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Bones, Fire and a Weathercock
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Last time we wrote about the Albany Bicentennial Tablet commemorating the first church in Albany, and we noted that in addition to the two successive church structures that sat in the middle of State Street at Broadway, there had been a burial ground around (and perhaps within) the church. At the time we said…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 5 – The Old Dutch Church
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Continuing our series on the bronze markers that were placed by the Albany Bicentennial Committee in 1886 – the words below were approved to commemorate the first building constructed for use as a church in Albany: Tablet No. 5—The Old Dutch Church. Located in the Government building adjoining No. 3, to which it corresponds…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 4 — The First Patroon
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Continuing our series on the bronze markers that were placed by the Albany Bicentennial Committee in 1886 – the words below were approved to commemorate the first Patroon: Tablet No. 4—The “First Patroon” A bronze tablet, 16×22 inches placed in the City Hall, and thereon inscribed:“Killian Van Rensselaer, the Progenitor of the Van Rensselaer…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 3 – Broadway
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Continuing our series on the bronze markers that were placed by the Albany Bicentennial Committee in 1886. The Committee on Monumenting and Decoration chose to commemorate Broadway, then as now the major north-south street through the city. Tablet No. 3—Broadway. Located on ground front of Government building, on Broadway near corner of State—Bronze tablet…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 2 – Municipal
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Continuing our series on the bronze markers that were placed by the Albany Bicentennial Committee in 1886. This was the tablet that was described by the Committee on Monumenting and Decoration in its presentation of June 1886. It’s not clear to me whether this was ever cast, or if the copy was changed out…
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Albany Bicentennial Tablet No. 1: Fort Orange
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Our last entry talked about the Albany Bicentennial celebration and the fate of a marker meant to commemorate the Black citizens of Albany that may never have gotten to its intended location in Washington Park. Now let’s talk about the bicentennial markers that did make it to their intended locations (mostly). We know what…
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Dr. Jones’ Beaver Oil: No Beaver, No Dr. Jones
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In talking about Lebbeus Burton of Troy, the druggist whose fortune founded an orphans’ home that is still in use today, we touched on the seemingly unlikely cure of Dr. Jones’ Beaver Oil (also sold as Beaver And Oil Compound, “for the treatment of Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Sore Throat and Quinsy, Headache, Toothache, Backache, Bruises.”…
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Beaver Oil, Root Beer, and Orphans
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Looking up these old local stories is nearly always a venture down a rabbit hole, and it’s usually a question of where to stop. One little detail catches the eye, and I start to find out more about that, and it leads to another detail, which leads to a huge revelation, which leads to…
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Wolf Hollow
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Another of the historical markers placed in Glenville in 1935 through the efforts of Percy Van Epps, town and county historian for something like 25 years. This one was for Wolf Hollow, “A rent and displacement of 1,000 feet in earth’s surface rocks. Here in 1669 the Mohawks ambushed their Algonquin invaders.” As we…
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