Category: Exploring the Historical Hudson River Valley

Montgomery Village Museum 142 Clinton Street Montgomery, NY 12549

Montgomery Village Museum

142 Clinton Street

Montgomery, NY 12549

(845) 457-7576

https://www.facebook.com/MontgomeryVillageMuseum/

https://www.villageofmontgomery.org/our-community/village-history/523-museum-hours.html

Open: Sunday 3:00pm-6:00pm/Monday-Saturday Closed

Admission: Free but donations are accepted

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g48196-d27005812-r967710754-Montgomery_Village_Museum-Montgomery_New_York.html?m=19905

The Montgomery Village Museum at 142 Clinton Street

The Museum in the front of the museum

The museum sign welcomes you

Village memorabilia on display

The display on the local church’s

The Montgomery Village Museum in Montgomery, NY is a village run museum that tells of story of the town and its development. The museum of filled with wonderful displays of all aspects of the town. The history of the town is displayed in an organized way display by display with plenty of signage and docents to explain things to you if you want more information. You can tour the museum at your own pace.

The front gallery of the museum

The front display of the Veterans and the VFW of the Village of Montgomery, NY

Display of Armed Forces memorabilia

The gallery of Town Council, Downtown merchants and Veterans items

The Downtown Merchant’s display

Some of the local merchants have been in town for over a hundred years

The artifacts on the Town Council and the Chamber

The 100th Anniversary of the Town of Montgomery, NY shows a diagram of the town and its historical past

Some of the items of the rural home past

What I thought was interesting about the museum was the discovery of dinosaur bones in the area. The skull of a Mastodon and other bones were found in digs between here and Newburgh.

The Mastodon skull at the museum

The skull and bones and the site

The Importance of the Mastodon story

The write up on dinosaur bones

The display on the Montgomery Fire Department

The museum has an extensive collection of items from the County Fire department telling its own story of the fire service in this community. The Orange County Firefighters Museum is right across the street with all the larger equipment and gear but here we get to see the pictures of the department over the years and some of the small artifacts.

Display on the Montgomery Fire Department

The display on the Montgomery Coronet Band display

The Textiles industry in Montgomery

The display from Montgomery High School from sports to the marching band

The museum has an extensive collection of memorabilia from Montgomery High School over the past one hundred years that include marching band and sports to the way the school teaches. It is amazing that in many ways it does not change much.

More artifacts from the schools

Displays of the schools and libraries in the county

The Montgomery High School band and sports

A old school house display

The Girl Scout and Boy Scout display

The original fire department display that sits across the street

The Montgomery Grange display

The Picture Display of old photos of the past of the Village of Montgomery, NY

The Toy and Doll Display will delight any young child

The Art display in the back part of the museum

The afternoon I was at the museum, they had an outdoor concert in the garden of the museum. It was warm night so sitting outside enjoying the music was really nice.

The museum’s well tended gardens

The gardens by the side of the museum

The gardens in bloom by the fence

The musical performance of the quartet

The video of the concert:

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The large paintings above the front door as I was leaving that evening.

One last look at all the galleries at the museum gave me a glimpse of the extensive collection of artifacts at the museum and the story they tell of the community of Montgomery, NY.

The back gallery

The front gallery

The side gallery

For such a small museum, the displays really give an interesting look at the county and how it has progressed over the years. What have been new to us in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s , 80’s and forward has now become the past to newer generations. The Montgomery Village Museum tells that story in detail.

A visit here is a nice way to spend the afternoon. Then take a tour of Historic Montgomery, NY. There is a lot to do and see.

Exploring historic Downtown Montgomery, NY

Exploring historic Downtown Montgomery, NY

Dutchess County Historical Society 6282 Route US 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

Dutchess County Historical Society

6282 US-Route 9

Rhinebeck, NY 12572

(845) 471-1630

https://www.facebook.com/DCHSNY/

2023 Home

Open: Sunday-Monday Closed/Tuesday-Thursday 10:00am-3:00pm/Friday-Saturday Closed

Admission: Free but donations are accepted

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Dutchess County Historical Society at 6282 Route US 9 in Rhinebeck, NY

I recently visited the new Dutchess County Historical Society in Rhinebeck from its old home in Downtown Poughkeepsie. The new museum has a light and airy feel about it with new exhibitions being mounted and a new library being set up for research. The museum just opened for viewing so it is still in its early stages for displaying artifacts.

The Dutchess County Historical Society

The Main Gallery at the museum

The Mission of the Dutchess County Historical Society:

The Dutchess County Historical Society is committed to being the most meaningful source of Dutchess County history, a commitment in place since its 1914 founding.

We do this through the responsible archival stewardship of tangible objects and the energetic interpretation and presentation of local history to the public.

We are proud to be known for our community outreach through a wide range of publications, awards, exhibits, programs, talks, writings, videos and oral histories.

Online and traditional exhibitions, lectures, awards, conferences and special presentations round out Dutchess County Historical Society programming for members and our local communities.

Portraits of local residents and antique furniture

Some of the new permanent collection on display are family portraits, antique furniture, historic documents and local artifacts from towns all over Dutchess County. Much of these items were donated by the families that live in the area.

The portraits of local residents and historical documents in the collection

Historical Documents of Dutchess County with the original seals

The first exhibition that is being mounted in partnership with the Rhinebeck Fire Department is the history of the fire service in Dutchess County. Since part of the exhibition was being moved to the new fire museum at the Dutchess County Fair Grounds for the upcoming Dutchess County Fair, I got to see only a portion of it at the museum.

The exhibition “The History of the Dutchess County Fire Service”:

The exhibition shows the progression and growth of the fire service in Dutchess County since the time the Dutch lived in this region. The collection reflects the direction of these departments since the end of the Civil War and how much and how little the equipment has changed.

Fire department artifacts including documents and equipment

Fire service pictures and documents and a beam from Henry Livingston’s mansion that got shelled by the British (this sits below the display case)

Fire Department jacket

Helmets and trumpets used by fire departments in the past

What was interesting about the exhibit was the depth of items of the past that each firefighting and the story they tell.

The Permanent Collection:

The remaining displays along the walls of the museum as set up continues tell the story of Dutchess Counties past and the families that lived here.

Family heirlooms

Household and Business items

An old Draft card machine

There will be more displayed of the treasure trove of items in the museum’s collection, so it gives people a chance to see the past of the County on display and how it differs from current life to playing its part in the County’s future. There will be a lot more to do and see in the museum going forward.

Ulster County Agricultural Museum-Ulster County Fairgrounds 249 Liberty Road New Paltz, NY 12561

Ulster County Agriculture Museum-Ulster County Fairgrounds

249 Liberty Road

New Paltz, NY 12561

(845) 255-1380

Ulster County Fairgrounds

Open: When the fairgrounds are open

Admission: Free but donations are accepted

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Ulster County Fair Agricultural Museum at the Ulster County Fairgrounds

The sign at the entrance of the museum

Display outside the entrance of the museum

The Ulster County Fair Agricultural Museum is one of the more interesting and detailed agricultural based museums I have seen. The museum houses an extensive collection of farm equipment that includes machinery for the fields, milking equipment including how to milk a cow properly and the progress on egg hatchery and production. The museum highlights these changes especially in the last hundred years.

The main gallery of the museum

The main part of the museum was dedicated to farm equipment from the early plows and hoes to the changes in the modern day tractor.

The early hoes both hand and horse drawn

The changes in tractors for farm use over the last century

All sorts of businesses were on the farms from egg hatcheries to dairy farming were shown in their early stages at the museum.

Milk jugs for fresh milk

An early egg hatchery and sorters

The museum also displayed other business that farmers could make money from including ice cutting for ice boxes. All sorts of equipment was on display for this early money making industry.

The ice carving industry

Life on the farm was not so easy for women either as cooking, washing and cleaning were all chores left to women while the men worked in the fields. All foods were made from scratch from farm produce and water for cooking, washing and bathing came from wells and springs and sometimes needed to be boiled. Work in the household was never finished and took many hands to do.

The farmhouse kitchen

Life on the farm included travel to and from church, going to town and travel to the cities for visits to the markets. Carts and carriages were the mode of transportation back then before automobiles. Even today in some communities this is still a mode of transportation.

Carriages and wagons for transportation

Working in the fields and the yields produced kept changing as modern equipment became part of farm life. Gas powered and electric equipment changed the way the modern farmer produced crops.

Modern sorters and weights

The gas powered saw

The members who run the museum were working the gas run engines and were demonstrating equipment used over the years. Members were showing visitors how these machine work and there purpose on the farm.

The outdoor gas powered equipment

The gas powered equipment

The inside of the museum had all sorts of displays on working on the farm. There was the equipment to cut the law, sort the crops and maintenance on the farm.

Sickle mower

The gas powered machines for maintaining of the farm and fields

Animals from the 4 H display

Calves from the 4 H display

Chicken exhibit at the 4 H display

Duck pen at the 4H exhibit

The looks you get from the farm animals

Ulster County Fire Museum Ulster County Fairgrounds 249 Liberty Road New Paltz, NY 12561

Ulster County Fire Museum-Ulster County Fairgrounds

249 Liberty Road

New Paltz, NY 12561

(845) 255-1380

Ulster County Fairgrounds

Open: When the fairgrounds are open for events

Admission: Free but donations are accepted

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Ulster County Fire Department Museum at the Ulster County Fairgrounds

The Ulster County Fire Department Museum is a unique little museum in that it is only open when the fairgrounds are open. It staffed by volunteers from Ulster County’s Volunteer Fire Departments. From the age of most of the volunteers, I could tell as a retired fireman, were all the guys whose firemen days at behind them. Still they are committed firefighters and have some good stories to tell.

The inside of the museum

The museum is more of an exhibition than a museum but for a small museum it packed with all sorts of artifacts, fire fighting equipment and memorabilia on the early days of fire fighting.

The old fire department medallions that showed what fire department would come to your home because of the company fire insurance you paid to them.

Some of the older artifacts they had were these fire department medallions from the various fire companies that existed that people paid into to protect their homes. Those were the days when the companies used to compete to be the best.

The collection of patches and awards

The museum contained a large collection of awards, ribbons and patches from fire departments from all over the local area and beyond. The collection included ribbons from various competitions and conventions, company emblems and events over the years.

Fire fighter mugs from various departments and events

The museum has an extensive collection of commemorative mugs. These are sold or given by fire department and companies to mark anniversaries and special events. These mugs mark the special occasions in a fire fighters career. As a fireman I have also found that these pile up quickly in your cupboards.

Department mugs from various department events and from companies

The museum had an extensive collection of toy fire trucks and games on display. There were samples of these out in front of the museum for the kids to play with that day.

The collection of fire trucks on display

The museum put the bunker gear we firefighters use on calls. This protects us in the weather conditions as well.

The fire fighter bunker gear used on calls

The emergency gear we use on calls on roadways and incidents

I got to talking with the volunteer firemen from Ulster County and like most departments around the country, they are having problems finding volunteers to man the departments. It is a tough field and people don’t want to do it for free anymore. I figure like a lot of towns around us, the departments will be paid soon. That is the wave of the future.

Firefighter Scooby Doo protecting the museum

Still the firefighters from Ulster County do a nice job maintaining this museum. For a one room museum, it is packed by information and manned by firefighters who care about the profession.

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