Putnam History Museum

63 Chestnut Street

Cold Spring, NY 10516

(845) 265-4010

https://www.putnamhistorymuseum.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g47508-d2252339-Reviews-Putnam_History_Museum-Cold_Spring_New_York.html

The Putnam History Museum at 63 Chestnut Street in Cold Spring, NY.

Don’t underestimate the size of the this museum packed with interesting exhibitions and information. It is really a terrific local museum that tells the story of the local community. I was very impressed.

The Putnam History Museum sign on Route 9.

The Mission of the Museum:

(From the Museum website)

The mission of the Putnam History Museum is to collect, preserve, interpret, and present the history of Putnam County, Philipstown, the West Point Foundry, and the Hudson Highlands. Through exhibitions, programs, and events, the museum uses its collections to engage the community with the vibrant history of our region, and to foster greater understanding of the role it has played in the growth of our nation.

The Current Exhibitions:

December 2023:

Indigenous Peoples in Putnam County

This exhibition explores Lenape and Wappinger culture in Putnam County, with a special focus on the Woodland period when these cultures flourished in the Hudson Valley. In addition to sharing Lenape stories—past and present—the exhibition features important artifacts and replicas including stone tools, stone points, pottery sherds, and a dugout canoe.

The Indigenous Peoples Exhibition:

(Funded in part by the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, American Historical Association, and the Cold Spring Lions Club. Image courtesy of the Staten Island Museum).

This exhibition was interesting in that it explained the local tribe of Lenape Indians who lived in the area before the Dutch and the contribution that they made to the community and their history in the area. The day to day lives of the tribes was shown in the various displays from the way they fished and hunted in the community. The dug out canoe the museum found out recently was a reproduction of the original. For years the curator explained to me the museum thought it was the real thing. Very detailed and very interesting exhibition.

Locally found Arrowhead Collection

The history of Indigenous people in the Hudson River Valley.

History of the Lenape Indians

The reproduction of the Lenape Canoe on display.

West Point Foundry

There is a permanent Foundry exhibition on display at PHM. It includes photographs, artifacts, paintings, maps, and videos highlighting the Foundry related objects within the PHM collection, including a fully restored 10-pounder Parrott Rifle.

The Foundry Exhibition is a permanent exhibition in the museum.

The map of the former foundry’s in the area.

I never realized that the Town of Cold Springs, NY was such a productive foundry area between all the wars. Many ironworks dotted the community which is now an upscale community just outside New York City. The foundry’s created many items that helped the ‘war machine’ such as train parts and cannon balls along with many modes of transportation.

The Foundry exhibition.

The objects of the Foundry.

The various sizes of cannon balls created by the local foundry’s.

The Foundry Painting “Foundry”

The “Foundry” painting sign.

The West Point Foundry part of the exhibit.

The West Foundry sign of the exhibition.

The West Point Foundry during the war.

A Brief History of Julia Butterfield

Born in 1823, at age 18 Julia Lorillard Safford married Frederick James, a broker and banker in New York City. They lived on Fifth Avenue and in 1852 built a magnificent stone village house in Cold Spring that was named Cragside because it had been constructed on a hillside strewn with rocks. It was surrounded by elaborate gardens, lawns, orchards and fields, according to Trudie Grace, author of “Around Cold Spring”. Haldane High School now occupies the site of Cragside, and a gatehouse built in 1866 still stands at the foot of Cragside Drive as a private residence.

The Julia Butterfield Exhibition

Frederick James died in 1884. Two years later, Julia married Daniel Butterfield, a Civil War general who is credited with composing “Taps” and whose father co-founded American Express. He lived until 1901. When Julia died in 1913, her estate (was) estimated to be worth $3 million, or about $75 million today. 

This permanent exhibition of a local woman who supported her community and deserves much respect and admiration for the contributions to Cold Springs showed her immense generosity. I wish there was more people like her in every community.

Bequests by Julia Butterfield in her 1913 will, with current values:

YMCA – $2.32 million ($62M)
Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Hospital – $150K ($4.6M)
Union College, Schenectady – $100K ($3M)
Julia L. Butterfield Memorial Library – $60K ($1.85M)
Home for the Relief of Respectable Aged Indigent Females – $20K ($616K)
Association for the Aid of Crippled Children – $10K ($308K)
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (for parsonage) – $10K ($308K)
Association of New York Day Nurseries – $5K ($154K)  

The library, a Georgian Revival building, was constructed on the foundation of the old Dutch Reformed Church and dedicated in 1925. The hospital, finished the same year, was built, many believed, because one of Julia’s sons had died after a fall from a horse and she felt he might have survived if a hospital had been closer.

(Adapted from a 2018 Highlands Current article)