The visitor’s center is very modern inside, with dozens of hands-on displays for curious schoolchildren and adults. We perused the labyrinth of hallways, stopping to flip switches, push buttons and learn about hydroelectricity.

The plant uses the force of running water to spin magnetic turbines and generate electricity. I wondered how this can be, seeing the Schoharie Creek is so languid and sluggish? One of the ladies overseeing our visit said that the water from the creek is pumped up into a large reservoir at the top of Brown Mountain. There are enormous pipes within the mountain that channel the water from the creek. When energy is needed, the reservoir is drained. The rushing water that spills down through those pipes spins the turbines and creates the electricity.

Wow! I was astonished by the pipes inside the mountain. The idea of using up energy to make more energy seemed counter-intuitive to me, though. And it is. According to the information I saw, the Blenheim-Gilboa plant is an “emergency” power station. It provides energy only when electricity generation levels are low elsewhere, and helps to prevent brownouts and blackouts.

All the power generated at this plant is sent to New York City.

The visitor’s center also has many displays about the surrounding land. I loved the history! The center has an open sunroom type of room filled with stuffed animals native to New York State and other displays. This is a portion of an ancient tree fern. In it are bits of branches and seeds! These stumps were discovered in the 1920s when the land was cleared for the Schoharie Reservoir.

The view is beautiful.

Admission to the visitor’s center is free. It’s a wonderfully educational experience and the ladies we chatted with were so hospitable. We had a great time.

Venturing outside again, I was quite taken in by the view. Even though it was cold and windy, we spent some time exploring the grounds.

Next to the visitor’s center is a beautiful home and a yard filled with curiously-wrapped arbor vitae.

This is Lansing Manor! Sadly, the house was not open for visitors today. I was sorely disappointed. Curtains hung across the windows so I couldn’t even get a peep inside.

The view from the front porch is beautiful.

Lansing Manor is named for John Lansing, Jr., who represented New York State at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and also at the state’s Ratification Convention in 1788. He was a contemporary of Alexander Hamilton. Lansing built this house in 1819 for his daughter, Mrs. Jacob Livingston Sutherland. The house is in excellent shape. It has been owned by only four families from 1819 to 1972, when the last private owner donated the house and grounds to the Blenheim-Gilboa Visitor’s Center.

We roamed the grounds, reading the many informational plaques in the yard.

Look! John Lansing’s air conditioners! They are in excellent condition.

One of the most interesting plaques told the story of the Anti-Rent wars that roiled through Upstate New York in the mid 1800s. Before the American War for Independence, New York State was a royal colony, ruled much like England with “feudal lords.” With such a system, one very wealthy family owned and controlled large swaths of land. Small tracts of land were parceled out into farms, maintained by tenants. These tenants had very few rights and were practically enslaved to the land on which they worked. They were required to pay taxes on the land they worked. They had no rights to any of the land’s natural resources such as lumber or minerals.

Even after the War for Independence, New York State still held to this strange, European feudal system. By the early 1800s, the impoverished farmers had endured enough. They organized into protest groups, storming farms about to be confiscated and electing sympathetic politicians. The protests led to violence. Stephen Van Rensselaer, a very wealthy landowner in the Albany area, was murdered in 1839.

Photo courtesy of College of Oneonta, New York

The angry farmers dressed up like “Indians” when they went on their tirades. This kind of disguise was declared illegal in 1845.

In 1846, incumbent Governor Silas Wright lost his election to a newcomer, John Young, because Young had promised to pardon all farmers imprisoned for their Anti-Rent activities. The New York State Legislature eventually forbid landowners from taxing their farmers’ rental income and also forbid the confiscation of farmers’ possession to pay rent. This led to a tremendous increase in individual land ownership, as many farmers purchased the land their worked. Feudalism had been eradicated from New York… well, at least in name. The entire “rent” system is strikingly familiar in this day and age. Today, landowners “own” their land but it is ownership in name only, because if the landowner does not pay his exorbitant property taxes, the government can confiscate the land and all the equity with it. Very unjust, in my opinion.

You can read more about the Anti-Rent Wars at the College of Oneonta website. It’s very enlightening.

John Lansing never lived at this house and his death is shrouded in mystery. On December 12, 1829, he left his New York City hotel to mail a letter. He never returned. No one ever found his body nor knew what became of him, and his disappearance was described as similar to the fate of William Morgan, that same year. Morgan was probably kidnapped by Freemasons in Upstate New York, as he threatened to reveal the secrets of the cultic order. As for Lansing, it was later suspected that he was murdered by some political opponents who felt he was “in the way.”

According to Wikipedia:

There has been only one major clue to Lansing’s disappearance that has appeared since his death. After his death in 1882 the memoirs of Thurlow Weed, former Republican political leader in New York State, were published by Weed’s grandson T.W. Barnes. Weed wrote that Lansing had been murdered by several prominent political and social figures who found he was in the way of their projects.

Weed was told this by an unnamed individual, who showed him papers to prove it, but begged Weed not to publish these until all the individuals had died. Weed said they were all dead by 1870, but he found that their families were all highly respected, and upon advice of two friends he decided not to reveal the truth because it would hurt innocent people. And that was the last anyone ever heard of a possible resolution to the mystery. It is unknown if Weed actually received the truth.

Good heavens. Who knew what sordid stories we’d encounter, just visiting a hydroelectric plant in rural Upstate New York!

When we visited Catskill, NY, after seeing Frederic Church’s Olana Historic Site, we were delighted by rows and rows of colorful cat statues all along Main Street. As an avid cat lover, I “pawsed” to enjoy the colorful and themed art for each cat: police cat, Scrabble cat, cubism cat, rainbow cat, and dozens of other cats competing for parking meter space up and down the avenue.

Catskill is a transliteration of “Kaatskil,” meaning “Kaat’s Creek,” a name given by the Dutch who settled here in the 1600s. Partially due to the modern spelling of the name, Catskill has become associated with the lovely feline mammal, an honor bestowed most deservedly on one of God’s finest creations.

We saw the cats everywhere! Unfortunately, some of the images are blurry as we snapped photos as we drove down Main Street. I wondered what was the history behind these cats– who did them and why are they there? I did some digging and discovered that the cats are part of a fundraising event for various charities in Catskill, NY. Over the years, the cats have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars!

The cats are constructed of fiberglass. Local artists paint and design the cats into incredibly creative works of art. The cats go on display from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and are then auctioned off to the highest bidders. The money raised goes toward various organizations and the event has revitalized a once-ailing Upstate New York town. Artists get 30 percent of the auction proceeds, too. The designs are all very lovely, but we have our favorites.

You can see this year’s photo gallery at the Cat-n-Around Catskill 2011 website. There are 55 kitties on display!

I love a town that loves cats!

There was even one bear on display. I don’t know what was up with that.

Sunrise, by Frederic Church

Moonrise, by Frederic Church

Many of the Hudson River School paintings depict clear scenes or illusory hints of Biblical themes and events. I love the Voyage of Life series because of the stories each painting tells, that of a man eventually finding his faith in God and the joys of heaven after a tempestuous life of sorrow. It’s simply…. beautiful.

Frederic Edwin Church was a young student of the illustrious Cole, staying with Cole’s family in Catskill, NY, and studying painting. This area of New York State bursts with inspiration, as it has been the birthplace of such legendary notables as Rip Van Winkle, Uncle Sam, and numerous other tales of fact and fiction.

Church was born in 1826 in Connecticut. Early on, his artwork showed immense talent. In 1848, he became the youngest associate of the National Academy of Design, an honor he still retains. Church married Isabel Carnes in 1860, and the couple purchased a parcel of land with magnificent views overlooking the Hudson River, the Catskill Mountains and the Taconic Hills.

CLick the photo to go to my Flickr website for a larger view.

The couple built a simple little cottage that they named “Cozy Cottage.” The structure still stands, but it is not available to tourists.

Two children were born early on to the young couple: Herbert in 1862 and Emma in 1864. Church painted two beautiful works after the birth of the children: Sunrise for Herbert and Moonrise for Emma. (See the two small images at the beginning of this post). Tragically, both children died in 1864 from diphtheria, and the parents never completely recovered from the horrible loss. Even after four more children were born to the Church family in later years, Frederic hung his Sunrise and Moonrise paintings in the family room, next to the fireplace where he often brooded and mused.

The family traveled all over the world, returning home with crates crammed with furniture and knick-knacks. Construction of a new home, perched high atop the mountain, had begun in 1867. Church designed the home himself in an eccentric mish-mash of Persian, Moorish, and Victorian styles. The home is colorful and lively. I just adore the design.

Photography is strictly forbidden in the house, so I nabbed a few photos from the Olana Historic Site website to give you an idea of the interior of the house.

The home is furnished with all the Churches’ possessions from all over the world. Church’s paintings saturate the decor. The dining room was the only room not filled with Church’s works; rather, it held dozens of paintings from other men all around the world, pigmented vignettes of his travels. I identified several Dutch masters’ works and a few Italian and German paintings, too.

The name “Olana” first appeared on a letterhead written by Isabel Church. According to the Olana website:

Scholars have linked the name to a translated volume of Strabo’s Geographica, a Christmas gift from Isabel to Frederic. Strabo’s publication describes the geography of the Roman Empire and references the city “Olane,” as one of the “treasure-storehouses” on the Araxes River, which offered a view of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark was said to rest. It is likely that the Churches appreciated the associations this name had their own Persian-inspired stone “fortress” situated high above the Hudson River with majestic views west to America’s promised land.

The house is lovely, simply exquisite. Our tour guide, Ellen, was filled with interesting information about the home and the Churches. I was delighted that Mark Twain often visited the home, reading portions of his works for after-dinner entertainment. The family also gave small skits or plays on the large wooden landing before the stairs, a heavy colorful tapestry serving as the “curtains” of the stage.

Colorful stencils and Persian tiles peppered the walls. I noticed that many of the door frames were stenciled with curly writing, which appeared to be Farsi (my husband spent time in Iran as a boy and introduced me to some of the culture). I asked Ellen about the meaning of the stenciled words, to which she replied, “It’s all gibberish!” There were only two places in the house that had “real” Farsi: above the door as you enter “All are welcome”; carved on the pink marble fireplace in the family room “I muse while it burns.”

The Churches lived here until the couple died in 1900. Frederic willed the property to his youngest son, who married and lived at Olana for the rest of his life. His widow remianed here until 1964, at the age of 96.

After her death, Olana narrowly escaped the auction block. The widow willed the home to a nephew, who didn’t like the house and wanted to sell all its contents at auction. A group of motivated people scrounged financial support to purchase the home. New York State pitched in, and Olana was preserved intact and deemed a state historic site. Most of the home is restored, but the children’s nursery, servant’s quarters and kitchen are not and therefore unavailable for viewing. This was a great disappointment, because I like seeing the kitchens and nurseries best of all in historic homes.

I have so much more to tell about the home and our visit, but it would fill books. The best thing I can say is go see the house for yourself. You won’t regret it. The 250-acre property also features numerous trails for hiking. Picnic tables and benches provide repose for visitors.

You can see more photos of Olana at my Flickr photo page here.

It is just a huge, huge river. No wonder Henry Hudson thought he could find the Pacific from here.

The U.S.S. Slater is a museum ship, resting fully in the water. We were given the opportunity to watch a video before crossing the deck to the ship for our tour. We always appreciate a good documentary, so we gladly sat for it.

The U.S.S. Slater is a Destroyer-Escort ship. It is the only Destroyer-Escort ship still afloat on display. The ship is named for a young sailor, Frank Slater, who was killed during World War II during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

From the official Slater website:

During World War II 563 Destroyer Escorts battled Nazi U-Boats on the North Atlantic protecting convoys of men and material. In the Pacific they stood in line to defend naval task forces from Japanese submarines and Kamikaze air attacks.

Today, only one of these ships remains afloat in the United States, the USS Slater. Moored on the Hudson River in Albany, New York, the USS Slater has undergone an extensive ten-year restoration that has returned the ship to her former glory. The ship is open to the public from April through November with hour-long guided tours, youth group overnight camping, and has become a popular destination for naval reunion groups.

We paid the fees and boarded the Slater for the guided tour. As usual, my kids knew almost as much as the tour guide, so we had fun and enjoyed some lively conversations with the employees. By the way, if you are ever on a group tour and there is a gang of two adults and four kids who are constantly talking, peppering the tour guides with jokes and questions, and answering all trivia questions correctly, it’s probably us.

The tour was great, if a bit crowded. The ship’s interior rooms have low ceilings, and from time to time we had to clamber through hatches and down precarious mini-stairwells.

The exciting thing was seeing all the equipment– radios, dispatch machines, and the machine guns with scopes!

Our gracious tour guide let us take the ship out for a spin (kidding!).

But boy, my sons loved getting behind the helm, believe me- they talked about this for weeks.

In 1951, as part of the Truman Doctrine, the Slater was handed over to the Hellenic Navy for training of their troops, and was renamed the Aetos-01. Certain sections of the ship were remodeled by the Greeks at that time. Funky Grecian tiles still remain in the kitchen and elsewhere. The ship has been in a number of movies, including “The Guns of Navarone.”

Donations from Destroyer-Escort sailors bought the ship back to us from the Greeks. The Russians tugged the ship into New York harbor in 1993, where the ship underwent extensive renovations. It became a museum on the Hudson in 1997.

The Slater is the property of the Destroyer-Escort Historical Museum, not the U.S. Navy, so the Slater will never be called into active service again.

The tour was really great. The tour guide was amiable and talkative. Our tour lasted about an hour. The walk was rather rigorous– we had to hop over small impediments, duct under low pipes and ceilings, clamber up and down narrow stairs, and scrunch through hatches– all just like in the movies. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit! It is a terrific and wholesome visit for young boys, especially.

Almost immediately, Howe saw the means for financial prosperity. He cleaned up the entrance and began giving tours of the cavern to the the public. I found a very informative and compelling video about Howe Caverns done by National Geographic. In it, they say that Howe had the “audacity to charge the equivalent of half a day’s wages.” Not much has changed. It is still extremely expensive to see the Caverns. I have been there twice when I was young, but my kids have not been there (yet). I hope to take them this summer, perhaps!

Howe Caverns are approximately 200 feet below the surface. Underground rivers formed the caverns, creating strange rock formations and mysterious lakes and streams. When I visited years ago, we were able to ride in small boat across an underground lake. It was really amazing. The entire experience was amazing! We walked and walked for miles, deeper into the caverns, seeing beautiful and colorful geographic formations. One of the Cavern’s main pathways is called The Winding Way, and is considered to be the best example of underground erosion in the world. The walkways are mostly paved, with rails and bars for walking support.

Here’s the National Geographic video I found. It’s very good. 

The Caverns have not been without their problems. Years ago, I read a book about the history of Howe Caverns (I forgot the title, rats!). There were stories of tragic deaths of cave workers, of the discovery that the underground lake sometimes flooded, and of the first attempts to run electrical wiring and lights throughout the caves.

Howe Caverns has also seen a good deal of financial upheavals, from the very beginning. Lester Howe tried to create the Caverns into a P.T. Barnum-type amusement center, with hotels, restaurants, and making deals (and enemies) with other small businesses nearby.

The Caverns almost died as a public attraction, when poor business decisions, the loss of the hotel to fire, and an unwise partnership with a mining company closed the place for half a century. Blasting and mining of limestone destroyed about half of the original Howe’s Caverns.

And there was discussion this time last year of closing the Caverns to the public and mining the area of its precious minerals for the pharmaceutical industry. I think this fell through, because the Caverns is still open for business. The Caverns is open all year round except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Temperatures inside the caves are very cool, and it is recommended that you wear long pants, a light jacket, and comfortable walking shoes. Admission is right around $18 for adults (last I checked) and $10 to $15 for children. Tours are usually about 2 hours long.

Photos courtesy of R at Wikipedia and of the images provided by Howe Caverns media gallery.