Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook Vol 063 1978

DUTCHESS COUNTY TELLS ITS STORY WITH A MULTI-MEDIA DISPLAY

By Chris Farlekas (From the Times Herald Record, Middletown, N.Y.) Friday, September 29, 1979 POUGHKEEPSIE - America celebrated its bicentennial birthday in 1976 with all the hoopla and fireworks the great day demanded. But the matter of independence didn't begin or end on that day.

The Revolutionary War continued several years past the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Last year, Kingston had its moment in the sun as it remembered itself as the birthplace of the state legislature.

Plans are being drawn up for a bicentennial celebration next year of Joseph Brant's raid on Port Jervis and Deerparkand following that, the New Windsor Cantonment will reenact Washington's last gathering of troops. His refusal of the crown and the creation of the Order of the Purple Heart will be prominently portrayed.

Into this triple-decker patriotic sandwich, there is a little heralded - but excellent - display at the Mid-Hudson Arts and Science Center in downtown Poughkeepsie at 228 Main Street.

It's titled "Dutchess County 1778: Year of Trial, Year of Transition."

In a carefully presented series of displays, both behind glass and out in the open, the Dutchess County Historical Society has focused on this crucial year in the county's history.

There are six, life-sized exhibits which incorporate painted figures and actual objects of that time, each showing an aspect of life in Poughkeepsie in 1778. Against the wall, enclosed in glass and well lit, are pistols, newspapers and other artifacts of 200 years ago, when Poughkeepsie was the state capital.

But what makes the exhibit really come alive is a slide show that tells the history of that year.

In 1777, the British burned Kingston, forcing the legislature to find another home. Poughkeepsie was picked, and on Jan. 9, 1778, a sufficient number of legislators arrived to make up a quorum and get business under way.

It was a hard winter. Washington and his men were suffering at Valley Forge, reduced as one said to drinking soup "full of burnt leaves and dirt."

Many of the insights in the 20-minute slide show are augmented by an excellent booklet on the subject given each visitor, written by Jonathan Clark of the nearby Vassar College history department.

Together, the words and pictures paint a familiar story that graphically illustrates the adage, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Two hundred years ago - just as today - there were heroes and villains. People complained that taxes were too high. While soldiers were suffering at Valley Forge, fat cat merchants made a killing in the market.

There was even a strike. Ships' carpenters had been brought to Poughkeepsie to build two frigates authorized by the Continental Congress. According to Prof. Clark, "They 135