Oct.
19 Annual Meeting & Fall Lecture:
Stillman
on “Protecting What You Have”
Anne Stillman, executive director of the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, will present our Fall Lecture on Tuesday, October 19, 8 p.m., at the Scarsdale Library. Her talk, "Protecting What You Have: a Journey through Historic Downtowns", will be preceded by a brief business meeting, including the election of trustees.
Stillman's talk will focus on commercial threats by chain stores, malls, and other developments to traditional downtowns and historic Main Streets. Starting with a slide of downtown Scarsdale, pointing out its desirable characteristics, she will go on to show slides of both good and bad experiences from around the country.
Anne has an extensive background as a preservation advocate and writer on history, architecture, and land use. She has lectured at numerous national and statewide preservation and planning conferences and is experienced in the interpretation of historic sites. As a long-term national and statewide preservation and planning conferences and is experienced in the interpretation of historic sites. As a long-term consultant to the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, she concentrated on endangered historic buildings, historic landscape, and matters of public policy concerning town planning and transportation. She served on the staff of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Northeast Office, where she worked closely with the Preservation League of New York State and the Trust's other partners in New York and Connecticut. She has written for the National Trust publications department in Washington D.C. about commercial development trends affecting preservation across the U.S., and was also head writer for the site interpretation of Fort Trumbull State Park in New London, CT.
For the past four years, Anne has served at the Jay Heritage Center, a historic site and educational organization dedicated to American history, architecture, landscape, and the legacy of John Jay. Under her leadership, programming has greatly expanded, and visitation by the general public and school groups has increased greatly. She has also served, for the past ten years, as editor of the Historic Properties Exchange, a publication of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation that publicizes endangered historic buildings in an effort to save them.
"Ghosts of the Post Road - A Journey Through Time", our Fall Exhibition, opens at the Society Museum with a preview and reception on Sunday, October 3, 2-5 p.m.
Some people believe that ghosts are memories. If so, the ghosts of the Post Road are all around us. Even before it was a road, when it was only a footpath through the forest, the land was absorbing the memories of The People - known to us today as the Lenape. What did the earliest inhabitants of this area think when they saw the strange floating ship of Hendryk Hudson drifting up the river that now bears his name? Could they have had any thought of how much their world was about to change?
The exhibition, curated by Society Education Director Susan Kaufman, will show the changes of the Post Road through time -- from the Lenapes to the arrival of the Dutch and British colonists, though the American Revolution and the ensuing Industrial Revolution. Visitors will be able to step back in time and see the road as it looked when it was a footpath. They will see a Lenape Village and then travel the Post Road along with some Colonial Americans. Its interactive format will enable them to picture themselves in costumes of 18th- and 19th-century Americans and visit a typical early 19th-century inn, and to step up and take a "ride" in a 19th-century stagecoach, accompanied by the sounds of galloping horses and creaking wheels. There will be games and activities appropriate for all age groups.
As the colonists needed to travel on with their oxen and carts and wagons and horses, a road began to take shape that connected farmers to each other and to their churches and village halls. The communities that grew alongside the road mandated its upkeep as a civic responsibility, including the building of wolf-traps, removal of boulders and stones, and repair after storms. Wagons filled with fruit, butter, cider and grains rode on the Post Road; herds of cattle were also driven on their way to the meat markets of New York City.
The Revolutionary War brought thousands of marching soldiers to the Post Road and disaster to the inhabitants of the communities along it; although 'neutral' in name, the communities of lower Westchester were ransacked and burned by soldiers fighting on both sides of the war. After the Revolution, the area began to grow in earnest; this meant an increase in traffic. Travelers needed a place to stay when their journeys were to last more than a day; soon every community had a tavern that provided a bed, meals and a place for travelers to share gossip and news. Importantly, the Post Road was the way the mail was delivered. Every mile was marked with a stone in order to calculate mail service charges; some of these stones are still along the road today. By the last third of the 19th century, mail was no longer carried along the Post Road by horses but was being delivered by train. The communities connected by the road had grown both individually and collectively and the Post Road changed as well, to accommodate faster and faster means of transportation, becoming the wide, smooth and straight road we know today.
The exhibition is underwritten by a grant from the James A. Macdonald Foundation. Hours are Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; weekends by appointment.
Do
You Have a SCARY STORY To Tell?
If so, children and adults are invited to submit their stories to the Society, in preparation for our second “Fright Nite at a Historic Site”.
Halloween stories submitted will be read by their authors on Wednesday, October 27, 6-8 p.m.
We will gather to hear the scary stories and to enjoy cider, donuts, treat bags, spooky surprises and tours of the Cudner-Hyatt House.
Submit written stories, by October 20, to the Scarsdale Historical Society, 937 Post Rd., Scarsdale NY 10583, Attn: Fright Nite. We will contact entrants regarding details and scheduling. Space is limited, so call 723-1744 for reservations, at $5 per person. Proceeds will benefit Society Education programs.
Fall Foliage Race Oct. 17 – including Kids, and Dogs!
Two new features will be added to our 24th Annual Fall Foliage Run and 19th "Walk for Fun" on Sunday, October 17: a Kids’ Race and a Dogs’ Race! The 2.5K (1.55-mile) walk, the Kids’ Race and the Dogs’ race start at 2:30 p.m., and the 5K run at 3 p.m., rain or shine, at the I.H.M. parking lot. Registration forms will be sent to members and all previous entrants. Extra forms can be obtained at Society headquarters and from most race sponsors. The pre-registration deadline is Monday, October 11. Until then, entry fees will be $15 for adults, $13 for under-18's. Race-day registration, for an additional $2, will be accepted at the Society, 937 Post Rd., corner Boulevard, starting at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 17. There will be a 50% discount for those with new memberships of $50 or more . . . and no charge for dog racers!
At post-race ceremonies, trophies will be presented to the man and woman who finish first overall, and awards to the first three Run finishers in each age group. The tenth annual Stanley Newhouse Trophies will be awarded to the first Scarsdale Master (50 & over) male and female run finishers to cross the finish line. Ribbons will be presented to all walkers.
Sponsors include the Scarsdale Recreation Department, Scarsdale Police Benevolent Association, the Robert H. Lorsch Foundation Trust, Bagel Power, C-Town, Five Corner Cleaners, HSBC Bank, Prudential Centennial Realty, Scarsdale Improvement Corp., Scarsdale-Spencer Pharmacy, Trader Joe's, Wilson & Son Jewelers, Coca Cola, Efficiency Printing Co., Starbucks, the Scarsdale Antiques Running Club, Scarsdale Youth Soccer Club, and the Arthur Manor and Drake-EdgewoodNeighborhood Assns.
Our new Museum exhibition, "Ghosts of the Post Road", will be open on race-day, as will the Cudner-Hyatt House and the Historical Society Museum Shop.
The Weinberg Nature Center Zoo will visit 2-4 p.m.
Refreshments for participants will be provided by Starbucks Trader Joe's, Bagel Power and Coca Cola; snacks will be available for purchase by spectators, at a nominal cost. There will also be door prizes, donated by local merchants.
For additional information, or to volunteer to help, phone the office, 723-1744.
Village Historian Irving Sloan, who was the honoree at our immensely successful 2004 Dinner-Dance, was elected to our Board at the Board’s July 11 meeting. Irving, who retired in June after teaching social studies at the Middle School since 1961, has been a member of our Advisory Board for many years.
Please note our new “Dutch Bulb Delivery Service”! The Society will deliver your bulbs, ordered in our Spring 2004 Sale, to your home, during the week of October 4. Please phone our office, 723-1744, if you prefer to pick them up at the Society.
Notes:
Congratulations! to long-time member Betty Taubert. At the spring annual meeting of the Girl Scouts of Westchester-Putnam, she was awarded the Thanks Badge II, the highest national recognition for outstanding adult volunteers.
The New Choral Society will be the honoree at our
April 2, 2005 Spring Benefit Dinner-Dance. Save the date!
Sunday, October 3, 2-5 p.m., Preview/Reception
Sunday, October 17; Walk, Kids’ & Dogs’ Races 2:30 p.m.,
Run 3 p.m.
Week of October 4; WE WILL DELIVER TO YOUR HOME;
Phone 723-1744 if you prefer to pick up
Tuesday, October 19, 8:15 p.m., Scarsdale Public Library
Anne Stillman: “Protecting What You Have”
Wednesday, October 27, 6-8 p.m.
Starts Nov. 1; Order deadline Nov. 30; pick-ups Dec. 13-17
Thursday, Friday, & Saturday, November 18-20, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday, December 12, 2 p.m.
The Society mourns the passing of our members Marguerite Manley, a generous benefactor; Eve Witchel, who baked for the Country Fair every year, and Virginia Leeper. We send heartfelt condolences to their families.