About Town

19/06/2024

Story is online, issue distributed to about 100 locations. Hope you enjoy.

23/05/2024

Off to the printer today! Bluestone in Ulster County. The image below is a quarry in Sullivan County. Used it because it is so clear how the stone was laid down in vast sheets. Such hard work. Card is from 1906, but not postmarked.

17/05/2024

Rust has stained the bluestone used above the waterline on the 1888 Walkway (formerly Poughkeepsie-Highland rail bridge). Although I look at that bridge all the time, until writing the article for Summer About Town, I did not realize it was bluestone. It must have been quarried right here in Ulster County.

28/04/2024

Summer About Town article is on bluestone, the bedrock of much of Ulster County businesses from 1830-1890. We are so fortunate that many writers have saved information and photos of all aspects of that business. I am using about a dozen books to tell this tale of another extractive industry. Love it.

17/04/2024

The Gomez Mill House: Three Centuries of Histroric Transformation

The Hudson Valley played an instrumental role in the American Revolution, was the crossroads of America’s nineteenth-century industrialization, and witnessed the cultural revolution during the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. One era of transformation is, however, often overlooked. Contrasting the region’s seventeenth-century settlements which were defined by ethnic, religious, and cultural identities, the eighteenth-century market revolution influenced these communities with evolving commercial forces. The development of transportation on the Hudson River and the growth of New York City as a center of trade linked local residents to the burgeoning Atlantic market. Regional farmers and artisans, however, often lacked the finances and influence to become directly engaged in these lucrative ventures, so instead, they consigned their wares through well-established intermediary merchants. One of these businessmen was Luis Moses Gomez, a Jewish refugee who was a member of New York City’s Shearith Israel congregation. Expanding his business interests northward in 1716, Gomez purchased land in Marlboro, New York, where he occupied this important intermediary role between local residents and the expanding market revolution. Join author, historian, and lecturer Alex Prizgintas with the New Paltz Historical Society on Monday, April 29th, 7:00 PM at the New Paltz Community Center as he explores Gomez’s position in this changing society, as well as the three centuries of history endured by his Hudson Valley property known today as the Gomez Mill House. A Marist College graduate in the fields of history and public administration, he serves as president of the Woodbury Historical Society and has been published in several journals such as the peer-reviewed Hudson River Valley Review and New York Archives Magazine as well as the Orange County Historical Society Journal and the Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Magazine. Alex has ten years of experience lecturing on topics of local history ranging from dairy farming to antique glass bottles, regional railroads, glassmaking in the Hudson Valley, the Gilded Age, and early area settlers. This event is open to the public.

13/04/2024

Toad song season is approaching.... Most beauriful of amphibian mating calls. It is 'trilling." This image is from about ten years ago, my grand nieces and the whole family was by the pond catching and releasing toads. Great fun. Was a very good year for toads!

02/04/2024

Somehow I forgot to say that Spring was distributed to about 100 locations. Story is about Roads and Bridges of Ulster County.

02/04/2024

One of the items on JBWoodchuckLodge.org online auction is a $200 gift certificate from Garvan's or Maggie Mae's in New Paltz. It is one of about 35 items including collectibles, vintage jewelry, handmade items, and experiences. More items added daily. Auction ends April 30.

27/11/2023

Winter About Town is being distributed as I write this. I've done more than fifty place in New Paltz, Gardiner, Highland, High Falls, Stone Ridge. Going to Esopus and KIngston tomorrow. Dutchess sites on Wednesday. Then I will work on the website. Then I will think about Spring and starting my 41st year of About Town. Still love doing it and have a gazillion stories to write. Thank you all.

06/09/2023

Fall 2023 has been distributed in most of New Paltz, Highland, and Gardiner. Rest of sites scheduled for this week. Hope you like the story. It should be on the website (abouttown.us) this weekend.

10/08/2023

Working on Fall About Town. Article is about water and its impact on the economic development of US and specifically Ulster Co.

26/05/2023

A Newt's paper story

26/05/2023

Cottekill Train Station

25/05/2023

Summer 2023 is coming from the printer this morning. I will be distributing today. Hope to see you!

09/05/2023

Hope to see you there.

05/05/2023

Summer 2023 story is The SRS Home Welcomes You To Cottekill.
This postcard image is the Bnnewater-Cottekill school circa 1907.

04/05/2023

Do you know where this school was? Photo taken of men in 1927 by a Poughkeepsie photographer.

29/04/2023

The Summer 2023 issue of About Town will have an article about Cottekill and the SRS Home, which is now the Cottekill Apartments. Cottekill is a hamlet in Rosendale.

The postcard image above is also of Rosendale but not Cottekill; it is just a card I like.

06/04/2023

Another sign of Spring

04/04/2023

Don't outbid me! I want to name the Woodchuck Lodge mascot. You can have all the gift cards, jewelry, experiences, ski passes, pottery, and whatever!

Thanks for supporting our cause. To make a difference, please bid on auction items, give a cash donation, or simply share this auction on your social media using the hashtag,

02/04/2023

Thinking of, and missing, Robi Josephson.

02/04/2023

John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge online fundraising auction is ready for your bids! jbwoodchucklodge.org and click on the yellow rectangle to go to the auction. Also, Wild Saturday programs are ready to roll....

12/02/2023

Spring 2023 cover. Issue goes to print this coming week.