The two-tiered waterfall, with a combined 260 feet of drops, has entranced countless people over the years up a steep and unofficial trail of loose stone to reach the paradisiacal swimming hole between the two tiers. The stone steps replacing that deadly scramble are still being installed.
Read moreHere's to Another Year
Through interviews and stories, Hudson River Zeitgeist’s mission is to record various aspects of the heritage of this region’s workers and longtime residents.
Read moreThis Site's Top-five Stories of the Year, in Case You Missed them
As I’ve been planning, I will be, after this post, pouring some antifreeze down the pipes of this site, winterizing it, and opening it back up in the spring.
Read moreDid the British ransack Germantown during the American Revolution?
Most historical accounts say that Chancellor Livingston’s home, Clermont, was the northern-most penetration by British troops during the October 1777 advance up the Hudson River.
But local lore, backed up by some primary documents, suggests otherwise.
Read moreBuy Hudson River Zeitgeist's 2015 Book of Interviews
This year, since April, there have been fifteen interviews published on this site. In order to ensure proper archiving and to gauge whether I can raise money to continue growing Hudson River Zeitgeist next year, I've decided to seek a short-run publishing of a book of this year's fifteen published interviews (plus two previously unpublished ones). To order the book, learn more about it or to view a video trailer for the book, please visit:
Thank you, readers. It's been a pleasure thus far.
~William Shannon
From the Horse-and-wagons to the Automobiles
I grew up just uphill from Cheviot, one of Germantown’s riverfront neighborhoods. Over the years, I often walked the family dog down to the town park and boat launch at Cheviot, an area which used to be a bustling shipping center. One usual feature of the trips was that, as the dog and I would saunter up the hill on the way back, Rita Rifenburgh would open the front door of her house, offer a piece of cake that she’d baked and we would catch up for a few minutes. Her house is perched half-way up the steep hill looking out over a gorge that a small creek carved from cascading down sets of rocks as it spills into the Hudson River.
As time’s gone on, and I’ve moved to different places, the routine’s been interrupted. But, recently, as I was again walking up the hill, she stopped the dog and I and we caught up for the first time in quite a while. I told her of the interviews I’ve been doing and, though she had a videotaped interview a couple years ago shown at the local library, I asked if she’d be willing to do another for the record. She agreed. The following is a transcription of our recent talk.
Read moreRejected at the Border, Wandering Maine, Feeling the Trump Effect in New Hampshire: A Four-day Travelogue
An old-fashioned account of a whirlwind traveling tour of the northeastern United States. By William Shannon.
Read moreBeacon to Manhattan, two days on the Hudson
7 a.m.
Beacon, New York.
Heavy gusts of wind pushed the water north and waves crashed up onto the beach of Denning’s Point.
Read moreTen Questions with Marguerite Riter
A lot of people feel because of all these storms that are taking place throughout the world that the end is coming near.
I don’t believe it.
I think we’re getting near the end times, but this isn’t it.
We’ve always had storms.
Read moreCoping with a World that will Eat your Spirit
Chief Richard Earl Grimes, known also as Altar Man, led a group of a few dozen people last week as they participated in a Lakota ritual called Hanbleceya—Crying for a Vision. The ritual spans many days and is also called a vision quest. It was held in High Falls, New York. There are many aspects to it, but its core feature is that some, called questers among the larger group, go to their own spot deep in the woods, after much preparation and ceremony. There, they spend the next one, two, three or more days, alone, reflecting, considering their place in the universe and welcoming any epiphanies that occur. I arrived in High Falls on the final day of this Hanbleceya, in time for a ceremony designed to cleanse the spirit and bless the parting feast. After sharing in the passing of a peace pipe, and other aspects of the ceremony, I spoke with the chief.
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