Category: Uncategorized
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A Greyhound Named Wagon
Here is another dog story to add to the series on pets that I\’ve been building up. Since I will be absent next week for the holidays, I thought I would double up and post an extra blog this week. I will be back to blogging again before the New Year. I was prodded to…
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Nicholas\' Legacy
This is the fifth post in a series on Nicholas van RensselaerThe death of Nicholas was like the breaking of a mirror: it brought the Rensselaer family seven years of misfortune. Not only had they lost their access to the King\’s ear, but they lost control over some of their property as Nicholas\’ widow now…
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Dog Blog: "Aha moment!"
Last August, I posted the Dog Blog, which has subsequently received more hits than any other of Clermont\’s blog entries. Apparently I need to write a little more about Clermont\’s ample pet population! In my earlier Dog Blog mentioned that I could not for the life of me read this particular headstone in our little…
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Mythical Mirrors
It made me laugh that a week after I posted the blog \”Mythical Beasts\” about common historic house myths, I had a personal run-in with disproving one: The myth of the petticoat mirror. This one is a costume myth so I am always tickled by it. The myth begins with pier tables, like ours pictured…
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Hardenbergh 2: Even Harder
The second post in a series on the Hardenbergh Patent… Robert of Clermont could look out from his front door, cast his gaze upon the Catskill Mountains, and declare that he owned all he could see. But could he do that honestly? Yes and no. He owned perhaps a third of the Great Hardenbergh Patent,…
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Faux Ho Ho
This Christmas 2009 will see the close of Clermont\’s first all-faux year. For the first year ever, we have moved away from the use of not only flame candles, but organic plant materials. While this might not sound like very exciting news, to those of us who love Clermont\’s rich collection of material culture, it…
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Mythical Beasts
I have never forgotten the tour of an historic presidential mansion that I took as a college student (I won\’t divulge which, but it was not in New York). Awash in colorful Zuber wallpaper, historic furnishings, and curious family annecdotes, I had a lovely time. But it was the first time I was ever heard…
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Robert and Alida, Alida and Robert
The third post in a series on Nicholas van Rensselaer… Van Rensselaer\’s odd career ended in 1678, with his death from an unrecorded illness. To his family, it must have seems like their hopes of attaining full control over their land died with him. But things were about to get more complicated, because his widow,…
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Cecily Parsley and Apple Dapply
With Christmas decorating already getting started at Clermont, it is the time of year when my work becomes increaingly focused on children. This is alright with me, since it gives me time to indulge in nostaglia, games, and all things \”fun.\” In this mindset, I thought it might be a good time to revisit three…
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Lighting at Clermont
With the fall equinox behind us and the winter solstice looming in the near future, it is starting to get dark around here. Around 3:00 on a cloudy day, it can get very dim on the tour floor. Now I am faced with the annual task of lighting up the museum. It\’s a tricky business.…
Clermont State Historic Site 