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NEW!!
Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act will allow taxpayers up to $300 in charitable donations from their taxable income. This timely rule applies only to charitable contributions made during 2020. Taxpayers will be able to claim the deductions on their 2020 tax forms next year. Donate to our General Operations Now! 
Thank you! Your generous support helps us maintain and staff our research library, our exhibition galleries, preserve our historic properties & collections, and continue our quality public programming.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and your donations to the Columbia County Historical Society are fully tax-deductible.
Dutch Farming Heritage Trail
Open 7 Days Dawn to Dusk 
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Dear Friends, Members, and Followers of the Columbia County Historical Society:
We want you to know that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, all four CCHS historic properties will remain closed until further notice. All lectures have been postponed and any planned visits to the museum or other properties are suspended. Our Annual Gala, First Columbians, has been rescheduled for Saturday 17 October. You can become an Underwriter or purchase Early-Bird Tickets here-> Do take a virtual tour of our collections and properties on our website, where you can explore highlights of our collections, our exhibitions, and review snapshots of past events! Follow us on social media to stay updated on our Facebook page. And talk a walk with social distance along our Dutch Farming Heritage Trail behind the Van Alen House on 9H. The trail remains open dawn to dusk every day. In most years, County fourth-graders attend a ‘Day of History’ to learn hands-on about upstate New York’s rich heritage; members and visitors enjoy tours and events at our four historic properties; newcomers to the County discover the history of their houses. Authors, researchers, and hobbyists discover the rich legacy of Columbia County. Our research library is open year-round, as are our museum galleries, the Vanderpoel House. Your support has helped establish us as a cultural anchor in the county. Thank you! The Columbia County Historical Society engages our community in so many ways: educational programs for adults, school-trips for children, public tours and events at our four historic properties, historical and genealogical research in our library, exhibitions in the museum and in all our properties, and with our magazine Columbia County History & Heritage. More than two-thirds--seventy-percent—of our income is created by individual gifts from donors and members like you. While our mission is great, importantly, so is our challenge. Individual generosity of our members and friends is vitally important, especially so in this time of fewer and more competitive public and private grants. As a non-governmental non-profit, CCHS receives no operations funding from the state, nor any federal funds. Your passion and support has helped establish us as a cultural anchor in the County. Your gift to the Columbia County Historical Society validates the work we are doing. Thank you! For more than one hundred years, thousands of people from all across Columbia County and beyond have enjoyed our exhibitions and education programs and studied in our research library. New homeowners in the county trace the history of their property in our library, children learn about the special cultural history of upstate New York. Our cultural and historical programs and collaborative lectures on historic preservation; author Washington Irving; Dutch cooking and gardens; the Colony of New Netherland, and archaeology at the Van Alen house are notable and popular. We look forward to rescheduling these and seeing you once we all re-emerge. Our c.1850 'Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse' is recognized by the New York Folklore Society as a place of Legend, with an historical 'legends' marker by the Folklore Society, and corresponding grant from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. This year, The Preservation League of New York also recognized the Schoolhouse with an important Preserve New York Grant to fund an Historic Structure Report for the Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse. Our 1737 'Luykas Van Alen House' was described in 1964 by then-Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, “one of the most authentic examples of early Dutch architecture remaining in the United States.” Over the last half-century, we have restored and shared this very special National Historic Landmark with thousands of visitors and students who now better understand life on an 18th century upstate New York farm. With a generous grant from the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, we have augmented this special house with an exhibition of Van Alen Homestead archaeology. Yet more plans will be implemented with your help! Please give as generously as you can and spread the word about the Columbia County Historical Society. The CCHS is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and your 100% tax deductible gift makes an essential contribution to our annual operating expense, sustaining our continued success. And if you work for a company with a Matching Gift Program, your gift can be multiplied. On behalf of the Board of Trustees and staff of the Historical Society, we wish to thank you once again for your contribution to our ongoing efforts, and we look forward to seeing you again soon! Sincerely,
Lori Yarotsky, Executive Director |
