WCHS Local History Book Club

Washington County Historical Society’s Local History Book Club will meet from 12 PM until 1 PM on Friday, July 14, at the society’s headquarters, 167 Broadway, Fort Edward.  Washington County Historical Society membership is not required for participation.

The discussion will focus on Townsend Harris’s role in American trade with Japan.  Harris (1804-1878) was born and educated in Sandy Hill (now Hudson Falls) where his father was a hatter.  He became the First United States Consul General to Japan and was founder of the College of the City of New York, the first tuition-free college for poor children in the United States.  A historical marker is near the corner of Locust Street and Main Street, just north of the village green in Hudson Falls.

The group meets on the second Friday of the month at noon, usually at the Historical Society in Fort Edward.  The August meeting will focus on one-room schoolhouse education, and will be held in the one-room schoolhouse at Hebron and a near-by church.  Attendees are urged to read the schoolhouse chapter in Hebron A Century in Review. 

Future sessions of the club will include books about the larger Adirondack area as well as works by local authors.  Proposed topics include the temperance movement in our area, Andrew Carnegie’s role in the creation of Mountainside Library, and apple-growing in Washington County.  For additional information, email Connie Harris Farrington at connieandlee@roadrunner.com.