Creative History

  An American observer named Edmund Flagg who was working as an envoy on behalf of the United States government to the nascent revolutionary Republic of San Marco described what he saw floating in the skies above Venice on the morning of July 15, 1849 as, “Dozens of small cloudlets.”  He said that, “Every five minutes, or so it seemed, scores of them would come majestically floating over the city.” That day, although the city of Venice, the City of Canals, had been under siege by the Austro-Hungarian Army and Navy for nearly five months, thousands of Venetians were out and about in the city’s squares to celebrate a day of Thanksgiving dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who thus far had brought their tiny rebellious Republic through a year and a half long War for Independence against the mighty and powerful Habsburg Empire of central Europe. A later generation of historians would call what happened in Venice and other Italian cities during 1848-49 in the midst of Europe’s Year of Revol

  Located only a stone’s throw north of the New Jersey border in Rockland County, New York, forty miles from Manhattan along the banks of the Hudson River nestled among the Ramapo Mountains, the town of Haverstraw is today a bustling yet still quaint village that is home to about 35,000 souls. Originally settled by the Dutch in the 1660’s Haverstraw derives its name from the Dutch word ‘haverstroo’ meaning oats and straw.  Henry Hudson sailed past the present day site of Haverstraw during his historic exploratory voyage up the river which today bears his name back in 1609.  And during the American Revolution the place that the Dutch called ‘Haverstroo’ was integral to the Patriot cause as it was used by lookouts from George Washington’s Continental Army to monitor British naval activities along the Hudson River. Downtown Haverstraw Today However, it was during the 19th century when Haverstraw first gained notoriety and was brought to the nation’s attention as the brick making capit