The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) is gearing up for a busy season of programs, projects and a major exhibit on the Civil War.
The first program of 2013 will be held Saturday, April 20 at 10 a.m. at the HSM Hall, 778 Cemetery Road, Margaretville when homeowners in Margaretville and Halcottsville share the secrets of their houses and the people who lived there.
Andrew Goldberg will share what he’s uncovered about the Bragg Hollow farmhouse he recently purchased, and Connie and Tom Jeffers will describe the backstory of their beautifully restored Victorian in Margaretville.
Friends of Middletown Cemeteries will gather Monday, April 22 at 6 p.m. at the hall to discuss several possible cemetery restoration projects. All cemetery lovers are welcome.
The Second Annual Postcard and Ephemera Show and Sale is scheduled for June 8 at the hall, 10-3. Several vendors will have vintage materials on display and will make brief presentations.
Plans are speeding along for the Second Annual Living History Cemetery Tour, to be held June 29 in Clovesville, near the Village of Fleischmanns. Ten former residents will be profiled, including a 10-year-old girl, the last of the stage coach drivers, and famed bear hunter Mike Todd! Stay tuned for an announcement of the cast for this ambitious event, which was hugely popular last year when it debuted.
The local face of the Civil War will be presented at a summer-long exhibit which will open July 4 and will be available for viewing every Saturday from July 6 through September 1 from 11 to 2. Photos, artifacts, and individual information sheets on more than 300 Middletown area soldiers who served the Union will be featured. The Delaware County Historical Association will loan portions of its exhibit, “Delaware County in the Civil War,” for this observance of the War’s sesquicentennial.
HSM is still seeking photographs, letters and information about local Civil War veterans and their families for this exhibit. Please email history@catskill.net, or call 845-586-4973 if you have family history to share.
Five outstanding Civil War programs are scheduled throughout the summer to complement the exhibit, from battlefield medicine and horses in combat (July 13), to women’s roles and wardrobe of the 1860s (August 10). Historian Frank Waterman will explain how and why men found themselves in uniform on July 25, and Open Eye Theater and the Delaware Dulcimores will collaborate with HSM to produce a moving reading from local Civil War letters and diaries on August 22.
A community picnic on Sunday of Labor Day weekend will bring summer and the exhibit to an end with the music of the 77th Regimental Balladeers.
HSM will also participate in activities and special events that will mark the 250th anniversary of the arrival of the first white settlers in Middletown. The Village of Fleischmanns is also celebrating a milestone this year – the 100th anniversary of its incorporation as a village.