Taking our place in cyberspace

Oct 18, 2010 | Tin Horn

Finally, HSM has a website! After years of talking about it, we now have a presence on the web, the one and only place devoted to the history of the Town of Middletown. Thanks to Sue and Craig of Bovina-based CMS Internet Solutions, Inc., our programs and activities can be reached by anyone anywhere, more or less instantly. HSM board member Joanie Merwin, Internet guru at Belleayre Mountain, designed our site, and CMS did the architecture.

We hope you have fun exploring the site. Don’t hesitate to contact us with corrections, or to submit photos or short history articles for consideration. We see this as a living site with new material added periodically. We also welcome your submissions to this blog. Discover something new about your family or community? Want to share a new resource or bit of research that’s Middletown-related? Please contact us!

History as art!

History as art!

Oct 18, 2010 | Tin Horn

We are very excited that the talented East Branch Delaware River Plein Air Painters have once again taken brush in hand to benefit our Historical Society. Over the past several months, ten artists have sketched and painted historic buildings and sites in Middletown. Of dozens of works produced by this creative crowd, 25 original paintings will go to the highest bidders at a silent auction and reception Friday, Nov. 26 from 3 to 6 in The Commons, Main Street, Margaretville. Last year’s event was a great success. Don’t miss this tremendous opportunity to decorate your home with a one of a kind painting by a local artist! Or, think holiday gifts! See a sample from each of the artists.

Meg Leveson paints Walnut St., Margaretville

 

Campaigns of the past revisited at Historical Society program

Oct 14, 2010 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will offer a musical journey through spirited election campaigns of the past when it gathers for its Annual Meeting Saturday, Oct. 23 at LaCabana Restaurant in Fleischmanns.

Linda Russell, former balladeer for the National Park Service, will sing and play the songs America voted by in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Her lively program casts a unique look at how we came to know the candidates for political office in the days before mass media.

The public is welcome to the program, which is made possible with support from the New York State Endowment for the Humanities, the NYS Legislature and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Linda’s free performance at 1:30 p.m. will follow a luncheon of American and Mexican favorites that begins at Noon. Reservations for lunch are required by October 18. Please call 845-586-4973, or email history@catskill.net to reserve your seats at $15 each.

During the business portion of the meeting HSM will unveil its new website, which will contain capsule histories and photos of each of the hamlets in Middletown.

Early medicine topic of March 27 historical society program

Oct 14, 2010 | news archive

The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) will present living history re-enactor Stuart W. Lehman on Saturday, Mar. 27, when he will bring a hands-on lecture, “Leeches and Laudanum: Medicine in Early New York,” to Margaretville.

The program begins at 2 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church hall, Orchard St., Margaretville.

HSM members get in free; admission for non-members is $2. For more information, call 845-586-4973 or contact history@catskill.net

Lehman will discuss medicine as it was practiced in the 18th and 19th Centuries. He will bring an exhibit of the herbs, medicines, and implements used from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. You can take a close look at some fascinating artifacts; however watch out for the leeches!

Explore health care as it was practiced in early America by doctors, midwives, and the everyday housewife. Find out about theories, treatments, home remedies and patent medicines and discover which were surprisingly successful, and which caused more problems than they cured.

Lehman developed his program over many years working at a variety of historic sites, including Schuyler Mansion and Saratoga National Historical Park. He is an Education Coordinator with the Office of General Services where he develops and present programs and conducts research for the New York State Capitol.

Lehman is active in a number of historical associations, including the New Scotland Historical Association, the Friends of Schuyler Mansion and the Capitol District Civil War Roundtable. He lives in Guilderland.