISTORY

It can be tempting to think of our town history in terms of its founding fathers, historic houses, and seminal events. But like the history of most small towns, those people, places and occasions serve as punctuation marks in the text of otherwise ordinary lives.

While Hillsdale, NY, indeed has had its share of larger-than-life figures, it was the citizens who […]

By Howard Blue

Thanks to a congressional proclamation in 1987, March is Women’s History month. The designation came about as a result of the short shrift that women have traditionally gotten in many ways. Until 1839, for example, no American woman could own property. Then, in that year, Mississippi gave its female residents that right. Until 100 years ago this year, […]

The arrival of the COVID-19 virus in America and the resulting state mandates in the Tri-State area advising residents to remain home and for non-essential businesses to temporarily close their doors has undoubtedly had an impact on those places that require foot traffic or the in-person experience to maintain viability. As the Northwestern Corner and Hudson Valley seemingly shut-down for […]

Anneke Jans – Dutch Colonial Trail Blazer and Woman Behind the Real Roeliff Jansen

Roeliff  Jansen, a would-be explorer and colonist of Scandinavian origin, came to New Netherland from Amsterdam in service of wealthy Dutch Patroon Killian Van Rensselaer.  As legend has it, in 1632 he discovered a major tributary to the Hudson River still bearing his name […]