Mary Earley’s Dark Angels
“I am always close to this.” –Dongshan The artist Mary Earley has become an elusive figure in the history of art. No surprise there. Oblivion is hardly an unexpected fate for an artist or...
Category: Landmarks Revisited
On Shaker Mountain
They are long gone, the Shakers of Hancock, those people who established for themselves a sacred space on the mountain above their village. Here was where they conducted their outdoor worship. Here is where...
The Earle Farm
His name would have been forgotten by history, had not history shown up at his door. Moses Earle was a laconic farmer in the town of Andes, New York. He was born around 1781...
Following Stones
A long walk out old Barnum Road in East Jewett takes you nowhere in particular. It begins as a trail where the maintained town road ends but soon fades into little more than a...
The End of Broadway
Broadway is a famous street that begins at a famous address in lower Manhattan: One Broadway. George Washington’s headquarters once stood there. The End of Broadway is more obscure. It lies thirty-three miles to...
The Brief, Adventurous Life of Nelson J. Scribner
The literary remains of writer Nelson J. Scribner (1899-1926) are not extensive. His published work consists of one story—“The Luck of Lucky Joe”—which appeared posthumously in a pulp fiction magazine in 1927. Copies of...
On Catskill Creek
On certain days, Catskill Creek—when seen from Jefferson Heights above the village—seems to be flowing directly from the Delectable Mountains themselves. Or so it appeared to the artist Thomas Cole (1801-1848) when he first...
Boot Jack Rock
A rock is just a rock until its secret is known—or as they used to say in olden times, until its guardian spirit is teased out. The ancient Romans had a term for it—genius...
An Artist’s Privy
Cedar Grove was the home of Thomas Cole from 1836, when he married the proprietor’s niece, until 1848, when the artist unexpectedly died of a lung ailment. Of the original structures that adorned the...
Shadows of Windham
Windham in the Catskill Mountains of New York is said to be named after the town of Windham located in the “Quiet Corner” of northeastern Connecticut, which in turn is named after the...