06/19/2026
First, a note about this weekend - we will NOT be open on Sunday June 21st. We will reopen again next Sunday June 28th from 12:00PM - 4:00PM. We are going to leave the stations the kids went through out for a couple of weeks, at least the next two.
This is the 1867 map we used https://nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/pchc/id/561/
Second - what the kids talked about and wanted to know. If your kids came home and told you about the naked person on the poster about Lake Oscawana and the old hotels, yes. There was a tiny picture from the 1930s of a bare behind of a toddler running towards the end of a dock. After it was pointed out, a sticker was placed over it. But these kids are smart and used their deductive reasoning skills to figure out what the sticker was covering. It was explained to them that back then up here in the "country", if families couldn't afford a bathing suit for their little kids, they likely went without. They also used their detective skills to figure out where a 1935 picture of a car and wooden sign were taken, their math skills to figure out how old the oldest textbook we set out for them was, and what a wall mounted pencil sharpener was and how it is used. The chalk and slates were overall a huge hit, and some of the kids asked about playing Cat's Cradle with a loop of string - you can Google it, or if you come to the museum we can photocopy the page they saw about it. Any yarn or cotton twine will work.
We were asked what the oldest house in Putnam Valley is - it is rumored to be the Abraham Smith homestead in the first picture below. The first part of the house was supposedly built around 1720.
We were asked if we had any newspapers older than 1979, and yes, we have a few random issues of the Peekskill Evening Star from the 1930s and some pages from newspapers from the 1800s. If your family has been in Putnam Valley since at least the 1970s, we have several years worth of the North County News and a fair amount of the Community Current for you to leaf through on a lazy Sunday afternoon. We also have air conditioning, so it's not a bad way to spend some of those horribly hot days.
The oldest book we have at the museum is from the 1820s or 1830s. It's either The Pilgrim's Progress of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, without double checking the print dates it's one or the other. The oldest things we have at the museum are part of a projectile point that was donated last year, found near Lake Oscawana and the (Abraham) Post Family papers, which date back to the early 1700s.
We were asked about all the different one room schoolhouses; unfortunately we don't have pictures of ALL of them that used to be in Putnam Valley. The ones we do have - of when they were actively schools - are below. We were also asked what it looked like when the elementary school was built, and those pictures are also below.
Now then - what else are we doing this year? The general theme for us this year is "The Spirit of '76 in '26". As everyone is aware, the country is celebrating Rev250 and there are things happening all over almost every weekend. We will be hosting a life during the Revolutionary War experience on October 3 from 12:00PM - 4:00PM right here at Adams Corners, rain or shine. We'll have tents outside in the back with demonstrations and learning stations, music and presentations inside the schoolhouse, and across the street at the Grange we'll have food and drinks, tavern style.
We are also going to be celebrating the museum's 50th anniversary, unveiling a new historic marker near Adams Corners, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Babe Ruth playing baseball in Putnam Valley throughout the month of August (see the picture below), and trying something new with our holiday boutique. We'll see you at the Putnam County 4-H Fair, Town Day, and here and there. More information will follow as we get closer to each event.
