Tag: Exploring Historic Dutchess County NY

The Century Museum and Collectors Association Dutchess County Fairgrounds 6636 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

The Century Museum and Collectors Association Dutchess County Fairgrounds 6636 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

The Century Museum and Collectors Association Dutchess County Fairgrounds 6636 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572

(845) 876-4000

https://centurymuseum.wixsite.com/home

https://www.dutchessfair.com/explore/fair-features/

Open: When the fairgrounds are open Spring, Summer and Fall for events

Admission: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

The Century Museum Village inside the Dutchess County Fairgrounds

When the Dutchess County Fairgrounds are open for the season for big events in the Spring, Summer and Fall, the fairgrounds open their historical museums that are located on the property. These include the School House Museum and the Train Station Museum and the when the volunteers are there the Dutchess County Volunteer Firemen’s Museum. The main museum is the Century Museum Village, a look at rural life in Dutchess County at the turn of the last century.

The Schoolhouse Museum in the Century Museum Village

The Train Station Museum at the Century Museum Village

The Century Museum Village gives an interesting look of the changes in life in rural communities all over the United States until the start of WWII. Farming communities had their own way of life, their own clubs and organizations and traditions that were different from City residents. Life on the farm was productive but hard work. As time rolled on, modern conveniences found their way to these communities but as we see by all the machinery, there was still a lot of work to done.

As you progress through the different displays and dioramas, you can see how life improved over time. Progress swept through these communities between WWI and WWII and with the spread of the second industrial revolution after WWII and the change of the consumer market. The advent of the modern highways, the newly built suburbs and movement out of the cities changed these regions even more.

The entrance of the museum and the various dioramas

The museum is lined with different displays of life in the rural community and the advancements made in these communities between about 1880-1930.

The Advancement in farming practices and equipment

Ice block industry for refrigeration

The household for the farmhouse wife started to become easier with new machinery to help around the house. Modern ways of washing clothes, cooking food and cleaning the house started to make life a bit easier in the household. This left time for a social life and to tend to other things around the house.

The Modern Conveniences of the home

The modern household items to make life easier from 1870-1929

The modern kitchen before electricity came out to the country was still run by coal and wood. Modern electricity would not start until after WWI and even then was not available to everyone. Cooking and washing had gotten easier but still required some work on a everyday basis.

The Kitchen in the Country

The home decor had changed after the Civil War to WWI with the changes in mass production and industrialization. Furniture, rugs, lamps and pictures had become available in all makes and sizes for sale both through catalogs and General stores or maybe a trip to the City to a Department store. People were able to furnish their homes nicer due to mass production and changes in quality of home furnishings.

The Rural Bedroom

Bedrooms have not changed much since then

The idea of the Parlor is equivalent to our modern Living Room. It is usually the room that all socializing is done in, where the family’s best furniture and knick-knacks were placed. It was the nicest room in the house.

The Rural Parlor

The finest home furnishes and the pride of the home was displayed in the parlor.

Both inside and outside the home there would be changes in the way people lived over a fifty year period. There would be changes in plumbing, carpentry and printing. Modernization would change the way people did their jobs and the way they interacted with their customers.

Modern Machinery

A better way to chop wood

Modern pump processes

Shopping was beginning to change after the Civil War as well. The days of people making everything at home was not longer necessary as more and more consumer items became available. Clothing, dishes, toys and hardware could be bought at the General store along with prepared and bakery items. It made life for the rural housewife easier.

The General Store

Prepared items in the General Store

The bakery items and things for sale at the General Store

Quilting has always been a social affair with women meeting and gossiping while working on projects on their own or one big project for the home.

Women working together making quilts and sewn items for the home.

Crocheting for the home

Use of Looms for clothing and rugs

Modern printing took a turn as more modern machines made it easier to produce printing items for playbills, newspapers and magazines. The end of the WWI our modern magazines were being created. The way trades were changing more modern equipment was being used in every industry.

The Printing Press as things start to automat

The Clock Maker

Wood Harvesting

Transportation continued to improve as we moved from the horse and buggy to the modern carriage to the automobile. Improvements continued when mass production started with the Model T Ford and just kept improving. Still even today we like the idea of horse drawn carriages and sleigh rides as a traditional part of our past that we like to maintain especially during the holidays.

Horse Drawn carriages and Model T’s

The School House Museum:

The Modern School has not changed much since its rural past. I just think you can’t hit a student with a ruler anymore and I could not see a student with a Dunce cap in today’s politically correct world. The blackboard has not gone out of style as well as a teacher teaching the next generation.

The One Room School House Museum

The school room set up still remains the same to a certain point.

I don’t think would happen to the modern student

The One Room School House set up.

As the museum shows us, somethings have changed and some things remain the same. At some point, we did things right.

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Hyde Park Historical Society 4389 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538

Hyde Park Historical Society 4389 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538

Hyde Park Historical Society

4389 Albany Post Road

Hyde Park, NY 12538

(845) 229-2559

https://hydeparkhistoricalsociety1821.org/

https://www.hydeparkny.us/669/Hyde-Park-Historical-Society

Open: Sunday 11:00am-3:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed/Saturday 10:00am-3:00pm

Fee: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60801-d3426818-Reviews-Hyde_Park_Historical_Society_Museum-Hyde_Park_New_York.html

The Hyde Park Historical Society at 4389 Albany Post Road

The Hyde Park Historical Society is going through a type of rebirth as it has reopened with a fresh approach towards not just the history of Hyde Park, NY but the area in general and life here over the last two hundred years. The society is taking a new direction and revamping their efforts on the displays and on the history and activities of the museum. The museum is housed in what was once the Hyde Park, NY Fire Department building.

The museum is broken down into sections by displays. When you enter the museum there is an display of bicycles and recreation items that would have been used over the years. This activity changed the social life of both men and women of that era.

Bicycle display:

Next to it was the history of the Hyde Park Fire Department with pictures of companies of fire fighters and all sorts of memorabilia. There are pictures of former fire companies including the ones that were once housed in the museum building.

The Hyde Park Fire Department:

Across from that, there is a display called “Daily Life” which was the history of the town with homes and businesses in the area at that time. There were all sorts of pictures of prominent families and their day to day activities.

Daily life in Hyde Park, NY for the Middle class members of the community

Luxury items of the Gilded Age

There was all sorts of objects from the bills of sale of homes, household items and there is an wonderful display of accessories from the Victorian era.

The front room of the museum is dedicated to life of the middle to upper-middle class of Hyde Park around the turn of the last century. There is all sorts of clothing, pictures and artifacts from schools, the boy scouts, area schools and there are even sleds and skates from winter recreation sports played on the Hudson River. There are all sorts of athletic equipment, clothing based on sporting or activity event and accessories that were used and worn when participating in all seasonal activities.

Life in Hyde Park, NY

Every day life in Hyde Park, NY

There is a small display from the semi-professional baseball team that used to be located in Hyde Park with pictures, equipment and uniforms. It seemed that semi-professional baseball was a big entertainment and community event in years past in Hyde Park, NY.

The Hyde Park baseball team

There are also items in a small war display that is circa WWI. Many artifacts were donated by families whose members fought in the war.

The second small room in the back is dedicated to communication equipment from WWII and pictures of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was the President at the time as well as a prominent member of the community. The Roosevelts had lived in the Hudson River Valley for generations.

There are several important pieces of war time equipment located here.

There is also a display of farm equipment showing off the areas agricultural past and present. This is still a major farming area as you head north of Rhinebeck, NY.

The back room is dedicated to clothing and wardrobe items like dresses, hats and spinning items.

There are a few portraits of local residents as well.

This shows the change of clothing from when Dutch women would spin their wool for clothing to buying ready to wear items in the local department and specialty stores that dotted towns like Rhinebeck and Poughkeepsie.

The display also shows the manner of dress went from the Victorian era to the Jazz Age and the changes in just ten years.

Hats from various ages

Here and there are other items that relate to daily living and a prosperous life in Hyde Park, NY. The museum is well lit and very well organized and signed so it makes viewing the displays a pleasure. It is a treasure trove of artifacts and information and insights to the life of Rhinebeck NY at that time. This display was on the Hype Park School System.

Everyday life in the schools in Hyde Park and Rhinebeck, NY

The History of the Hyde Park Historical Society:

(From the museum’s pamphlet):

The Hyde Park Firehouse:

As indicated by the engraved stone lintels over the engine bays, the firehouse that the museum is housed in was built in 1905 for the Eagle Engine Company founded in 1845 and the Rescue Hook & Ladder Company (1866), separate companies whose volunteer members included Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The old Hyde Park Firehouse serves as the museum

Designed by Poughkeepsie architect William Beardsley, the Renaissance Revival style brick building features a cast iron cornice and a bas relief decoration above the third story windows.

You can find all sorts of items at the museum. It contains lots of local pictures and artifacts. In the Textile Room, you can find a hat box labeled Mrs. James Roosevelt, a spinning wheel and period apparel.

The Hyde Park Historical Society at Christmas 2022

In the Research Room, you can search your family and friends’ history, look at local tools of trade and maps of Dutchess County in the 1700’s.

The beautiful Hyde Park Christmas tree December 2022

Downtown Hyde Park at Christmas time

First Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill 1153 Main Street Fishkill, NY 12524

First Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill 1153 Main Street Fishkill, NY 12524

First Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill

1153 Main Street

Fishkill, NY 12524

(845) 896-4546

Open: Church Services are on Sundays at 10:00am

https://www.facebook.com/FirstReformedChurchofFishkill/

https://fishkillreformed.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47724-d263921-Reviews-First_Reformed_Church_of_Fishkill-Fishkill_New_York.html

After visiting three historical homes in the Fishkill area covering the towns of Hopewell Junction and Wappingers Falls, my last stop of the day was the First Dutch Reformed Church of Fishkill, NY. The church was closed at this point with services being on Sunday’s only starting at 10:00am. I was able to tour around the church admiring its architecture, looking over the DuBois House which is also owned by the church and exploring the cemetery.

The cemetery was the most interesting being the final resting place of many of the ‘first families’ of the area, including family plots of the Van Wyck and Brinckerhoff families, who also intermarried with each other. There were sections dedicated just to the families and then to the blended ones.

There were also members of the DuBois Family among others. What was interesting was toward the back of the cemetery near the new playground was the Van Wyck Family Vault. This large mound is noted with the stone maker in the front of the vault.

The Van Wyck family vault at the Fishkill Reformed Church Cemetery

The Church played an important role in worshipping in the community as it does today.

The Founding of the Church:

(From the Church records)

On October 10th, 1715, the Revered Petrus Vas of Kingston, NY under the direction of the Classis of Amsterdam, started two Dutch Reformed Churches, one in Poughkeepsie and the other in Fishkill. This occurred when the population of the are increased and they did not want to keep travelling to New Paltz for worship.

The First Reformed Dutch Church of Fishkill, NY at 1153 Main Street

The Church today:

(From the Church website)

The 20th Century brought additional changed to the property. Some gravestones were moved to make space for the Christian Education Building, which was constructed in 1964. The old chapel, a 19th century addition to the property was torn down. The playground is now located where the chapel was once. A Memorial Garden was added to the cemetery in 1980 and includes a columbarium for cremains. The sanctuary’s exterior was refurbished in 1975, the steeple reshingled and the rooster regilded in 1984.

In 1992, a condition survey was done (the church is the centerpiece of the Fishkill Village National Historic District). This report concluded that the sanctuary is one of the most significant nonresidential 18th Century buildings in New York, if not the country. The framing is a perfect example of an upside-down boat. While it was urged to pursue National Landmark Status for the church itself, it has not yet been done.

The Cemetery:

In 1995, a report on the preservation of cemetery gravestones was done. A Boy Scout Eagle Project, in 2002, recorded pictures and inscriptions of each stone in the cemetery and created a finder’s map of the cemetery.

The Enoch Crosby marker for a spy for the American forces during the Revolutionary War

The trial was performed here, and Enoch Crosby was allowed to escape. This marker is dedicated to that event.

The cemetery behind the church with the DuBois House and Church to the right:

The DuBois House:

(From the Church website)

The property was expanded in 1991 with the purchase of the DuBois House (named for the founding elder of the church). There is no record of when it was built but with structural similarities to the Van Wyck House made it believed to be built in the mid 1700’s. Abraham Brinckerhoff Rapalje purchased the house with fifty-four acres of land from his uncle, Abraham Brinckerhoff in 1790. Rapalje was the man hired by the consistory to do finish work after the church was enlarged following the Revolution. The house served as the hearing room for the court proceedings of the Committee of Safety over which John Jay, who would later become our nation’s first Supreme Court Justice presided.

The Committee of Safety played an important role in the story of Enoch Crosby, the Revolutionary Spy. The house was originally located east of its present location and was moved in 1929 to make way for the expansion of the Albany Post Road, now Route 9. The building is used for service to the community and church. It contains the church parlor and offices for the Minister and Secretary on the first floor and the office of the Music Director.

The Brinckerhoff/Van Wyck family plots

The Van Wyck family plot

The full Dutch Reformed Church of Fishkill cemetery and church

The Van Wyck Family Vault:

The History of the Dutch Reformed Church of Fishkill, NY:

By 1716, the population of the area had grown enough (though the whole county had only 440 people) that the settlers wanted their own church instead of having to cross the river to New Paltz or Kingston where the two closest Reformed Churches were located. Therefore, on October 10th, 1716, the Reverend Petrus Vas from Kingston under the direction of the Classis of Amsterdam started two Dutch Reformed Churches, one in Poughkeepsie and one in Fishkill.

While Poughkeepsie began building immediately, Fishkill did not begin building until 1725. Tradition and most published sources have it that Madame Brett by now a widow and the wealthiest landowner in the area gave the land for a churchyard while the land the church occupied was given by Johannes Ter Boss.

However, two deeds registered at the County Courthouse tell a different story. The first parcel of land, “it being that certain piece of land on which the Dutch Church so called now stands” was given by Madame Brett, through Jacob DuBois, it being the intent of him that the Reformed Nether Dutch Congregation of Rumbouth precinct “always be kept and preserved as a church or public edifice for the particular sole and only use and benefit of the aforementioned church to worship the Almighty God, in and to and for no other ends purposes use or uses whatsoever.” The second deed states that Obidiah Cooper and Esther, his wife, gave another small parcel of land to the church. These records were written thirty years after the fact and were not filed in Poughkeepsie until 1915.

There is also a deed from 1747 in which Johannes Ter Boss sells a parcel of land north of the Fishkill’s, reserving one acre for a meeting house. Every published history has this acre for the Rombout Presbyterian Church, which was built in 1747 about three miles from First Reformed. So, it would appear that there was confused between DuBois and Ter Boss, probably due to the old handwriting and a Frenchman, born in Leyden, Holland and a Dutchman. Another supporting piece of information is that there is no Ter Boss listed in the church records of The First Reformed Church, while the DuBois family is prominent, starting with Peter DuBois, the first elder.

It took seven years to build the original sanctuary. Field stone was brought by ox teams and the local inhabitants, and their slaves did the building. Work proceeded slowly because the men had fields to attend and families to support. The sanctuary was a small, square building with a hip roof and a cupola in the center, which supported a bell. The central door opened onto the street as the side door does today.

In 1785 the congregation decided to enlarge the original building. The east and west walls were taken down and the building was lengthened. A second story was added, and balconies suspended by iron rods were put into seat slaves. The tower and the steeple made with beams 18″ square and 80″ long rose 120 feet above the ground. The west end had four small windows.

In the midst of the reconstruction, John Stickland, an English traveler wrote “Here is a large Dutch Church, rapidly going to decay, probably never to be repaired.” However, construction continued, and the consistory hired Abraham Brinckerhoff Rapalje, who lived next door to build the new pulpit, new pews and to enclose the square lower section of the tower.

Five years later, in 1795, they hired him again to shingle the spire. With construction finished, the spire was topped with a gilded cock, symbolic of Peter’s denial of Jesus. It is actually about three feet high. It is one of the few left in the country.

The expanded sanctuary was remodeled in 1806. Columns were added to support the balconies and the pulpit and side pews were lowered to the level of the rest of the sanctuary. More alterations were made in 1854, when the balconies were narrowed and lowered. An alcove was made in the west end for the pulpit and the four small windows were replaced by the stained glass and painted windows. The alcoves and doors on each side of the tower were added.

The church decorated for Christmas in 2022

The chandeliers were imported from Holland and can be lowered by chains to the level of the pews for service. Gas replaced candles in the chandeliers in 1858. In 1908, they were electrified. In the late 1800’s, most of the ‘extra’ original property was sold for building lots at $100.00 each no one foreseeing the need for parking lots of the future.

(Disclaimer: I changed a few things around from the church history to make it flow better. More details are on the above link to the church’s history).

The entrance to the First Reformed Church of Fishkill in December 2022 decorated for the holidays.

Van Wyck Homestead Museum 504 U.S. 9 Fishkill, NY 12524

Van Wyck Homestead Museum 504 U.S. 9 Fishkill, NY 12524

Van Wyck Homestead Museum

504 U.S. 9

Fishkill, NY 12524

(845) 896-0560

https://www.hudsonrivervalley.com/sites/Van-Wyck-Homestead-Museum-/details

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Wyck_Homestead_Museum

Admission: Free

Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Saturday Closed/June-October

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g47724-d263982-Reviews-Van_Wyck_Homestead_Museum-Fishkill_New_York.html

The Van Wyck Homestead at 504 U.S. 9

Visiting the Van Wyck Homestead is like stepping back into the past to see a part of our nation’s history. The homestead sits at a once pivotal point location in the Hudson River Valley and during the Revolutionary War, George Washington established his main northern supply depot here in October of 1776. After the war was over, the Van Wyck family returned to the home and lived here for five generations until the late 1800’s. The last member of the family, Sidney Van Wyck hung himself in the barn on the property (Van Wyck Homestead pamphlet).

The house was built in two sections. The original section of the house off to the right of the building is the original section of the home that was built in 1732 and the larger section of the home was finished in the 1750’s.

The marker of the original home

When you enter the homestead, you are greeted in the hallway that runs the length of the main part of the home. To the right of the hallway is old living room and to the right of the hallway is the combination kitchen and dining room. The stairs leading to the upstairs, now serving as offices, are at the end of the hallway.

Another piece of Van Wyck furniture in the old Dining Room with the display case holding family heirlooms that have been donated over the years.

The former Dining Room of the Van Wyck home with the fireplace of the addition of the house. The crib in front of the fireplace is a recent donation from the Van Wyck family and had been used by the family for generations.

The family portrait above the fireplace was recently returned to the home and fit perfectly above the fireplace. The Spinning Wheel is another family heirloom donated to the house.

An original piece of Van Wyck furniture returned to its home

When you step down the stairs into the smaller part of the original part of the house, you will be greeted in by the original kitchen and living space. This was used by the family for all functions of work and social aspects of the farm.

Items used in Colonial and Victorian kitchens

Items in the Colonial kitchen display which have not changed much over the years.

The Colonial Kitchen at the Van Wyck Homestead

To the right of the hallway is the old Living Room that is now used as a lecture hall and where meetings are held. The room was dedicated to George Washington for the service that he did for the area during the war.

The old Dining Room and lecture room

The Revolutionary War displays in the old Living Room

The room is lined with displays that are dedicated to the family and the war years. All sorts of artifacts and pictures are displayed here.

The display case in the old Dining Room

In the back of the home is the old Library that is now used a Research Library on the history of the area and of the Van Wyck family. Here you can research your roots in the community.

The Research Library at the Van Wyck Homestead

The Research Library at the Van Wyck Homestead

When you walk the grounds, the story boards tell the story of the home as it played a role in the history of the region and its place in the war years.

The Path to Victory

On the grounds of the home is also a working garden and the working beehive oven that is a recreation of the original that once stood on the property.

The Van Wyck Garden and outdoor over towards the back

History of the Van Wyck Homestead:

(From the Museum pamphlet)

In 1732, Cornelius Van Wyck from Hempstead, Long Island, acquired 959 acres from Madame Brett. He built the small east wing of the Van Wyck Homestead. By 1757, the larger west wing of the home had been added. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington established his main northern supply depot here in October of 1776. The Van Wyck house was requisitioned by the Continental Army to serve as the depot’s headquarters.

At the end of the Revolutionary War, the house reverted back to the owner, Issac Van Wyck. The old barracks and huts used for the war were torn down and the land went back to farming. The Van Wyck descendants lived in the house until the late 1800’s.

The original part of the house was built in 1732

By the mid-twentieth century, the house stood empty and was slated to be torn down for the new Interstate 84. The Fishkill Historical Society was formed in 1962 and after going to Albany, members were successful in getting the historical building saved and I-84’s plan changed. The Fishkill Historical Society was able to purchase the property and begin the restoration. This work is ongoing as we maintain this historical structure and grounds.

The Homestead is listed on the National Register and is part of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. It is also part of the Rochambeau Trail which celebrates the French Alliance with the new United States.

The historic marker outside the house donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. A cemetery for soldiers of the American Revolution were buried somewhere near the estate. When graves were discovered south of the museum, this could have been one of the resting places for them (Van Wyck pamphlet).