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Dedication of the Memorial Gates, Rhinebeck
THE BIRTHDAY OF THE STATE
JULY 9, 1776
On July 9, 1776, a convention of the Province of New York, held at White Plains, ratified for New York the Declaration of Independence adopted at Philadelphia on July fourth. On July 9, 1926, a pageant was enacted at White Plains, reproducing the scene in the convention of one hundred and fifty years before. In the original convention there were present forty-two delegates from ten collnties. Citizens of White Plains of to-day impersonated the delegates and re-enacted the proceedings of the convention. By special invitation the ten counties -represented in 1776 were represented in 1926' by "Honor Guests". Dutchess County was officially present in the persons of Mr. William Platt Adams, Mr. Joseph H. Van Wyck, Mr. John M Ham, and Mr. John Sackett as honor guests and other members of the Historical Society attended as individuals. Through the courtesy of the President, Mr. Adams, the Year Book contains a photograph of the cast of the pageant, taken on the steps of the armory at White Plains at the close of the presentation, and attention is called to the fact that the actors, numbered n the photograph as one, four, six and nine, impersonated the delegates sent by Dutchess to the convention of 1776. The original delegates were Zephaniah Platt, Henry Schenck, Nathaniel Sacket and Dr. Joseph Crane.
SESQUI-CENTENNIAL, FISHKILL
SEPTEMBER 5, 1926
On September 5, 1776, the Convention of the State of New York, convened in Fishkill, Dutchess County, having been obliged to leave Westchester County (where the delegates to the Provincial Convention had previously sat) because of the near approach of the British forces. The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary was celebrated at Fishkill on September 5, 1926, and under a committee of which Mr. William E Verplanck was chairman the whole community was represented in an interesting program. Services were held in the morning in Trinity church, Fishkill (where the convention of 1776 began its sessions) and in the afternoon in the Dutch church (to which the delegates later adjourned.) Also in the afternoon memorial services for the soldier dead, buried at Fishkill were held and Mount Gulian, the home of Mr. Verplanck at Beacon (where the Society of the Cincinnati was organized), was thrown open for the reception of many guests. Included among those who spoke at the church services were the Rev. H. L. Thomas and the Rev. Dr. Herge, Mrs. Samuel Verplanck and Mr. John Jay Chapman (whose ancestor, John Jay, was the leader in the convention of
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1776). At Mount Gulian, William Platt Adams, president of the Dutchess County Historical Society, served as chairman, Mr. James Meyer as secretary and addresses were made by the host, Mr. Verplanck, by the Honorable Hamilton Fish and by Miss Helen Wilkinson Reynolds.
Never was there a fairer day than July fifth, 1926 when. the citizens of Rhinebeck and their friends met at the entrance of the local cemetery for the dedication of the Memorial Gates erected by Chancellor Livingston Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, to commemorate the valor of those men from the old Rhinebeck Precinct who risked their lives and their fortunes to establish American Independence and to those who in the late war answered the call of their country.
The memorial was designed by Delano and Aldrich of New York. The deep recess is of stone matching the cemetery wall and brings to the front two magnificent elm trees between which the driveway curves. The four posts are of granite, the center ones topped with polished urns of black granite. On the outer posts are bronze crusader swords, and on the center ones the bronze tablets, the work of the Gorham Company. The tablets read as follows:
1776 1926 Our Sires In memory of General Richard Montgomery Col. Henry B. Livingston Col. Fred. H. deWeissenfels Major John Pawling and Other officers and men from the Rhinebeck Precinct Patriots All To whom we owe the glorious gift of
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