The Empire State - New Paltz, Hyde Park, Austerlitz

New York

(Sightseeing and seeing friends)

June 20, 2018 - June 25, 2018

New Paltz, NY - Settled by Huguenots (i.e. Protestants) from France in the late 1600's.  They left France because of religious persecution and originally settled further up the Hudson river in areas where Dutch immigrants had settled years before. They were heavily influenced by Dutch culture and language.  They bought the land which became New Paltz but remained living where they were.  The son's of the original Huguenot settlers were the ones who built homes on the land their parents owned in the New Paltz area.

The Dubois House - currently used as the visitor center for the Huguenot Village.
Built in 1705 it doubled as "the fort" for the village, a colonial requirement for every village in case of Indian attack.  

The Bevier House - built in 1698.

Abraham Hasbrouck House - built in 1712

The Jean Hasbrouck house - built in 1712

Deyo house.  The original stone portion of the house was built in 1692. 

Some examples from the interiors of these homes.  The owners were wealthy people who often owned slaves to do the work around the house.

 

If you have any Huguenot heritage this is a particularly interesting place to visit.  They also have an  archives which is in one of the buildings where you can research.  

Hyde Park, NY - Springwood: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's childhood home.

Front

Rear

Left side

Living room

Dining room

I guess you might call this the family room.

Trunk lift - refitted for use as an elevator for FDR after he was crippled by polio.

One of the bedrooms.

Bathroom - the toilet was in a separate room to the left.

Another bedroom

FDR and Eleanor's bedroom

Eleanor's private room

Monument to Franklin and Eleanor who are buried just in front.

Hyde Park, NY - The Frederick Vanderbilt Estate

Approach to the mansion.
It stands on countless acres of land with it's back to the Hudson River.

The oval gathering room

Skylight which lights the gathering room.

The dining room

Close up of the dining room table

Bottom portion of the grand staircase.

 

Living room

Ladies parlor

Glass in the skylight

One of the bedrooms as it would have looked when the family was away.

Bedroom.  Notice the wooden structure around the bed to the left.

Bedroom

Spacious bathroom

Servants day room in the basement

Part of the kitchen in the basement

Austerlitz, NY - Woodland Hills Campground where our friends Elsie and Fred spend their summers.

Our rig is directly behind the one in the foreground.  It was such a beautiful setting.

View from beside our campsite.

Our friend Elsie and Fred Saars.
We met them while we were all researching in Salt Lake City in 2009!
Finally re-connected after all these years.
Haven't laughed so hard for so long in quite awhile.

The Keystone State - The Pocono Mountains

Pennsylvania - part 3

(Sightseeing)

June 18, 2018 - June 20, 2018

Finally made it to the Pocono Mountains - having heard of them for years.  I actually never realized they were in Pennsylvania until we arrived there.  It's very beautiful country in eastern PA right next to the New York border.  

Quiet Valley Living History Farm

We visited this PA German farm where they have people in period clothing interpreting what life was like back in the 1800's.  The original German man picked a beautiful setting for his farm, complete with a stream to provide them with water.

The entrance to the farm.

Some of the farm buildings.

One of the interpreters showing us how things were done in the old days with equipment operated manually.

We're in the original part of the house - basically a room dug into the side of a hill then created with stonework.
It served as the entire home for years until they could afford to build a wood structure above this.
Since it was the original home, it had a huge fireplace with lots of heavy pots and pans.  The interpreter is showing us an
old time toaster which was set on the floor near the fire. When one side of the bread was done you turned it with your foot
until the other side was near the fire.

Gourds were grown in the garden and used for many things, including musical instruments.
You can see the stone work that formed the wall against the hill that was dug out.
The door leads to a root cellar.

  

This was the master bedroom of the wooden house that was built above the original home.

A kitchen was added at some point as modern conveniences became available.

Corner cupboard in the kitchen shows off the woman's prized possessions.

As children began to fill up the main house, this little cabin was built for Grandma and Grandpa.

The fireplace in the little cabin.  Notice the bed folded up on the left of the picture. 
Ropes kept the mattress from sagging and is the origin of the phrase "sleep tight"
as the ropes needed to be tightened on a regular basis.

The interpreter is showing us one of the devices used to measure the length of the yarn that has been spun.

Brick oven used to bake bread on the farm. 
The bricks are heated with a fire which is removed before the loaves are placed inside.

Bushkill Falls State Park

Bushkill Falls is a series of 4 waterfalls linked together with the wooden walkways and steps (lots of steps).  How they built them kind of amazes me.

You have to clamber up and down the rock sides of the ravine created by the river on these wooden walkways.

This is the main falls which is the bottom most of the four.

Just a few of the many steps.

Laura and Barney on the walkway next to a rock wall.
Barney loves it when he can go with us!

Beautiful setting isn't it?