Conference starts this Thursday
Today on The Historians a pitch for The Go Fund Me Drive 2019 and then The Story of "The Outhouse"
Audio Podcast "Eight Minutes"
Bob Cudmore will MC the speaking program at the American Revolution Mohawk Valley Conference June 6-9, 2019. Join the celebration of Fort Plain Museum’s fifth annual conference. The conference will be held at the Arkell Performing Arts Center (not the Arkell Museum) at the Canajoharie Central School, 136 Scholastic Way, Canajoharie, NY 13317 For more information visit http://www.fortplainmuseum.com/conference or call 518-774-5669. To invite Bob to speak to your organization, please email bobcudmore@yahoo.com
The 2019 Historians Podcast fund drive has passed the halfway mark . The goal is $4,000. Please contribute online. www.gofundme.com/2019-the-historians Or to donate by mail, please make out a check to Bob Cudmore and send to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, N.Y. 12302
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, June 4, 2019-A chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Increasing clouds, with a high near 62.
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Nellis Tavern survived war, road expansion . Palatine Germans chose farming in Mohawk Valley
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, 6-04-2005
Farmer Christian Nellis built a log cabin when he arrived with the Palatine Germans in the Mohawk Valley near what is now St. Johnsville in 1725.
“We believe the Nellis name itself is French but in the 16th and 17th century there was a lot of moving around so our family was in the Palatine section of Germany,” said Sandy Nellis Lane of Johnstown, a direct descendant of Christian Nellis.
Because of religious persecution, the Palatines left their homeland in Germany for England. England’s Queen Anne sent them to America to produce naval supplies such as ship parts and tar along the Hudson River. The Palatines abandoned that work for farming, first in the Schoharie Valley and then the Mohawk Valley.
In 1747, Christian Nellis built a substantial house that still stands today. Christian Nellis died in 1771, after deeding much of his land to his son Christian, Junior.
The Nellis farmhouse was one of the few wooden buildings in the valley to survive the Revolutionary War. Although Christian, Junior was a revolutionary, other members of the family sided with the crown, which may have been the reason the building was spared during British and Indian raids. There was a stone blockhouse on the property then called Fort Nellis.
By 1783, Christian, Junior was operating a turnpike inn and tavern. According to Nellis Tavern volunteer Donna Reston of Amsterdam, there was westward migration as war veterans who had been granted land in the western part of the state moved through.
“They say at one time there was a tavern every one mile in the Mohawk Valley,” Reston said.
In 1801, an adjacent store was built. Reston said, “You could buy lumber and even a spinning wheel and even books called primers for children.”
The Nellis Tavern stayed in private hands until the 1960s when the state condemned the structure in preparation for widening Route 5 and evicted the last occupant, Aleda Nellis Weaver. The Palatine Settlement Society formed in 1978, purchased the abandoned building in 1985 and began the arduous task of preserving the structure.
Joan Draus of Amsterdam, president of the society today, said, “Our whole organization is volunteer. We raise money through events to hire people to do some of the restoration work.” The society is looking to replace the slate roof, firm up the foundation and restore the historic stenciling in the structure.
The tavern contains more than 15 different patterns of early American stenciling. Sandy Nellis Lane said an itinerant artist drew the stencils in about 1815. Ann Eckert Brown, an authority on the subject, has devoted three pages of her book on stenciling to the Nellis Tavern.
Another unusual feature of the building is the use of the wattle and daub construction technique. Areas have been left exposed downstairs for the benefit of tourists and historians.
The technique involved a series of horizontal saplings laid between the vertical posts of the structure. The saplings were covered with clay and the clay was scored diagonally, and then covered with plaster.
“So it was not only a construction detail but also a form of insulation,” Reston said.
Reston said the Nellis Tavern was a substantial structure for its day: “The Georgian architecture of the staircase shows that these people had wealth and good taste and made a very substantial building.”
News from The Leader Herald
https://www.leaderherald.com/
https://www.leaderherald.com/news/in-brief/2019/06/cudmore-to-host-history-podcast/
Since its opening on Memorial Day in 1914, the area known as Shuttleworth Park has gone by its fair share of names by ADAM SHINDER RecorderNews https://www.recordernews.com/news/local-news/155521
Amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit entries for the 14th annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest. Photos should convey the wealth of things to do and see along the waterway and express the beauty and unique character of the canal and canal communities. Winning photos will be featured in the 2020 Erie Canalway calendar. NYHB https://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2019/06/erie-canalway-photo-contest-call-for-entries-5/
Friday, June 7, 2019-Episode 269-Czech filmmaker Andrea Culkova discusses her current project, The Magic Carpet. The documentary is about a carpet manufacturer in the Czech Republic but Culkova’s research took her to Amsterdam, N.Y., for a video shoot and interviews regarding the years when Amsterdam was the Carpet City.
Jason Subik Mid-Morning Program WCSS Radio Amsterdam 106.9FM and 1490AM https://www.facebook.com/jason.subik Monday-Thursday at 9 am Posted as a Video Podcast hear on The Historians Monday, June 3, 2019
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