Shandaken Historical Museum
26 Academy Street
Pine Hill, NY 12465
(845) 254-4460
Open: Sunday 10:00am-4:00pm/Monday-Thursday Closed/Friday-Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm
Admission: Free but donations are accepted
My review on TripAdvisor:
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History of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
The Shandaken Historical Museum began as the second school house of Pine Hill, District #10. There were two school rooms on the second floor. Where the office of the museum is now located was the library. The rooms were divided by a cloak room used by both rooms. The room to the right was used by the upper grades.
When they started to send high school children to Fleischmanns High School their room was closed. The large room on the left them housed grades 1-8. Downstairs was the gym. On the west end was a stage that folded up against the wall. The stage was used for recitals and at Christmas time, a play was put on for the whole town. For most of the year it was the gym, the favorite sport was basketball (TSHS website).
The old school could tell some pretty good tales. It has housed a coat factory, a furniture stripping business, a community center, as a village building it held Boy Scout meetings, Red Cross gatherings as well as free vaccination clinics and is now the Town of Shandaken Historical Museum (TSHS website).
The museum sign that greets you outside
The Museum’s Mission:
The museum displays a fascinating collection of 19th and 20th Century tools, machinery, clothing, letters and artifacts relating to the Town of Pine Hill and the surrounding hamlets of Allaben, Big Indian, Bushnellsville, Chichester, Highmount, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Tremper, Oliverea, Phoenicia, Pine Hill, Shandaken and Woodland.
The inside of the main gallery showcases the best of the surrounding hamlets. Each small town surrounding Pine Hill history is displayed town by town with artifacts from each community.
Pine Hill’s history is prominently displayed in the front starting with a display of an old classroom. It is amazing how things stay the same over the years.
Each of the displays have interesting details in all the artifacts that being showcased in each section. There are all sorts of photos, historical objects, artworks and personal affects of local citizens.
The classrooms of the past are similar to today
Local artifacts from the town
Each of the small hamlets surrounding Pine Hill had their own displays of artifacts ranging from local history, schools, fire and police departments, local events and residents and their day to day lives. Many of the residents from these communities have donated their or their family’s personal affects to the museum to build this collection.
When you visit some of these communities and look at the pictures on the wall, you can see in some cases not much has changed in these Upstate towns.
The display of artifacts from Pine Hill
https://www.centralcatskills.com/pine-hill
https://www.pinehillny.com/general-8
The display for the Town of Phoenicia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia,_New_York
The artifacts from the Town of Phonecia
The Wedding ‘Morning’ Dresses from Phonecia
The display of Opera Singer Amelita Gaffi-Cicco, a star of the stage in the 1920’s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelita_Galli-Curci
The Town of Big Indian display
https://www.centralcatskills.com/big-indian
https://www.americancatskills.com/blog/2023/1/big-indian-in-the-catskills
https://www.iloveny.com/listing/big-indian-park/124196
The Town of Big Indian display
The Town of Mount Pleasant display
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pleasant,_New_York
The Town of Allaben
https://www.catskillarchive.com/gazetteer/Allaben/index.htm
The museum celebrated the 250th Anniversary of the United States with an interesting display of the history of the Country and New York’s contributions.
The New York State display of the 250th Anniversary of the Country
The lower level of the museum is a reflection of life on the farm and an agrarian society from the turn of the last century. The funny part is that only being two hours out of New York City, many small towns in New York State still have that feel.
The lower level Farm Living Galleries
The first set of artifacts are dedicated to the home, family and faith. Everyday living to most families in the small farming communities of Upstate New York. These artifacts reflect homelife from the late 1880’s to the 1930’s.
Home and Living on the farm
The kitchen tools and equipment to run a household
The tools of the trade for the life in these rural communities was based on what they could grow and trade with other farmers. Before WWII, you can see the life of the rural housewife was tedious with growing, preserving, pickling, baking and canning for the winter months long before modern supermarkets and refrigeration. It was a lot more work to get meals on the table and took a lot of grit and a budget of both money and time.
The Baking and Jarring on the farm to prepare for the Winter Season
The workings of the farm kitchen
Children’s playthings and cribs
Children’s play was based around the household and work in the future.
The family and faith
The items in a household that make it function
The workings of the home and farm
Life and functions of the Upstate Farm
The communities of Upstate New York still have agriculture as a base and even though electronic gadgets still help, many of these ‘tools of trade’ are still being used. These are the tools that built the farming industry Upstate through the 1970’s.
Tools of the Trade
The farm tools
Farm and field equipment
The equipment of the Farm
Small businesses were part of the community and the druggist was very important
The museum touches on life in small and large Upstate New York towns and the challenges they still face in a economy where farming and tourism are dependent on the economy. Though many of these communities are only two hours outside New York City, they might as well be a world away.
The displays are an interesting look of how communities develop and how they sustain themselves over time and we can see how COVID and the transplants from New York City and beyond are still shaping these communities.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 