Time Travel

A Short Trip on Ulster County Roads & Bridges

“Public records are the frozen mind of the people.” Thus begins the introduction to transcriptions of Early Records of New York State showing the meetings and laws covering Road Commissioners of Ulster County, Volume I, 1722-1769. The book is an interesting read, especially if you ever wondered who laid out some of the rural roads [Read More…]

Putting Down Roots

Three countries, three families, three stories. All Americans.

Sidgwick Family: England Tantillo Family: Italy Polischuk Family: Russia   This pictorial layout is presented here as a downloadable PDF file: Putting Down Roots (PDF)

Water Works

Following the example of natural waterways, this article meanders. Hopefully, it makes connections between that H2O and some other facets of our vast land and its history that led to America’s unparalleled prosperity. Water was a natural bounty that provided a figurative and literal path to earnable wealth for our forebears, and continues for us [Read More…]

Connecting Oceans / Carleton Mabee

The globe in my New Paltz Campus School fifth-grade class- room clearly showed the Panamanian isthmus; Mrs. Compton, head-enlightener, pointed out that a channel was dug to connect the two oceans. Shipping options increased. Ho Hum. Not until the book, The Path Between the Seas, by David McCullough, made it onto my reading list that [Read More…]

The Social Relief Society Welcomes You to Cottekill…

The Inviting Postcard The bucolic image above is a postcard. Its postal cancellation reads: “Cottekill, N.Y. August 6, 1941, AM.” The Social Relief Society (SRS) advertising text on reverse sets the mood: “The S.R.S. Home is beautifully situated in the Catskill Mountains 900 feet above sea level in Cottekill, Ulster County, N.Y. Reasonable rates. All [Read More…]

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