Sally Pellegrini's blog

Governors Island: The Jewel  of New York Harbor is one of the many books available in the Rockland Room that focuses on New York City history.  This beautiful book blends a sense of nostalgia with twenty-first-century amenities. The author has included rarely-viewed photos, blueprints, architectural plans and interviews with former residents. Located in the New York Harbor, Governors Island was a British fort in the 1700's and then played a long-standing role as a station for the U.S. Army and the Coast Guard. The island also offers a vivid reflection of historic events in New York City and the world at large. Stop in at the Rockland Room and have a look in the new book section for this fascinating book.

It should be mentioned that there is a new library non-fiction book discussion group, Facts, that has been focusing on books about the Hudson Valley and Manhattan. The May selection was Manhattan: My Downtown by Pete Hamill and the June selection is The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell  by Mark Kurlansky. The group meets the second Wednesday of the month at 1PM. All interested persons are invited.

Program scheduled for tonight, February 23 has been cancelled. An alternate date is not scheduled The society meets the second Tuesday of the month.

British sympathizers in Rockland during the American Revolution were not uncommon and one of the more famous was a woman.  Her family ran a ferry and under this disguise, she smuggled British soldiers across the Hudson River. One of the  tales has her hiding a British soldier in a large chest and setting large pots of cream on top of it. Later, the soldier's pursuers arrived to search the premises. She offered them milk but cautioned not to move the cream jugs as they needed to "turn". After dark, she successfully ferried the soldier across the river.

Who is this person?

Researching genealogy and historical information at the New City Library does not have to be limited to books or the Internet. Have you looked at the periodicals we offer? Two of my favorites are Prologue, a quarterly publication from the National Archives.  The winter issue devotes pages to President Eisenhower and Cold War strategy along with a discussion on the Archives' preservation project of early 20^th- century photographs.  Another favorite is  Archives , New York State’s look at its history. This publication is always filled with something of interest for the reader.  We offer other publications such as the popular circulating Family Chronicles that always offers different genealogy researching methods and current Internet sites. This magazine is the only one in the AV department. For all others, stop in at the Rockland Room and take a look.

December's history blog  is about the brick industry of Rockland County. At one time, Haverstraw was one of the greatest brickmaking centers in the East with the entire river front from Haverstraw to Grassy Point dotted with brick yards. In its height, there were 38 yards producing 326,000,000 bricks annually. "For a century and a half" wrote G. Wilson Bartine in the Journal News, "Haverstraw's terrain was cut and slashed and pitted with yawning holes to furnish clay for the manufacturing of bricks, which were then sent up and down the Atlantic seaboard.

Try to imagine the terrain as the rolling hills and level plains were replaced with deep water-filled holes, some of them many acres in extent. The trivia question is:

When did brick making begin in Rockland County?

 a)1770's         b)Early 1810's                c. Mid -1830's

Tune in next week for the answer. For futher informatio the Rockland Room has several books on brick making and there is a short concise history in