THE IMPORTANCE OF (LOCAL) HISTORY
150 years – or was it yesterday?
We feel it only fair to offer this gentle warning before you invest a few moments reading what follows. This piece is a bit different than others we have written. It draws heavily on history, reflects on those historical references and, with no subtlety intended, holds a mirror to what has become almost a cliché – “the moment we are […]
Reflecting On Sullivan County’s Resort Scene
It’s the place where Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, and Rodney Dangerfield kicked off their comedy careers, the setting of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, and a summertime destination for the stylish Maisel clan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel fame.
The name “Catskills” was derived from the Dutch “Kaaterskill,” which translates to “Wildcat Creek.” Although the Catskills spans the Delaware, Greene, and […]
The Old Copake Falls Church
Miracle on Miles Road
The old church, which had first opened its doors to parishioners in 1892, closed those same doors in 1955. It would subsequently stand empty and unused for the next 30 years. “In 1979 the Methodist Church in Copake Falls, NY, was an abandoned and bedraggled building, windows broken, the door often left standing open, the front step […]
The Polymathic Mrs. Pulver
by the Hillsdale Historians
Over the years, there have been a number of prominent women who have had a large and lasting impact on Hillsdale and Columbia County. One of them was Ida Haywood Pulver, a well-educated (for her time) woman whose many professions — photographic hand-colorist, dressmaker-to-the-stars, Parisian milliner, fundraiser, gardener, historical society founder and overall local mover-and-shaker — kept […]
