Crossroads of Rockland History

Broadcast originally aired February 17, 2020 at 9:30 am, on WRCR 1700AM and www. WRCR.com In celebration of Black History Month, the show focused on "Just Call Me Lucky", the new book about Hezekiah Easter . Based on extensive personal interviews and written in the "as told to" style by Elizabeth Vallone , the book highlights Easter's many contributions to our community, i...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, January 20, 9:30 am, on WRCR 1700AM Show focused on "SuffrageForward–100 Years and Onward," a yearlong effort to celebrate the centennial of Women’s Suffrage. Paulette Ross and Harriet Cornell , members of the group's steering committee, explained the mission of the non-profit as well as discussing some of the exciting events planned for 2020 to co...

Episode aired Monday, December 16, 2019, 9:30 am, on WRCR 1700 AM Art Gunther, a lifelong Rocklander, spoke about what it was like growing up in Spring Valley: how it has changed and his fond memories of the old days of Rockland. Grade School, High School, shopping downtown, and Spring Valley's history as a resort commuity. Gunther also spoke about his 42-year career as a journalist for the J...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, November 19, 2019, 9:30 am On this episode of our monthly radio show, we explored how the Volstead Act changed Rockland County. Rockland County Historian Craig Long joined host Clare Sheridan in the WRCR studios for a discussion about the impact of the Volstead Act, formally the National Prohibition Act, had on Rockland County. This U.S. law, enacted in 1919 (and...

Broadcast originally aired on October 21, 2019. Clare Sheridan welcomed Arlene Clinkscale, who made New York State education history when she became the first African American woman in the state to lead a school district: Nyack. Dr. Clinkscale has distinguished herself in the field of education since 1950. She came to Rockland County in 1960 after ten years of teaching elementary school in Virgini...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, September 16, 2019 at 9:30am, on WRCR 1700AM Clare Sheridan interviewed George Hoehmann, Supervisor of the Town of Clarkstown to speak about the current state of historic preservation in Clarkstown. They discussed municipally owned open space, parkland and historic sites. Further discussion included updates on the two major historic preservation projects in Clark...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, August 19, 9:30 am, on WRCR 1700 AM Our topic was summer history reading -- fiction and nonfiction. Joining Clare Sheridan are Brian Jennings and Joe Barbieri from the New City Library. We shared all the new great titles and opened up the phone lines for listeners' suggestions. *** Recommendations from the “Summer Reading 2019” episode of “Crossroads of Rock...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, July 15, 2019 9:30am, on WRCR AM1700 Did you know that 2019 marks the 240th anniversary of the storming of Stony Point? Michael Sheehan, historian at the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, joined Clare Sheridan to discuss the history (and some misconceptions) surrounding this important victory for the Continental Army and recap the weekend’s 240th An...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, June 17, 2019 at 9:30 am, on WRCR 1700AM and www. WRCR.com Did you know that Rockland County is rich in historical places located within the area’s woodlands and parklands? Gordon Wren joined Clare Sheridan to discuss some of the interesting local history that can be explored through historical hikes. Hikes such as Claudius Smith's Den Northwest Airlines Cra...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, May 20, 2019 9:30 am, WRCR.com and WRCR 1700AM The show focused on the exhibition at the Historical Society of Rockland County (HSRC) entitled “ Influencers: Art and History on South Mountain Road .” Susan Deeks, the HSRC’s executive director, discussed this important artist colony where modernism flourished. South Mountain Road in New City was the home of art...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, April 15, 2019 at 9:30 am, on WRCR.com We discussed the new exhibition at the Orangetown Historical Museum and Archives entitled Shanks Legacy. The U.S. Army's largest port of embarkation on the East Coast in World War II, Camp Shanks saw some 1.3 million troops pass through on their way to England and North Africa. Elizabeth Skrabonja (curator) and Mary Car...

Broadcast orginally aired Monday, March 18, 2019, on WRCR.com We learned all about the newly renovated Haverstraw Brick Museum. Jared Rodriguez shared news about efforts to expand the organization to become a catalyst for preservation while continuing to share the rich history of the river town of Haverstraw. Rodriguez’s passion for Hudson Valley history stems from his family’s lineage in Haverstr...

Episode originally aired on Monday, February 18, 2019, 9:30am, on WRCR.com We celebrated our 100th Episode of Crossroads of Rockland History discussing the most popular programs that we've aired since we went on the air in October 2010. Excerpts from past programs include: The Brinks Robbery with Bob Baird, Haunted History with Linda Zimmermann, Two Schools in Hillburn Documentary with Joe Al...

Broadcast originally ared Monday, January 21, 2019, 9:30 am, on WRCR.com. Author Frank Eberling dicussed his new novel: "Low Tor." This follow-up to Eberling’s earlier novel "Demarest Kill" is another exciting murder mystery set among the richly historical places of Rockland County. "Low Tor" will be available wherever fine books are sold in mid-February, 2019. About...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, December 17, 2018, 9:30 am, on WRCR.com South Nyack Village Trustee and Trail Sign Committee member Andrew Goodwillie shared fascinating facts and anecdotes about the impact of the railroad and Thruway on Nyack and South Nyack. Goodwillie and a team of volunteers from Nyack, South Nyack and Piermont have been researching this history to create wayside historic...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, November 19, 2018, at 9:30 am on WRCR.com We turned our attention to the award-winning documentary Piermont's Papermill: Stories from the Factory. Betsy Franco Feeney (Trustee) from the Piermont Historical Society (PHS) joined Clare Sheridan to discuss life in Piermont before the Condominiums. The film was produced for the Piermont Historical Society by A...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, October 15, 2018, 9:30 am, on WRCR.com Lisa Levart joined Clare Sheridan spoke about her current exhibition at the HSRC. This exhibition, representing the culmination of eighteen months of creative collaboration between Levart and women of the Ramapough Lenape Nation (Rockland and Bergen counties), uses collaged portrait photography as a basis for contemporary...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, September 17 at 9:30am on www. WRCR.com The program focused on the forgotten painter, inventor, couturier, textile designer and ceramist Edith Varian Cockcroft (1881-1962). Eve M. Kahn (Art Historian and New York Times contributor) appeared on the broadcast to tell us about what she has uncovered, including interviews with Cockcroft and reminiscences from people...

Program originally aired on Monday, August 20, 2018. The Friends of Harmony Hall is the nonprofit group working closely with the Town of Ramapo to support the restoration and preservation of Harmony Hall (a.k.a. the Jacob Sloat House) in Sloatsburg. Peter Bush appeared on the program with news about the restoration progress of this grand house, and spoke about all of the upcoming events that the F...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, July 16, 2018, 9:30 am, on WRCR.com Program focused on the Suffern Village Museum and the Suffern Railroad Museum with a very special guest: Craig Long. Before being appointed Ramapo Town Historian and Rockland County Historian, Craig Long began his history career in the 1980s as a charter member of the Suffern Village Museum. This museum and the Suffern Railroad...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, June 18, 9:30 am, on WRCR.com Virginia Norfleet, the founder of the Haverstraw African American Memorial Park and the Annual Rockland Juneteenth Celebration, was interviewed. She spoke about the research she has done to uncover the rich culture and contributions of African Americans of Haverstraw, New York. Norfleet's organization, the Haverstraw African Ame...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, May 21, 2018, 9:30 am, on WRCR.com Michael Bruno was on hand to discuss his ongoing rehabilitation of the Sloatsburg-Tuxedo section of Route 17. Bruno is responsible for the Valley Rock Inn vacation complex, which incorporates historic preservation in an innovative and transformative economic development project. Bruno, a native of Larchmont who now lives in T...

Broadcast originally aired on Monday, April 16, 2018 at 9:30 am, on www. WRCR.com Diana Hess appeared with Clare Sheridan to discuss the new HSRC exhibition: "Jawonio: Moving Forward, Looking Back--Changing Lives of People with Special Needs for 70 Years." Founded in Rockland County in 1947 as the Rockland County Center for the Physically Handicapped & United Cerebral Palsy, Jawonio...

Broadcast originally aired Monday, March 19, 2018 at 9:30am, on www. WRCR.com Clare Sheridan interviewed Daniel Czitrom, author of "New York Exposed: The Gilded Age Police Scandal That Launched the Progressive Era." The book reveals the architects of what became known as the Lexow Committee, the state task force that -- after a couple of rough starts -- blew the lid off New York's m...

Broadcast originally aired February 19, 2018 at 9:30 am, on www. WRCR.com The Nyack Record Shop Project is an exciting and important oral history project directed by Bill Batson. At Kiam Records, a tiny shop on Main Street in downtown Nyack, oral histories were gathered during one-on-one interviews in this ambitious effort to give a voice to a group whose history is often overlooked: the African A...