We don’t give a lot of thought to our silverware, a part of our daily life our ancestors didn’t take for granted A quick history of spoons and status in colonial era Dutch and English New York, at Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow, New York
Daily Life of the 19th Century: Clothes on the Line
Some things we took for granted, and among them was drying clothes on a clothes line. Certainly not the speediest method, but there’s a charm to the process that isn’t matched by a dryer. Time didn’t seem as pressing back then. People had patience. Our lives weren’t timed in fifteen minute increments. When you hang […]
Long Island’s Jamesport Manor Inn: An insider’s story
You can get used to about anything, living at the Jamesport Manor Inn on Long Island. A former dishwasher who was also a tenant before it burned and was restored, proved it one afternoon as he was at his sink, doing his job. A waitress, who was also familiar with the specter of what people […]
The legend comes to life with Jonathan Kruk in the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
The Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow has been perched on the hill overlooking the Pocantico River and the Albany Post Road for well over 300 years. As a young man, Washington Irving would often sit and look out the window in the above photo, daydreaming and watching the life of the graveyard just outside […]
Haunted Gettysburg: True ghost stories from Little Round Top, then and now
44th New York Infantry Monument and 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Little Round Top, Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, PA. “But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far […]
Peter Stuyvesant: A citizen of old New Amsterdam, carrying on nearly 400 years later in New York City
Before there was New York, there was New Amsterdam. Founded by the Dutch in 1614, New Amsterdam occupied much of the tip of lower Manhattan, with today’s Wall Street taking its name from the outer walls of the settlement. New Amsterdam was a company town, ran by the Dutch West Indies company. The main source […]
