Cortlandt’s Identity with Civil War, Topic of 150th Anniversary Program

“A Journey Through Cortlandt’s Civil War” will be the topic of a talk by Laura Lee Keating, Cortlandt Town Historian, on Saturday, April 16th, at 2 p.m., at The Little Red Schoolhouse, 297 Locust Avenue, Cortlandt Manor, New York. Sponsored by The Van Cortlandtville Historical Society and open free to the public, the event will recognize the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War.

This year of 2011 begins a journey that Mrs. Keating, an experienced historian, has eagerly anticipated because of her study and interpretation of Antebellum and Civil War-era life and education. She points out that the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, to be commemorated from 2011 through 2015, has its own identity in Cortlandt. Noting that while Cortlandt “was not battlefield-heavy, it is baptized with the names and faces of Cortlandt citizens who answered the call to fight far away and with those loved ones they left behind to carry on the day-to-day living in the town.”

Citing tragic facts and figures of this heart-wrenching conflict that began in April of 1861, Mrs. Keating will talk about how today’s town residents can begin their journey this year through Cortlandt’s Civil War and share a project which she hopes will bring them all closer to those who kept Cortlandt alive for us.

In addition to her duties as Municipal Historian for the Town of Cortlandt, Mrs. Keating is Site Director of The Bear Mountain Toll House Visitor Information Center, a Site Interpreter for Historic Hudson Valley at Philipsburg Manor Upper Mills and Union Church of Pocantico Hills, and has developed programs for the Summerweek History Camp at Sunnyside, historic home of Washington Irving. Retired from AT&T after more than 30 years, she and her husband,
Craig, are long-time residents of Cortlandt Manor.

The Little Red Schoolhouse is at the north end of Locust Avenue next to Old St. Peter’s Church and cemetery, just south of Oregon Road in Cortlandt. The Society’s telephone on the day of the program is: 914-736-7868. Or, visit its website at: www.vancort.net.