Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Eerie Walking Tour and Ghost Hunts at the Waterford Rural Cemetery and along the Old Champlain Canal

This event has been cancelled due to the snow headed our way tomorrow.




The Waterford Museum, along with the Waterford-Halfmoon School Band, will be sponsoring three different experiences– history walking tour of the cemetery in the dark and two real Ghost Hunts, one at the Waterford Rural Cemetery and one along the Old Champlain Canal Towpath.
Saturday, October 29th
Eerie Walking Tours of the Cemetery– Three eerie walking tours will be held in the cemetery 7pm, 7:30pm and 8pm. $5 per person. Learn about some of Waterford’s past residents and look out for ghosts and goblins! Meet tour in front of cemetery office. Parking is available in back.

Ghost Hunts
Old Champlain Canal Towpath 7pm.
Waterford Rural Cemetery at 9pm.
Meet in front of the cemetery office, off of Saratoga Ave. for both “hunts.”
*Reservations required - payment in advance $20. Call or e-mail the Museum to reserve your spot. Registration for each hunt is limited to 20 people. The cost is $20.00 per hunt and includes copies of all of the evidence that is collected. This will include audio and video and any still photos. Participants are encouraged to bring their own digital recorders and video cameras as long as they have night vision capabilities. Some of the newest available equipment to read fluctuating electro-magnetic fields, as well as recording equipment, will be used during the hunt. Each hunt will take 1 to 2 hours.
Each hunt will be limited to 20 people. Participants must be 18 years old or older. Ghost Hunt fee also includes the walking tour. Call or e-mail the Museum to reserve your spot. Send check or money order to:
Waterford Museum, 2 Museum Lane
Waterford, NY 12188

Monday, October 17, 2011

Science and Technology Lecture Series

The Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center proudly
announces our second annual Science and Technology Lecture Series, with your host and moderator Dr. JB Goss. Enjoy splendid food, fascinating facts, great conversation and engaging company though the Fall and Winter at 7pm on the second Thursday of every month at Costanzo's, one of this areas fine restaurants.

Come in out of the cold and join us for the following talks/discussions:
November 10th: NASA's Search for Life in the Galaxy. (What are the prospects of finding life elsewhere in the galaxy?  How are such measurements
possible?  When will we have the capability to do so?) Speaker:  John W. Delano, Ph.D.; Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Atmospheric & Environmental
Science, UAlbany;  Associate Director of a NASA Astrobiology Institute at RPI and scientist for NASA.

December 8th: Cross-Country Skiing for Beginner/Intermediate Skier. A lecture on Cross-Country Skiing for the Beginner/Intermediate Skier. Whether in the mountains or in your local park, cross-country skiing is fun and easy to learn. Hear about equipment, clothes and best places to ski with expert Rich Macha, owner of Adirondack Paddle'n'Pole, one of the area's leading outfitters for both xc skiing and paddling. Talk begins at 7pm followed by question and answer session.

January 12th: Why We Sleep, Dream and other Mysteries of the Brain - Part II. What do your dreams mean? Why do we sleep? Do we really only use a small amount of our brains? Can people hear colors and see sounds?  What do rabbits know that humans do not? Speaker: JB Goss, Ph.D.; clinician, scientist and writer presents more fascinating facts about our mysterious human brains.

February 9th- Forged for Clandestine Warfare: the little known history of a Confederate secret weapon. Come and hear a fascinating recounting of this
virtually here-to-fore unknown aspect of the Civil War and see one of only three known surviving examples of the actual device. Mr. Thatcher's newly published book on this subject, , will be available for purchase. Joseph M. Thatcher, Fellow and Past President of the Company of Military Historians, and recently retired Supervising Curator for the New York State Bureau of Historic Sites. Author of: “Confederate Coal Torpedo:Thomas Courtenay's Infernal Sabotage Weapon”

March 8th: Grand Unveiling of the New “Making Waterford Our Home: Online” website, with Brad Utter, Director of the WHMCC and Aine Leader-Nagy, Lead Researcher and Oral Historian for the Making Waterford Our Home series. Brad and Aine will take the audience through the new online exhibit adding special insight to the process and the results.

April 12th-Local Waterfalls: Workhorses of the Industrial Revolution. It was both waterfalls & the absence of waterfalls that made N.Y. the Empire State. Learn how, why, and the location of these magnificent waterfalls with Russell Dunn & Barbara Delaney who are both N.Y.S. licensed guides and authors of regional guidebooks on waterfalls, hiking and paddling.

Please check our website, website blog and/or Facebook for the latest news.

At Costanzo's Riverside Restaurant, 405 Hudson River Road, Waterford, NY 12188 Waterford, NY 12188
Dinner Special- $9.99
Includes Salad Bar
Choose from; Chicken Parmesan with Pasta, Eggplant Parmesan with Pasta, Spaghetti w/ Meatballs or Sausage, Broiled Haddock or Costanzo Eight Ounce NY Strip Steak. Special can not be combined with coupons or  other offers.

Program Runs 7-8pm, Registration Starts at 6:30pm. Food & Drink available for PURCHASE all evening. Suggested donation is $6 per person ($5 members)

Space is limited and pre-registration is recommended by calling. 518-238-0809 or by
e-mail info@waterfordmuseum.com

Friday, October 7, 2011

Annual O’Connor Lecture: Irish Bridgets

The Waterford Museum proudly announces that the Annual O’Connor Lecture about “Irish Bridgets” on October 26, 2011, at 7pm. Our featured speaker will be Dr. Margaret (“Peggy”) Lynch-Brennan who will discuss her book, The Irish Bridget: Irish Immigrant Women in Domestic Service in America, 1840-1930. The lecture topic is inspired by the Museum’s current exhibit “Making Waterford Our Home: Irish.”

“Bridget” was the Irish immigrant servant girl (i.e., cook, waitress, chambermaid, etc.) who lived and worked in American homes from the second half of the nineteenth century into the early years of the twentieth. She was a widely known cultural cliché in popular American literature of the period--the young Irish girl who wreaked havoc in middle-class American homes. In her presentation on her book, which is the first book-length treatment of the topic, Dr. Lynch-Brennan will give voice to these young Irish women, many of whom worked in the Capital Region and whose descendants still live in the Capital Region, to celebrate their untold contribution to the ethnic history of the United States.

The event will take place at the Museum and admission to the lecture is complimentary and light refreshments will be served.