MTHS Blog
Jim Sterba Nature Wars
On Sunday, September 27, 2015, Jim Sterba will appear at the Ulster and Delaware Train Station on the Mountain Top Historical Society campus at 2:00 p.m. to discuss and sign his 2012 book, Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds. After more than three decades as a foreign correspondent, war correspondent, and national news reporter for The New York Times and then The Wall Street Journal, Sterba turned his attention to the conflicts that occur as Americans struggle to define their relationship with the wild animals who share their habitat. Kirkus Reviews states “Sterba provides a summary history of the wilderness colonists found, the replacement of the great Eastern forest with farmland, and the market-driven extermination of wildlife through commercial hunting and trapping.” He further documents the problems that humans have with each other and with the many animals that have made their way back to populated areas as re-forestation has advanced. Mark your calendar now and look forward to a lively discussion as Jim Sterba presents “an eye-opening take on how romantic sentimentalism about nature can have destructive consequences.” (Kirkus Reviews)The MTHS campus is located in Haines Falls on NYS rt. 23A. The presentation will be followed by a reception and time for book purchases and signing.A $ 5.00 donation is suggested.
Local History Day Schedule
Meet in the Ulster & Delaware Railroad Station for these Presentations:
11:30 Saving St. Mary's Church in Hunter
Speaker: John Ham
Old Edwardsville Preservation Society
12:30 The Beginnings of Twilight Park
Speaker: Joanne Ainsworth
Twilight Park
1:30 Resorts and Boarding Houses
Speaker: Roy Davis
Windham Historical Society
2:00 The Hessian Soldier
Lexington Historical Society
2:30 A Musical Interlude
Carver Blanchard on the lute
3:30 The Anti-Rent Wars
Speaker: Suzy Walsh
Zadock Pratt Museum
Exhibits in the Red Barn
Ashland Historical Society
Black Dome Press
Empire State Railway Museum
Greene County Historical Society
Haines Family Association
Larry Tompkins, Out Windham Way
Lexington Historical Society
Old Edwardsville Preservation Society
St. John the Baptist Ukranian Catholic Church
Windham Historical Society
Zadock Pratt Museum
AROUND THE CAMPUS
“Women in Mountain Top History” Photo Exhibit in the Railroad Station, sponsored by GCCA with CIP funds and curated by Mara Lehmann and Johanna Titus
Hstoric Quilts in the Railroad Station
Rip Van Winkle Puppet Show: 12:15 p.m.and 1:15 p.m. at the east end of the Railroad Station
Tours of the Haines Family Cemetery: 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
Children's Activities in the tent near the Railroad Station
WRIP!!!
Check out the Archives in the Visitors' Center with Debbie Fromer
The Calico Indian Showdown at 4:00 p.m.
Join in the dance recreating a chapter in our history!
Mountain Top Historical Society - Local History Day
Local History Day On Saturday, August 15, 2015
The MTHS campus on NYS Route 23A will be the place to be for all things historical on the Mountain Top and beyond. Beginning at 11:00 a.m. exhibits will be set up in the Red Barn by the Zadock Pratt Museum, the Ashland Historical Society, the Lexington Historical Society, the Old Edwardsville Preservation Society, the Eastkill Valley Association, the Empire State Railway Museum, Black Dome Press, the Greene County Historical Society, the Haines Family Association, the Windham Historical Society, and others.
The Greene Room Players will present the Rip Van Winkle puppet show as it was presented at Rip's Retreat in the 1950s at 12:15 p.m. and 1:15 p.m.
The Women in Mountain Top History photo exhibit curated by Mara Lehmann and Johanna Titus sponsored in part by the GCCA with funds from the Greene County Cultural Initiative Program will be on view in the U&D Train Station along with quilts from the MTHS archives.
There will be presentations by speakers from some of the historical groups represented in the barn and one from Twilight Park beginning at 11:30 a.m.
A schedule of the speakers will be posted on the MTHS website and around the campus on August 15.
Tours of the Haines Family Cemetery, featured in our latest issue of The Hemlock will be given at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
At 4:00 p.m. the Calico Indian Showdown, a part of the American Masquerade celebration taking place throughout Greene County, will be presented. The Visitors' Center will be open with demonstrations of the system we use to access the archives, sales of MTHS merchandise, and Larry Tompkins signing copies of his book Out Windham Way. In addition, there will be food and drink sales in the Train Station, children's activities, a 50/50 raffle, local crafts vendors, and Jay Fink from WRIP to keep us all smiling from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Mark your calendar and plan to be in Haines Falls on August 15
Woodland Valley Hike
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