Hudson Valley in New York

19 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  12 minutes

Empire State Plaza in Albany © UpstateNYer/cc-by-sa-3.0

Empire State Plaza in Albany © UpstateNYer/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yonkers in Westchester County, bordering New York City. In the early 19th century, popularized by the stories of Washington Irving, the Hudson Valley gained a reputation as a somewhat gothic region characterized by remnants of the early days of the Dutch colonization of New York (“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow“). The area is also associated with the Hudson River School, a group of American Romantic painters who worked from about 1830 to 1870. Following the building of the Erie Canal, the area became an important industrial center. The canal opened the Hudson Valley and New York City to commerce with the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. However, in the mid 20th century, many of the industrial towns went into decline.   read more…

Chappaqua in Westchester County

12 September 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Rehoboth, one of the very first concrete homes ever built in the US © Nat Postrigan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rehoboth, one of the very first concrete homes, originally built as a barn, ever built in the US © Nat Postrigan/cc-by-sa-3.0

Chappaqua is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro-North Railroad‘s Harlem Line. In the New York State Legislature it is within the New York State Assembly‘s 93rd district and the New York Senate‘s 40th district. In Congress the village is in New York’s 17th District. Chappaqua was founded by a group of Quakers in the 1730s and was the home of Horace Greeley, New-York Tribune editor and U.S. congressman. Since the late 1990s, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have lived there.   read more…

White Plains in New York

15 March 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Downtown © Jawny80

Downtown © Jawny80

White Plains is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. An inner suburb of New York City, it is the county seat and commercial hub of Westchester, a densely populated suburban county that is home to approximately one million people. White Plains is located in south-central Westchester, with its downtown (Mamaroneck Avenue) 25 miles (40 km) north of Midtown Manhattan.   read more…

Portrait: The Rockefeller family

27 May 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait Reading Time:  11 minutes

John D. Rockefeller in 1885

John D. Rockefeller in 1885

The Rockefeller family is an American industrial, political, and banking family that made one of the world’s largest fortunes in the oil business during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with John D. Rockefeller and his brother William Rockefeller primarily through Standard Oil. Their economic rise coincides with the so-called Gilded Age. The family is also known for its long association with and control of Chase Manhattan Bank. They are considered to be one of the most powerful families, if not the most powerful family, in the history of the United States. The first documented ancestor of the Rockefeller’s is Goddard Rockenfeller from Neuwied, Germany. His grandson Johann Peter and grandgrandson Johann Thiel migrated with their families from New Jersey and New York City, where they called themselves Rockefeller.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top