We are pleased to announce the return of our popular historic cemetery tours, beginning with the Old Dutch Church Cemetery Sunday, June 15th at 1 PM with Nancy Chando! $10 per adult, rain or shine. Reservations suggested. Email info@fohk.org to secure your spot! And mark your calendars for this season’s other cemetery tours: 🍃 Sunday, August 16th at 11 AM - Montrepose Cemetery with Keith Garmire and 🍂 Sunday, September 14th at 11 AM - Wiltwyck Cemetery with Paul O’Neill Poster image by wonderfully talented local designer Benedict Kupstas! (fb)

Ahead of this Saturday’s Rondout walking tour, we were reminded of a recent research inquiry involving Herman Melville and one of our great downtown landmarks. The researcher came across a newspaper article claiming that in 1847, an exhibition of daguerreotypes at the “Mansion House” included a portrait of Melville. However, the present-day Mansion House (11 Broadway) was not constructed until 1854. Were there two hotels called Mansion House? We turned to Bob Steuding’s (highly-recommended!) book Rondout: A Hudson River Port, to clarify the details: “Originally built in 1832 by James McEntee soon after the completion of the D & H Canal, the Mansion House was the first hotel in Rondout. It had been constructed from a large, old house originally owned by Major Swart… In 1853, George Von Beck purchased the McEntee property, which he, in his turn, planned to refurbish. Von Beck changed his mind, however, and decided instead to tear the old hotel down. This he did the following year, and with the assistance of a most energetic mechanic, the builder E. T. Van Nostrandt, constructed the four-story, eighty-foot-long building which exists today, somewhat in front of the site of the old hotel, at the corner of Broadway and West Strand… Wisely, Von Beck retained the familiar name, and it has lasted to this day.” To hear more about the Mansion House and Rondout history, join FHK guide Betsy Geary this Saturday, May 31st for a walking tour at 11 AM. Rain or shine, $10 per adult. Reservations not required. Meet at the gazebo in T.R. Gallo Park (24 W Strand St). Email info@fohk.org with any questions. Images: Mansion House, Broadway at West Strand, 1976. Photograph by Dr. William B. Rhoads. Friends of Historic Kingston Archives. Detail of “Strand and Broadway Mansion House” stereograph, c. 1880. Herman Boyle Collection, Friends of Historic Kingston Archives. 11 Broadway - Kingston, NY. May 2025. (fb)