Hudson River Valley Institute

In 1999, The Olana Partnership created the Frederic Church Award to honor individuals who, through their vision and commitment, make extraordinary contributions... to American art and culture. Join us Wednesday, December 9 for the 21st Annual Frederic Church Award Gala! Tickets for this virtual event, honoring Eleanor Jones Harvey and David Redden, are now on sale. This year, we are excited to offer a special members price. To purchase tickets, visit tickets.olana.org Image: Frederic Edwin Church, Study for Under Niagara, 1858. Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 11 x 17 in. #OlanaCollection, NY State Parks & Historic Sites

Happy Flower Friday from the greenhouse! Siberian primroses were first planted at Locust Grove in the late 1800's, but haven't been seen on the grounds in many... years. Today the plants we started from seed in March are headed out to the garden! Did you know the roots of many perennial plants will continue to grow until the ground freezes solid--usually sometime in January?? True to its common name, this primrose is especially hardy and doesn't mind a December planting date at all. Keep an eye out next spring for these small but mighty blooms!

On December 5, 1775, at Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox began his historic transport of approx. 60 tons of artillery across 300 miles to Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the start of the American Revolution, Fort Ticonderoga had fallen to Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold along with 83 men on May 10th followed soon after by the fall of Fort Crown Point. Within the forts were the pieces of heavy weaponry which the Continental Army desperately needed. As such, Henry Knox was chosen for ...the job by General George Washington. Utilizing boats, horse, ox-drawn sledges, and manpower along poor-quality roads, he began the transportation of the material. Knox crossed the semi frozen Hudson River at Glens Falls, and pushed towards Albany while a storm that dropped 2 feet of snow. Moving the artillery across the Hudson proved tricky. Mounting the equipment on sleds enabled overland travel well enough but the waters of the river were still too thin. His men attempted to thicken it by pouring water upon the ice and managed to get the first cannon across but lost some afterwards as the weight was simply too much. Not to be deterred, those cannons were recovered. By January 9th, they were on the move toward Massachusetts. Along the way he had to cross the Berkshires and steep Connecticut River Valley. Yet his journey brought along with-it considerable fanfare. He fired off one of his big guns in Westfield, Massachusetts to the joy of a local gathering. Knox arrived in Cambridge on the 27th of January and reported an expense of 521 on an operation that he had hoped would take two weeks but actually took ten weeks. The path he took roughly follows that of the Massachusetts turnpike. And while there is some debate on the exact course taken, roadside markers represent the best guess of historians. Further Reading: Knox’s Diary During his Ticonderoga Expedition. https://books.google.com/books Henry Knox Cannon Trail. https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org//da4130de-960d-45d7-8d62 Image: Henry Knox bringing artillery to end the Siege of Boston. https://www.archives.gov//pictures/images/revolutionary-wa

Imperial Japanese (Adm. Nakamura), the U.S. (Gen. Walter Short) and the German Wehrmacht (Gen. Boetticker), observing an US army maneuver in upstate Pine Camp at Fort Drum, New York, August 22nd, 1939

On November 25, 1783, the last of the British soldiers evacuated the United States. The Revolution ended with the Treaty of Paris in September allowing the British time to organize their withdrawal which was set for noon in New York City, with Washington waiting just outside of the city. The signal for his entry was the lowering of the British Flag at modern day Battery Park. However the British played a bit of a prank on the Americans by greasing the flag pole with pig fat. ... Eventually, American soldier John Van Arsdale was able to climb the pole by nailing pieces of wood to the pole and climbing up on them. He tore the British flag down and replaced it with the American Flag. Shortly after, a triumphant General George Washington entered the city and marched down Broadway to the Battery. This was celebrated as an American holiday, complete with greased pole climbing until the Civil War when Lincoln called for Thanksgiving to be held on the last Thursday of November. The approximation of the two days diminished Evacuation Day’s celebrations. See more

Thanksgiving is less than a week away! Unlike today, Thanksgiving did not fall on a fixed date until the middle of the 19th century and was instead declared ind...ividually by states. James F. Brown’s diaries note Thanksgiving falling anywhere between mid-November and late December throughout the 1830s and 1840s as shown by this page from the early 1841. See more