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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: New Photo Book History of Cornwall
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| The Clark twins were the daughters of the local village druggist Henry Clark. |
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| This man provided enduring portraits of Cornwall life. |
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| Ice harvesting from the Hudson was big business at the turn of century. |
January 11, 2009
If you are interested in Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson history, you will want to pick up the new book, Cornwall-on-Hudson, the latest edition of the Images of America series published by Arcadia Publishing.
The author of this impressive photo book is Colette Fulton, Cornwall-on-Hudson’s official historian who has worked tirelessly to identify the people and places in many of the 3,000 photos that were taken by a Bulgarian immigrant, Louis Chivacheff, after he settled in village 120 years ago. He arrived here in 1890 and, Fulton writes, he soon opened Storm King Studio, where he took many of the photos in the book.
The photos, on glass negatives, were left in the home he lived in on Hudson Street in Cornwall-on-Hudson (now the Hudson Center). Historian Fulton recalls that Bettyjane Costabel bought the negatives and carefully reviewed them. She found amazing photos of athletes from Cornwall and the New York Military Academy, pastoral scenes and hundreds of individual portraits.
Fulton wanted to preserve the history and give local residents access to the photos when she embarked two years ago on a project to identify people in the photos, writing brief descriptions and, more importantly, scanning each glass negative into the computer, using gloves to handle the 100-year-old plates. She says that the book is her gift to the community during the 2009 Hudson-Fulton celebration and she is delighted that the book is coming out right now. “It was grueling,” Fulton said of the production process, “but I love the history and the gathering of information for people to learn about our community.”
She wrote brief descriptions of each photo, identifying many by name . Fulton said that one of the most appealing aspects of Chivacheff’s work is that he took photos of many people who had no money along with more well-heeled patrons.
In the book you will find portraits of workers in the hotels, railway men, and printers as well as members of prominent families. Old businesses, like the woodworking novelty factory on Duncan Avenue, are pictured, as well as folks posing in their horse-and-buggies.
Fulton said each photo has its own history and she wasn’t always able to include all the interesting facts about the scene or people in it. She described one photo of Dr. Wright and the staff at his sanitarium on Hudson Street. In the photo, the handsome young doctor smiles and Fulton said that Dr. Wright later may have staged a fake suicide in order to run away with a woman, leaving his wife and children behind.
Colette Fulton will be signing copies of her new book at several upcoming events.
On Monday, January 26, at the Cornwall Historical Society meeting at the public library. (See listing)
On Sunday, February 1st at 2:00 p.m. in the Village Museum room at Village Hall.
On Tuesday, February 10 at the Cornwall Presbyterian Church, part of the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum’s Evening Speakers Series.
On February 23, at the Cornwall Historical Society meeting at Munger Cottage at 7 p.m.
The book may also be ordered from Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com
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