Members of the Model T Ford Club of America, Capital District Chapter, motoring through the region April 28 stopped at naturalist John Burroughs’ Woodchuck Lodge in Roxbury to learn about the man who was presented a Model T by the car’s producer, Henry Ford himself.
Woodchuck Lodge, which is maintained by a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving this treasured site, is open for free, guided tours the first weekend of every month, May through October, Saturdays and Sundays from 11 to 3. Special events and activities are announced on Facebook -- become a friend of johnburroughsofwoodchucklodge!
If baseball is as American as apple pie, then what is vintage baseball? Must be lard in that crust - the old fashioned way with a heritage apple like Northern Spy. If you love baseball then Memorial Day weekend in Fleischmanns is the place you need to be. The local Fleischmanns vintage team - the Mountain Athletic Club - is going for a world record, playing vintage baseball for 49 hours straight. The kick off will be Friday May 27th starting at 5pm in the Village Park. Some country cousins from the Roxbury Nine, Bovina Dairymen will help keep the momentum going and to give the Mountain Athletic players a rest.
The nine-hole course offers a challenging terrain with spectacular mountain views. The full service clubhouse and pro shop are located in the estate’s former guesthouse, a remarkable stone structure commissioned by the Gould family in 1911.
No expense was spared when the Gould Church was built by the children of railroad magnate Jay Gould, a Roxbury native son, in 1893-84.Ground for the church was broken in June of 1893. Jay Gould’s eldest son, George Jay, laid the corner stone on September 2, 1893 with a silver trowel made specifically for that purpose. The church was dedicated on October 13, 1894.
Just 10 minutes away from the Town of Roxbury, in the beautiful Denver/Vega Valley, stands a 150-year-old church building. It served its congregation well over the years, but when the membership dissolved in the early 1980s, it became an empty shell destined to fade away like so many other abandoned buildings that have lost their purpose.
Naturalist John Burroughs paid lifelong homage to his Delaware County roots. Scattered throughout his essays are scores of recounted memories from the first 17 years of his life, years that he spent near Roxbury, New York. “My blood,” he said, “has the flavor of the soil in it; it is rural to the last drop.” Biographer Edward Renehan, Jr . writes that Burroughs “had a deep psychic connection not only to the geography of his home region, but also to his kin who lingered there above and below ground.”
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