New York Almanack

‘Distance Scarcely Bounds’: An 1822 Visit to the Catskills

Guest Contributor — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:00:45 +0000

The following essay was first published in the Commercial Advertiser (NYC) on November 15, 1822.

On the 18th of September, 1822, a large party of ladies and gentlemen visited the Pine Orchard [two years later the Catskill Mountain House would officially open here], situated on one of the lofty summits of the Catskill mountains, and about twelve miles from the village of Catskill [Greene County, NY].

The road from Catskill to the base of the mountain, is tolerably good; and although it is over some considerable hills, the traveller feels little inconvenience, until he arrives at Lawrence’s Tavern, near the foot of one of the cluster of mountains, and about seven miles from Catskill.

William Gilliland: An Irish Immigrant Lake Champlain Settler

Guest Contributor — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:00:14 +0000

William Gilliland was born in 1734 in Caddy, Northern Ireland. His father died while he was a boy and his mother re-married. He was said to have been talented and ambitious and initially sought to establish himself in business and society in the city of Armagh.

However, a frowned-upon liaison with the daughter of a local upper class family caused him to seek his fortune elsewhere.

He enlisted in the 35th Regiment of the British army.

Capital Projects Dashboard Offers Insight into State Spending

Editorial Staff — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 17:00:56 +0000

New York State Office of General Services (OGS) has launched the Capital Projects Dashboard, a new digital tool that offers the public insight into the multi-billion-dollar construction and rehabilitation portfolio managed by the OGS.

The dashboard enables New Yorkers to see how and where state investments are being made in communities across the state.

The dashboard offers:

Community-Level Views: An interactive map allowing users to filter and locate investments happening in their specific county or region.

‘Strung Up’ Explains How White America Learned to Lynch Black Children

Editorial Staff — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:00:40 +0000

Strung Up: How White America Learned to Lynch Black Children (Beacon Press, 2026) examines how the lynching of Black children became not an aberration, but a normalized feature of American racial violence.

Drawing on meticulous archival research Strung Up traces how white supremacy trained itself socially, culturally, and psychologically to tolerate and ritualize the destruction of Black childhood, including the unborn.

Nationally recognized child advocate Dr. Stacey Patton locates the roots of this violence not solely in the United States, but in Europe’s long history of anti-child brutality.

Road to Independence: The 1776 Lee Resolution

Dr. Liz Covart — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:00:45 +0000

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence. But that vote didn’t begin with the Declaration of Independence.

It began on June 7, 1776, when Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794) of Virginia introduced a three-part resolution that would set the American Revolution on its definitive course to independence.

Lee’s resolution called for independence, foreign alliances, and a confederation of states. Think of it as a three-legged stool. Without all three legs, the United States couldn’t achieve or sustain its independence.

Fake Turkey Shot From Road; Poaching Canada Geese; Illegal Fishing

Editorial Staff — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 11:00:40 +0000

An angler caught in the act filleting his illegal catch, and a large group ticketed for poaching more than a dozen striped bass are just some of the cases NYS Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) encountered in recent weeks.

The most surprising occurred on Sunday morning, May 10th, ECOs Brown, Dorrett, Heckler, and Hilton were using a robotic wild turkey decoy to catch people illegally road hunting in Williamstown, Oswego County, NY– it didn’t take long.

Burning Bushwick & The 1977 New York City Blackout

Guest Contributor — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:00:40 +0000

In 2010, The New York Times Magazine called Bushwick, Brooklyn “the coolest place on the planet,” four years later Vogue Magazine named it the “7th coolest neighborhood in the world.”

Whether or not you agree, there is no denying the transformations the neighborhood has gone through since the 1600s, when the Dutch named it Boswijck, or “heavy woods.”

One of the most drastic transformations the neighborhood went through was from the 1960s until the 1990s.

The 1780s Settling of Clinton in Oneida County

Richard Williams — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:00:06 +0000

The Revolutionary War led settlers beyond the confines of the Palatine settlements in the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys into what is today the Herkimer village area.

As early as 1776, seven pairs of brothers, from as many different families in Plymonth, in western Connecticut, enlisted under the command of Captain David Smith and were marched west into the Mohawk Valley.

During the summer of that year they were stationed at Fort Herkimer, Fort Schuyler (the short-lived name of the fort at what is now Utica), and Fort Stanwix and at the close of the war they returned to settle.

State Museum Programs Explore Albany Pine Bush

Editorial Staff — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:00:44 +0000

The 3,400-acre Albany Pine Bush Preserve (APBP), located in New York’s Capital District, protects one of the best remaining inland pitch pine-scrub oak barrens in the world.

This extraordinary fire-dependent ecosystem provides habitat for many rare plants and animals, including more than 20 percent of New York State’s wildlife Species of Greatest Conservation Need, such as the endangered Karner blue butterfly.

The APBP is a National Natural Landmark, Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, National Recreation Trail Site, a New York State Unique Area, Birding Trail Site, Bird Conservation Area, and a National Audubon Society Important Bird Area.

New York’s Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

Editorial Staff — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 13:00:01 +0000

Approximately 35,000 orphaned oil and gas wells are estimated to exist in New York State, many drilled and abandoned before the existence of modern environmental regulations.

The latest DEC Does What? podcast, produced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), spotlights the work of their Division of Mineral Resources, which address the threats that unplugged oil and gas wells have on the environment and public safety across New York State.