Ivy Gardens & East End Steakhouse both have new owners
By Dave Warner
Finally! A lot of people have been waiting for this for a long time in Little Falls, but the Ivy Garden Apartments and the East End Steakhouse buildings have finally been purchased by the same buyers, who are ready to start working on them as soon as possible.
Garrett Wright is one of the two new owners. He grew up in Hoosick Falls, New York, and went to college in Rochester, where he met Brennen Thompson, who is from Herkimer and is the other owner.
“We both graduated from high school in 2015 and graduated from St. John Fisher University in 2019. You grow up and don’t appreciate the place that you’re from, so I felt
like I had to get to warm weather and do a lot of things. I moved out to Los Angeles, and I knew there was something to real estate, and I felt like I had to figure it out.”
Wright bought a duplex in Hollywood, California.
“From that, I was kind of ‘there is something to this,’ so I started buying more and more places in Florida after spending two years in California.”
He said that his parents had a complex that was in a similar shape to Ivy Gardens in Hoosick Falls.
“We completely gutted that and renovated it, investing about $650,000 to make it a nice 15-unit apartment complex.”
Wright said that Hoosick Falls and Little Falls are very much alike, except
that there’s more to do here. “Small towns where everybody likes to go to football games on Friday night and all of that. I love drama and gossip, so I’m here for that. If anyone wants to share it, I’m up for that.”
He said the bottom line is that it has to make financial sense. “To have the vision to see something go from what it currently is to what it
Local author asks ‘Are we alone?’ which spurs his first book
By Dave Warner
Michael David Porter has written his first book, ‘The Graveyard Relays,’ which deals with one of the great questions people
have asked throughout the ages: ‘Are we alone?’
But, more specifically, are we alone as an intelligent species?
He moved into the area last year and is now a teacher at HFM BOCES in Johnstown as an instructional coach, and lives off the grid in
can be - we think it will be really cool.”
Wright said that his partner, being from the area, would really like to do more after this is finished, and so would he.
“That’s the vision. This is the beginning, but doing more of these projects is what we’re looking at.”
How did they find Ivy Garden? After finishing the project in Hoosick
Salisbury Center.
Porter says he was forged in the fires of Western New York and tempered in the cooling waters of the Catskills. “Western New York is blue collar - it’s that toughness. I think that helped to shape who I am. Coming to the Catskills, where it’s a little bit more chill and laid back, that was a nice change and contributed to who I am today.”
However, it was an abrupt change for him. “I didn’t have any connections, and it was kind of an uncomfortable move to just leave everything and go out into the Catskills, where I’d never been. It was something I’d heard about in like Rip Van Winkle and stories I’d heard about when I was a kid.”
Porter taught history out there for years, but was also into theater and acting. “I acted in
Falls, they decided to take the money they’d made and invest it in ‘the next thing.’ “We looked at places in Florida because we already had some smaller places down there and had lived there a couple of years.”
“It was so expensive, and the rent prices were pretty similar to what they are here, so Brennen and I had this
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shows and musicals, did Shakespeare in the Park for a year, Julies Caesar and more. We also did a radio show podcast called Catskill Cabin Getaway. It was based on Desert Island Discs, which is a show out of the U.K.”
The show is based on the premise that a guest would have to spend a weekend alone on a desert island - what music do they listen to?
“We did the music, but also, what items would you take to a cabin in the Catskills?”
He said it was just a great way to get to know people and the way they think about things.
“Do they prioritize their necessities, or do they take keepsakes or things that they think would be fun, and then, of course, the music.”
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Photo by Dave Warner - Ivy Garden Apartments at the corner of Garden Street and Ann Street in Little Falls is under new ownership with plans for refurbishment.
Photo submitted - Michael David Porter sits with his dog and a copy of his book ‘The Graveyard Relays.’
“Our question at the end of every show was how do you take your coffee?”
Porter says he ended the show last year after ten seasons because he and his friend had both moved away.
“There were a number of things that bumped us out of the Catskills. My wife is very close to her family in Dolgeville, and my family lives in Western New York, so we decided to move,” he said.
He said that both his wife and he are into backpacking and the outdoors. “We thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had a place on a lake like this, so we looked and looked and found this place on Jerseyfield Road that was for sale and we bought it.”
So why did he start writing? “I felt that I was confronting major issues. Learning about issues, whether it’s climate change, thermonuclear warfare, or political division. These are issues that people have in their capacity to solve or avoid. We’re at this kind of crux of human history and development where we have the opportunity to become something incredible, or
we’re on the brink of selfdestruction.”
He said that if people only knew more or would contemplate these things and get outside of their biases or ignorance, we could really come together and overcome these things.
Porter told a story about how one of his fellow teachers outfitted a van and took his dog, traveling from Mexico to Alaska over two years. “In Alaska, he let his dog out and it started to chase a bear, until the bear decided that was rediculous and the bear turned around and started chasing the dog. So, then it becomes this mad dash to get the dog back in the van and slam the door before the bear catches up.”
“Now that we’re going out into the cosmos, I thought, what a fascinating concept. We go out exploring. What happens if we encounter a ‘bear’ and accidentally bring that back? That’s really the premise of the book. “
The book is set several hundred years in the future, and it’s set in the Catskills. “It’s called ‘The Graveyard Relays, ‘ which is the name of
LITTLE FALLS
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a reality program in the future where humanity has broken through physicist Enrico Fermi’s ‘The Great Filter.’”
It basically says, if the universe is so big, where is everybody? It postulates that civilizations universally succumb to various apocalyptic events before humanity can detect them.
“One of the hypotheses is that they’re all extinct because of extinction events. A thermonuclear war, asteroids, disease, or AI.”
He says that in his future, we’re able to come together as humans, explore space, send out probes and search for other intelligent life.
“We find simple life like animals and plants, but it’s never really intelligent until finally we find one that had self-emulated through nuclear war.”
This happens repeatedly, and what starts as a scientific endeavor becomes this kind of depressing drudgery except that it’s entertaining and allows people to think, well, we’re still going.
“There’s one probe they send out that’s so powerful with its
computational ability it’s able to analyze a planet’s environment and put together its history and civilization. It eventually becomes reality TV,” he said.
The United Nations steps in and decides to recover the probe and cancel the show. However, before that can happen, the probe starts having technical problems and stumbles upon a live civilization.
It becomes a mad dash to get Marshall, the show’s producer, back to headquarters to tell the probe what to do, but it’s not behaving rationally.
“What ends up happening is the team knows they’re getting shut down and can tell the United Nations that they’ve discovered this civilization, but they’re like, screw them, this is our last hurrah. If they’re going to shut us
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down, we’ll just produce this as a normal show, and the ratings will be amazing,” he said.
However, the civilization that they’ve found seems to have stagnated. They discover that centuries prior, one of the nations in it had completed a doom’s day weapon, which programs all people and machines to follow its orders. It got loose and went rogue, and now it becomes aware of humanity’s probe.
The team tries an emergency return of the probe, but it’s too late, and there’s no telling what is coming back with it.
“How do you close the door? How do you keep it out?” stated Porter.
Do you want to know more? You can purchase the book on Amazon.
William
L.
Kidder releases new book called ‘Defending Fort Stanwix’
By Dave Warner
It’s a story about the New York Frontier during the American Revolution, and at first, you’d think it was old history or didn’t relate to us at all. The reality is that we’re driving through historical areas of the Mohawk Valley every day that are mentioned in this book, which is filled with that history.
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The book focuses on the successful defense of Fort Stanwix, located in what is today Rome, New York. Fort Stanwix played an essential role in the 1777 Saratoga campaign, which resulted in the capture of British forces led by General John Burgoyne. This campaign is considered a significant turning point in the American Revolution.
Burgoyne’s surrender raised Patriot morale and contributed to the formation of the alliance with France, which Please See FORT Page 7
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idea that we’d help fix up our hometowns and make them nice, but we’ll do that WAY later after we have things set up and we’ve done what we wanted to do in Florida.”
However, after looking at all the data and having connections with contractors in this area, they decided to do things here.
“Ivy Gardens was not on the MLS, but we saw the Evening Times building and contacted Jessica Wright with River Hills Properties and said, hey, this looks like a pretty good deal. She ended up showing us Ivy Gardens and the Steakhouse as well, so that’s how it went from there,” he said.
Wright stated, “When I got here, I realized there was a lot of stuff going. Jessica took me on the tour and showed me the minor league field, the marina, the hospital and stuff like that. When Jess was showing me everything, I was like, shoot, I’m sold.”
He felt that the biggest thing about apartments is that they have to be rented. “Hoosick Falls is smaller than Little Falls and doesn’t have any of this stuff. We knocked it out of the park there and have a waitlist of people trying to get in. Here, it was a no-brainer. We’re pretty excited.”
He said, “We have a lot of work to do, so it’s hard to give timelines, but we’re ready to get started.”
They’re not going to change much structurally. The current interior layout will have to stay the same because of the concrete walls. “Obviously, it’s going to have a massive facelift, and it’s going to look really nice when it’s finished. We want to keep the current look but have new windows, facia, and a new paint scheme.”
Inside, they’re going to put grade A and B-type finishings. “We’re not going to cheap out. Instead of Formica tops, we’ll use granite. It’s going to look slick, modern, and updated.”
The three-story building has twenty-two units, although with the slope
down the back, it appears to be four, as the front of the bottom floor is underground.
“This is going to be market-rate housing. We’re going to put in nice LVP flooring, and the paint scheme will be crisp and modern. I think people that move in there will be very excited.”
There is a combination of studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units.
East End Steakhouse has two apartments ready to rent. “We’re going to finish Ivy Gardens first before we start on it. We don’t want to have too much going on at once since we’re going to be using the same contractors.”
Wright said the plan is for the second and third floors to be apartments above the restaurant. The top floor is particularly
nice, with incredible views.
He also said they plan to live here while the projects are ongoing, and if they invest even more, he might move here. “We’ll see what happens.”
“Hopefully, it works out great for us and the City, so that we say, let’s just do another one.”
Mayor Deborah Kaufman stated, “I love seeing Ivy Gardens come to life again. This is one of our most known, iconic buildings left in the city that people absolutely love. To be able to put market rate residential in there, which we desperately need, is just an amazing thing.”
“I couldn’t be happier. The group coming in to do it is energetic and has an eye for good design
Sheppard has mural installed at thruway rest stop
By Dave Warner
The new Iroquois Service Area (I-90 westbound, mile marker 210) in Little Falls features Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Starbucks, an Applegreen Market Store, and Taste NY Food and Drink Products. It also has outdoor seating, farm market space, a food truck space, and a dog-walking area.
However, the latest addition is a mural of the South William Street Bridge in Little Falls, taken by Stephanie Sheppard in 2019. This is her third public installation, with two in Los Angeles and one at the Southwest LAX terminal.
When asked how she heard about the competition to place photography at service areas, she said,
and quality materials. I’m looking forward to seeing what they will do with this property,” she said.
Wright hopes both projects will be finished by this time next year.
“If Ivy Garden is not
finished in a year, I’d be very disappointed and heartbroken. Hopefully, it will move a lot faster.”
He believes people will see activity in November with dumpsters outside the structure.
“There was a notification at the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts with a call for
Photo by Dave Warner - Sheppard checks out the installation of her photograph at the Iroquois Service Area. entry for photographs to be placed in the Applegreen
City of Little Falls
November 3, 2024
St. Pauls Meatloaf Dinner from 4-7 pm. $13, take out only Call 315-8232284 to place your order.
November 4, 2024
Common Council Meeting—Auditing of the bills: 6:30 p.m. Regular Meeting: 7:00 p.m. in City Hall.
November 5, 2024
General Election votingHoly Family Parish gym, 763 E Main St. 6 am - 9 pm.
November 12, 2024
Police and Fire Commission Meeting
- Bills 8:30 a.m. and Regular Session 9:00 a.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room in City Hall.
November 13, 2024
Golf Commission Meeting
- Regular Meeting: 8:00 a.m. in the Mayor’s Conference room in City Hall.
November 18, 2024
Recreation/Harbor6 p.m., in the Mayor’s Conference Room in City Hall.
November 18, 2024
Board of Public Works Meeting - Bills 6:30 pm and Regular Session 7:00 pm in the Mayor’s Conference room in City Hall.
November 20, 2024 Urban Renewal Board Meeting - Regular Session, 8:00 a.m., in the Mayor’s Conference Room in City Hall.
Little Falls Elks
November 15, 2024
Little Falls Elks Lodge #42 Stand up Comedy Night 7:30 pm. $25 prepaid, $30 at the door. For reservations call 315-823-2371. Leave a message if necessary.
Herkimer
November 9, 2024
Herkimer Originals ABA Basketball team - home game at 7 pm. As of the date of publication, location unknown.
December 1, 2024
Herkimer Originals ABA Basketball team - home game at 7 pm. As of the date of publication, location unknown.
Irish fiddler Gerry O’Connor workshop & concert
Craobh Dugan-O’Looney, the local chapter of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, an international cultural organization based in Dublin, Ireland, is proud to be hosting Irish fiddler Gerry O’Connor for a workshop and concert on Saturday November 16, 2024.
The 90-minute workshop will begin at 2:30 PM and a concert featuring Gerry and accompanist Kevin McElroy begins at 7:00 PM. Workshop and concert will take place at the H.A.R.P. Museum on the 2nd floor of the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley.
From an early age Gerry was involved Irish music and dance, winning numerous All Ireland titles between 1967 and 1973 in a range of formations including duet, trio and four Céili Band titles.
Playing with Michael Coleman’s contemporary John Joe Gardiner in the 1970’s formed Gerry’s style of music, focussing on the fluid and ornamented lyrical
fiddle playing of the great Sligo masters. His own background in step dancing translates into vibrant pulsating dance music for which he is noted; today he is regarded as one of the great fiddle players of his generation.
Gerry is steeped in the rich history of Irish culture and dance music having been recognized by awards including 4-time Fiddler of Oriel winner and recipient of a 2018 Bardic Award for significant contribution to the promotion of traditional Irish culture from the major Irish cultural group Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.
He was co-founder and first Artistic Director of Ceol Chairlinn, an annual teaching festival in Carlingford, Co Louth. He is also the Traditional Arts coordinator at the newly established CreativeConnexions Irish/ Catalan Arts festival in Sitges. He teaches fiddle at the Willie Clancy Summer school and at master-
classes throughout Europe. When at home Gerry works as a violin maker/restorer.
Tickets are $40 for Workshop and Concert, $25 Workshop Only, $25 Concert only advance sale, and $30 at the door. Call or text Michael Hoke 315-225-6292 for tickets and information or email hoke84@gmail.com.
Having the opportunity to learn from and hear such a master musician performing and sharing the history of his musical heritage with the community is a very special treat, and we look forward to welcoming Gerry’s appearance.
HARP Museum Kicks Off Youth Lunch & Learn Series
The H.A.R.P. Museum at the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley hosts a November to remember, introducing a “Youth Lunch and Learn” series, with free classes for young people in Irish dance, Irish fiddle, tin whistle, bodhran, and a workshop aimed at helping to build a family tree.
The slate of classes and teachers is as follows:
“Introduction to Irish Dance” - This four-hour class will be presented by the Butler-Sheehan Academy of Traditional Irish Dance on Saturday, November 2nd, from 10 AM-2:30 PM, and will teach students about the history and styles of traditional Irish dancing, with demonstrations and performances of many styles of Irish dance. Instructors will also be bringing a representative selection of dresses,
dance shoes and wigs. At the conclusion of the class, students will be invited to participate in a dance specifically designed for them.
“Irish Fiddle Class” –Learn the basics of the fiddle, and how to play some simple tunes. Students can bring their own instrument, but additional instruments will be on hand. Mike Hoke is the instructor. Two identical two-hour classes are offered, at 10 AM on Nov. 9th and Nov. 16th. Each class is capped at 10 students.
“Tin Whistle Class:Students will be taught the basics of reading
Little
music and how to play tunes on a tin whistle. Each student receives a tin whistle and an introductory book to bring home. Mike Carroll is the instructor. Two identical two-hour classes are offered, at noon on Nov. 9th and Nov. 30th. Each class is capped at 10 students.
“Bodhran (Irish drum) Class - Students will be taught the basics of how to play the bodhran (Irish drum). Students can bring their own bodhran, but additional bodhrans will also be on hand. Sue Romero is the instructor. This class, taking place at 11 AM on Nov. 30th, is capped at 10 students.
“Family Stories, Genealogy and the History and Art of Storytelling” - Thanksgiving is all about family (and pie), sitting around the table, sharing stories from the “old days” and making new memories. Armed with the information and tools presented at this workshop, the students will come to the Thanksgiving dinner table primed for conversation, with questions for their aunts, uncles, and grandparents as they start to build their own family tree. The class, facilitated by Patty Foley, is at noon on Nov. 16th, and is capped at 20
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Falls Public Library Calendar
rest stops along the Thruway.”
She said there was a consulting company doing the whole project, and she thought, “Sure. “I looked at my catalog of photographs and found several. They wanted up to three photographs submitted. So I sent them three, and I didn’t hear, and I thought it just went by the wayside.”
Finally, after a long wait, she got an email saying congratulations, all three of your photographs were accepted. “I thought, that’s really nice. In the end, they only chose one because they didn’t have enough room. I had to change the photograph from vertical to horizontal. I didn’t know if I had that same shot in a horizontal format, but fortunately, I did.”
She said there was a Zoom meeting where all the winners and contractors met each other, and then she didn’t hear anything for months and months.
“It was almost a year, and then finally, I got ahold of the person in charge of the installations, and she said, ‘We’re getting ready to install.’”
It took a long time to find a printer that could handle the material and size required for the displays.
“It worked out really well,” Sheppard said.
Valerie A. Cooper, owner of Picture That Consultants, is the contractor handling the project for all of the service areas. She said, “The goal is to beautify all of the newly renovated New York State service plazas so that they are infused with artwork that depicts local geographic scenery, landmarks, monuments, and the like for the local neighborhoods where the service plazas are based.”
She said this would give
drivers passing through an impression of what the area might look like if they were visiting. “That’s really the end goal - to put something in each plazareflective of each area that the plaza is in to connect the driving audience.”
Plazas extend from just outside New York City and Westchester County to Albany and then west to Niagara Falls to Angola.
“There are twenty-seven plazas along that stretch, and we’re putting art in seventeen of them,” she stated.
“This was like a dream come true project. You can imagine what the coffee table book might look like when we’re finished.”
The company also decided that the corridors leading to the bathrooms were the most practical places to hang the art, as they had the longest walls and the greatest visibility. “Then, they took it a step further. They decided that instead of matted and framed work, they wanted a really minimal, safe, sleek application of the art and moved it to wallpaper,” Cooper stated.
She said that’s what added the year—they had to find a company that could not only design the wallpaper but also lay it out and print it. “That’s a very different company than the one that receives and installs it.”
“Little Falls was an interesting installation because it’s little, like literally. I remember going to the Iroquois service area, and they gave me a couple of names of galleries. We got really good submissions for every single area,” Cooper said.
At the end of the day, her team selected the ones they wanted, and Cooper notified the winners.
SENIOR MEALS FOR NOVEMBER
To reserve a meal, call the Herkimer County Office for the Aging at least one business day in advance, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 315-867-1204 or 315-867-1634. If you will not be home for meals, call 315867-1204 at least a day in advance. All sites are handicapped accessible.
Nov 01 - Spanish rice, tossed salad, corn bread, fresh fruit.
Nov 04 - Cream of broccoli soup, egg salad sandwich, three-bean salad, pineapple.
Nov 05 - Closed - Election Day
Nov 06 - Beef stew with vegetables, biscuit, pears.
Nov 07 - Cheese omelet, sausage, hash browns, muffin fruit cup.
Nov 08 - Macaroni and cheese, green beans, stewed tomatoes and zucchini, brownie.
Nov 11 - Closed Veterans Day
Nov 12 - Chicken and biscuits, mashed potatoes, broccoli, cookie.
Nov 13 - Thanksgiving dinner, turkey with gravy, stuffing, corn, dinner roll, pumpkin pie.
Nov 14 - Hamburger cabbage casserole, green beans, cauliflower, apple brown Betty.
Nov 15 - Lemon chicken, oven roasted potatoes, Sonoma blend vegetables, banana bread.
Nov 18 - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, dill carrots, fruit cocktail.
Nov 19 - Chicken florentine, seasoned rice, Pacific blend vegetables, frosted birthday cake.
Nov 20 - Lasagna, tossed salad, garlic bread, fresh fruit.
Nov 21 - Cheesy chiuli mac, beets, Brussels sprouts, cookie.
Nov 22 - Pork chop, sweet potatoes, green beans, fresh fruit.
Nov 25 - Baked fish, O’Brien potatoes, spinach, tropical fruit.
Nov 26 - Cream of potato soup, roast beef sandwich, green beans, cookie.
Nov 27 - Pasta with meatballs, tossed salad, garlic knot, fruited gelatin.
Nov 28 - Happy Thanksgiving
Nov 29 - Closed
All meals are served with 8 ounces of milk, a slice of bread, and margarine. Desserts have no concentrated sweets. The suggested donation is $3. Mail donations to Herkimer County OFA, 109 Mary St., Suite 2501, Herkimer, NY 13350. Envelopes are available from drivers.
Photo by Dave Warner - Sheppard shows her image off to Heidi and Eve Fox, who showed up to congratulate her on the install.
Renzulli restarts ‘Through My Eyes’ series centered on Veterans
By Dave Warner
Before COVID, Ralph Renzulli had started a series of interviews with Little Falls Vietnam Veterans. The show was produced by The Creative Outpost and was filmed at the Little Falls Library in the China room.
Thirteen episodes were completed before the program was shuttered, but that all changed last week when a new episode was recorded at the Studio 25 location in Canal Place.
Renzulli stated, “I had spent a little bit of time on YouTube, and I’ve always been interested in the history of Vietnam, what happened there, and the fact that it was an unpopular war.”
“So, I watched some videos of Vietnam Veterans telling their story. I found it really interesting to listen to these guys. They had a lot to say and were finally coming out, talking about their experiences. A lot of them had struggled with it for a long time.”
Then he went to the Little Falls Historical Society and saw the Vietnam Veterans display. “I thought, this is really impressive.”
So, he wondered if there was another way to bring attention to the subject. “I thought, if other people can do YouTube videos on Vietnam Vets in other locations in the country, why can’t we?”
Renzulli approached me and asked if we could do a show focused on Little Falls Vietnam Vets. He said, “You were all in, and that’s really how I got started.”
“We did thirteen episodes, plus a couple of other specials. Eddie Przydatek played a couple of times. Then we did the episode where Bud Malone talked in Eastern Park,” he said.
Renzulli stated that he had wanted to restart it again after COVID but got involved in stuff. “I had every intention of starting it again, but it just never happened. But this summer, I was poking around the website and wanted to watch a couple of them again, and I looked at the stats. How many people have been watching these things?”
It turns out that tens of thousands of people had watched each episode. “There were almost 10,000 per episode, and I thought, what? That’s unbelievable. People are still watching. Maybe not as heavily as before, but we’re a community of 4,600 people, so a lot of these people must be out of town.”
With that much interest,
Renzulli felt that he should start the show again. “I had bumped into Jimmy Walczak once or twice up at the Herkimer VFW when I was up there for an event and that kind of stuck in my head - if I ever do this again, I want to start with him.”
Originally, it was only Little Falls Vets, but he thought there was no reason why, if someone was willing to do it, why not Ilion, Mohawk, Herkimer, Dolgeville, Fort Plain, or Canajoharie?
“Anyone who’s willing to do it,” he stated.
In fact, Renzulli says that he intends to expand it to any Veteran - from World War II through Afghanistan. “I don’t know how many people we have around here who have participated in those wars, but there has to be quite a few.”
“I’m willing to talk to anybody and hear their story. I’d find it really interesting to listen to them,” he stated.
If you’d like to be featured on the show, please email rrenzul1@twcny. rr.com. You can view the Episodes on YouTube by searching for the Studio 25 Podcast Network.
Moreland Park Dedication/Tribute to Dudley Burwell
It was good to be up on the hills today, up where the breezes blow and away from the heat of the valley. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why so many climbed up to Moreland Park this afternoon, where they could overlook the basin of the Mohawk in this vicinity. Another reason
September 2, 1911
was that the citizens wanted to be present at the formal ceremonies in dedication of that beautiful breathtaking spot. More persons could have been there -plenty of room was to be had- but the gathering was one of ample size and character to well represent the community. The band
played on the way up the hill and that made the ascent easier.
The exercises took place in the pavilion recently erected in the park and were presided over by Mayor Dasey. The Mayor paid a fine tribute to the memory of Dudley Burwell, who left in his will a provision that the park should eventually become the property of the city. The speaker said that he was probably the oldest man in Little Falls today who had worked for Mr. Burwell. He, and other boys had received, and were glad to get, 25 cents a day for their services, this sum being at that time regarded as excellent pay.
The chairman said that Mr. Burwell had always been known as a benefactor, with a big, generous heart.
Rev. G. Delbert Walker of the Universalist Church then led the assemblage in prayer, his clear melodious voice ringing pleasantly through the grove He referred to the blessing that Mr. Burwell had conferred in giving to the community for all time such a beautiful park.
Attorney M. G. Bronner was then introduced to make the presentation of the park to the city on behalf of George D. Smith, who was the administrator of the Burwell estate. Mr. Bronner talked interestingly concerning the life of the well known benefactor, dwelling upon his personal and business career and his many admirable traits of character. Mr. Burwell’s
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students.
There is no charge for these classes, which is being offered to children of all ethnicities aged 10-14. As each class has limited seating, advance registration is required, at https://bit.ly/3Ym1kBP. Lunch will also be included for the students. Parents/guardians are welcome to attend any of the events (they won’t count against the cap, but will have to pay for their own lunch).
This youth programming series, aimed at introducing young people of our area to the history and culture of Ireland, is funded through the auspices of a Legislative Initiative Program grant, secured by Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, and is being administered out of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.
Upcoming classes in the series include “Ogham writing” – the ancient alphabet of Ireland; “Make-and-Take: Create a Christmas Angel,” a creative “Children Designing for Children” Challenge Workshop, and more. In an effort to make the workshops easily accessible, they will be held on Saturdays and/or school holidays.
The H.A.R.P. Museum at the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley, located at 623 Columbia St. in Utica, NY, is a nonprofit organization that promotes understanding of Irish Culture and the legacy of the Irish people who settled in the Mohawk Valley. H.A.R.P stands for “History, Ancestry, Research, and Programs.”
contributed greatly to victory in the War for Independence.
Kidder is a retired high school history teacher who has taught for forty years. He said, “I taught in both public and private schools.”
After college, he taught near Cleveland, Ohio, spent four years in the Navy, and then moved to New Jersey, where he taught until 2011.
“I do a lot of stuff locally with historical societies and historic sites in the area and I think I’ve really continued being a teacher, even in retirement. I consider my writing to be a continuation of my teaching,” he said.
Kidder’s passion was to teach kids about history and instill a passion in them for it. “In my writing, I don’t try to just put out facts - I try to make it a human story and one that will make history interesting to people and make them want to learn more about it.”
He said that he’d always enjoyed writing, but it was in college that he really decided to write books.
While he was teaching, he could never get into the depth of a subject he wanted to. “As soon as I retired, I started writing.”
This is his ninth book, and some of them have been self-published because they only cover local history in New Jersey. However, he connected with a literary agent who helped him get this book more widely published.
“It was really through him that I got connected to Cornell University Press,” who published this latest book.
He said, “I write and research books that I wish somebody else
had done. I don’t do it to say I have to defend this or prove that. I write to understand something. That’s why I’m a little bit different.”
His connection to Fort Stanwix is that he had an ancestor in the 3rd Continental New York Line. “I always wanted to know what happened in his life and what he experienced. The book is not about him, but he does make an appearance here and there.”
“He had never told his story to officials, and he didn’t write a lot of memoirs or letters, so I wanted to know what his world was like,” Kidder stated.
Kidder said that the fort’s condition was one thing that he found really interesting. “The fact that they had been attempting to restore it to full capacity for a long time. But, because of the issues they were dealing with and the lack of manpower that they had, they could never get it done.”
As the siege began at the beginning of August in 1777, they were still doing reconstruction. Kidder said that it’s important to remember how much of a civil war the American Revolution was. “Particularly, the Mohawk Valley was really in a civil war. That really isn’t something that people think about. It wasn’t just the British against the Continental
Army. Brothers were fighting brothers at the siege.”
“I tried to give the reader an idea of how the Continental Army was developing, who was going to be at the garrison, what their experience was, and what the quality of the troops was. How many were there, how familiar were they with the territory where they were, and all of those kinds of things,” he said.
Kidder said that the Continental Army was not like what we think of when we think about today’s Army, which is very structured. “They were still recruiting troops into the 3rd Continental right up to and including even after the siege because the regiment wasn’t complete. It was a brand new regiment.”
He said that his relative who was at the fort during the siege, didn’t have any combat experience, which was the case for many of those stationed there. “That makes it even more incredible that they survived - without the communication and the experience.”
Kidder said that the 3rd New York probably had 300-400; there were about 100 from a Massachusetts unit, and there were some militia and Oneida Indians in the area. “It wasn’t that many.”
At the beginning of August 1777, the enemy forces
got there, and the first contact was with scouts from the fort, who then quickly returned. “It was definitely the Oniedas that had the first contact for the garrison.”
The fort is then surrounded, and the artillery gets put into place, and the British try to get them to surrender. “They refused that, and not too much later, the militia from German Flatts and other areas arrived to help reinforce the fort.”
On about August 7th, they tried to get them to surrender again. “It was a continuous pattern of artillery and sniper attacks, but it was never a frontal assault to try and scale the walls and capture it,” he said.
The fight ultimately ended after about twentytwo days because the attackers thought a large number of reinforcements were on their way.
One reason Kidder became a history teacher? He thought this period of history wasn’t being presented very accurately. “I hope the book holds together well. Just the complexity of what was going on at that time and how it affected people and just how personal war is - it’s not like pieces on a war game board - it’s human beings having to deal with all kinds of issues,” he said.
You can listen to the full story on YouTube by searching for the Studio 25 Podcast Network. It’s Episode 0028.
The History of the Little Falls Fire Department - The Gulf Curve Wreck
By Scott Kinville
Friday, April 19th, 1940, was just another day in the City of Little Falls. Then, with just over a half hour to go until the clock struck midnight, a tragedy would strike the city that would make national headlines. Benton Hall Academy on East Main Street held a high school dance that night. As the festivities were winding down at 11:23 p.m., the mood went from happiness and relaxation to shock and horror. What happened that night would be forever etched in the minds of those who witnessed it.
About a half mile down the road from Benton Hall Academy was the Gulf Curve of the New York Central Railroad. The sweeping curve of the four-line main track at this point was one of the sharpest curves in the entire New York Central system, which ran between New York City and Chicago. It was so sharp that the railroad required engineers to slow down to 45 mph to safely navigate it, a fact that will soon become very important in this story.
The students and chaperones who were left at Benton Hall Academy at 11:23 on that fateful night heard what must have sounded like a bomb exploding. They, along with residents in the area, rushed down to the scene where they heard the explosion to find the twisted and mangled wreckage of the Lake
Shore Limited - a New York Central passenger that had jumped the tracks and slammed into the rock embankment on the north side of the tracks. The screams and moans of the injured and dying filled the cool night air as those who had rushed to the scene could not believe what they were witnessing.
The Little Falls Fire Department was immediately called for, and when they arrived, they knew they had a monumental rescue task ahead of them. They set up what little portable lightning they had and summoned the Herkimer and East Herkimer fire Departments for help. A hose line was connected to the hydrant at the bottom of Ward Street to suppress the fires that had sprung up as a result of the crash (remember, Little Falls still did not have a pumping engine at this point).
Joining the firefighters in the rescue efforts were the Little Falls Police Department, DPW, and citizens wanting to help in any way they could. A DPW worker named Alvin Brennan brought the city’s cutting torches to the scene to help cut the steel away from the victims. The New York Central dispatched workers to the scene as well to do whatever needed to be done.
The rescue work continued through the night and into the next day. A grim reality began
to set in as undertaker baskets began to be used to remove bodies from the Gulf Curve. Ladders were put up over the rock wall to carry makeshift stretchers up to the waiting ambulances and cars to transport the injured to Little Falls Hospital. Out of necessity, some had to be transported to Utica hospitals as Little Falls Hospital - which was at risk of being overrun with patients.
In the darkness of the carnage, a few heroic acts also played out. Little Falls firefighter Clarence Smith left the Gulf Curve at 9:00 a.m. the next morning to go to Little Falls Hospital - not because he was injured but to donate a pint of blood. As soon as they were done, he returned to wreck and continued working through the night.
Thirty-one people died, and over 100 were injured as a result of the accident. An investigation revealed the train was behind schedule, and in an attempt to make up some time, engineer Jesse Porter ignored the 45 mph speed limit. The Lake Shore Limited was estimated to be traveling at 57 mph at the time of the accident, a fatal error in judgment by Porter as he was one of 31 people killed.
Parts of the rock wall that destroyed Lake Shore Limited are still standing today. However, you will not find the sharp Gulf Curve. In 1947, the New York Central decided to undertake a mammoth project to ease the angle of the curve. It involved rerouting the Mohawk River, among other things and forever altered the landscape of Little Falls.
sterling worth as a man and citizen had been eloquently touched upon by some of his associates in business, at the time of his death. These men, whose intimacy with the donor of the park placed them in a position to estimate correctly, said that he was affable and courteous. He was upright and honorable and, in all dealings, square as a die. He hated political corruption and all grades of humbuggery and was inclined to be distrustful as to the future of his country. He was a man of pure morals and fine feelings and he possessed uncommon ability and a keen insight into men and events.
With it all, he was eccentric. Before he died, in 1877, Mr. Burwell expressed a desire that no undertaker be engaged at his funeral. He wanted his remains taken care of by the men who worked for him. He asked that a coffin be made for him out of one of the trees on his land and he wanted to be buried at the top of the hill on which he had spent the last years of his life.
His wishes were carried out to the letter. His coffin was made out of an old butternut tree. A rough-boy of lead was made and in this the coffin was placed. A hole was hewn in a solid rock at the top of the hill, the casket and its casing of lead were placed in this and then the hole was carefully sealed. Thus did the man who loved nature find his place of eternal rest in the solid rock that so well typified his character. His faithful dog was buried by his side and the two graves, each marked by a monument, will remain where they are now until the end of time.
Then Mr. Bronner told about how Mr. Burwell had worked for 20 years on the park, always with the end in view that it should eventually become the property of the city. When he died, he left the property to William Milligan, to hold it as trustee during his life. After his death it was to pass to the ownership of the city. Mr. Milligan invested $8,000 that had also been left by Mr. Burwell in such manner that it eventually increased to $16,000. Of this increase, he never took a penny, tho he could have done so honestly. He showed that Mr. Burwell had estimated correctly in setting him down as a man after his own heart.
