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| June 08, 2026 |
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Temple Hill Days
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| Antique Car Rally |
t was 1933 and a place that had as much history as New Windsor was bursting with pride - wanting to tell its story as a Revolutionary War post and a vital Hudson Valley community. With that in mind, Rev. A. Ellwood Corning and others formed the National Temple Hill Association, dedicated to preserving the historic sites and stories of New Windsor. You can get a taste of those exciting early days when New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site celebrates its beginning as a historic site with a rally of antique cars, a concert, special displays by the National Temple Hill Association, and much more on Memorial Day weekend, May 24 through 26th.
On Saturday, May 24, members of the Hudson Valley Model A Club roll onto the scene from 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM, and again on Sunday, May 25 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, bringing a beautiful display of carefully restored circa 1933 cars. The club celebrates their 50th anniversary this year.
Also during this weekend event, the National Temple Hill Association will display their 75th anniversary exhibits. The organization has actively preserved New Windsor's revolutionary heritage since 1933 at the site of the cease-fire announcement that ended the Revolutionary War. They then spread out to encompass more of the widespread military camp that once housed over 8,000 soldiers and their dependents. Today the organization is headquartered at the historic Edmonston House and runs its educational programs at the Last Encampment of the Continental Army. The group is also seeking memories of New Windsor from local residents and newcomers to the area, and all those who remember visiting the historic sites over the years.
Throughout the weekend and on Monday, May 26 from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM, costumed New Windsor Cantonment staff will continue the tradition of living history programs that began here over 45 years ago by demonstrating musket and cannon fire, blacksmithing, and other activities. Memorial Day's special highlight will be a concert by Linda Russell, Historic Balladeer. Beginning at 2:00 PM, she will sing songs using authentic style instruments that accompanied service men and women from the Colonial era to modern times. The popular concert is always well attended and early arrival is suggested. Immediately before the concert there will be a cannon-firing demonstration, and following the program there will be an 18th century style graveside service at the site's memorial cemetery.
Just what was Temple Hill? Today, many know that Route 300 in New Windsor is Temple Hill Road, and if you have lived in the area a long time, you may have had your share of "Temple Hill" brand hot dogs. But the origin of the name was the "Temple of Virtue" a long, hewn-timber meeting-house built by George Washington's army in 1783 on a wind swept hill overlooking the army post known as New Windsor Cantonment. Chaplain Israel Evans wanted a pulpit from which to preach; General Horatio Gates needed a courthouse to mete out military justice; the commissary and supply department needed office space; and the officers wanted a social hall for "dancing assemblies." They combined all those uses and more in one building that was carefully designed with an elegant arched plaster ceiling and four anterooms off a main hall.
By 1932, when the first Temple Hill Day was celebrated, the nearly 600 buildings that once stood here, including the Temple, were long gone; casualties of a nearly bankrupt American government that in 1783 had to auction everything left at the site.
For more information on "Temple Hill Days" please call (845) 561-1765.
New Windsor Cantonment and the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor are located on Route 300 (Temple Hill Road) in the Town of New Windsor, four miles east of Stewart Airport. It is three miles from the intersection of I-87 (Exit 17) and I-84 (Exit 7-S) in Newburgh, New York.
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