Talk on Images of 'Olde' Cortandt Today

Images of Olde in Cortlandt will be the topic of a talk by two local authors at 2 p.m. at The Little Red Schoolhouse, 297 Locust Avenue, Cortlandt Manor, today.

Sponsored by the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society, the program is open free to the public.

Laura Lee Keating of Cortlandt Manor, who is Cortlandt town historian, and Jean Moczarski of Peekskill, a writer and retired educator, will discuss their book, entitled Cortlandt, which is an interesting and informative compilation of old pictures of people and places throughout the town and its villages of Buchanan and Croton-on-Hudson, and the hamlets of Crugers, 
Montrose, Van Cortlandtville, and Verplanck.

They will talk about the rich history of these areas and the local individuals and families, their homes, schools and businesses, and historic points of interest that the authors have highlighted in their book.

Published by Arcadia as part of its Images of America series, the book will be available at the Schoolhouse for sale and signing by the authors. The collection of captioned photographs comprise an historic narrative—a family album of sorts saluting many of the cornerstone sites and residents of Cortlandt.

Mrs. Keating has been the municipal historian for the Town of Cortlandt since 2001, and in 2002 she was also named site director of the Bear Mountain Toll House Visitor Information Center. She is also a museum associate with Historic Hudson Valley at Philipsburg Manor Upper Mills in Sleepy Hollow, the Union Church of Pocantico Hills, and Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton, where she conducts tours and teaches school programs.

She also works for the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Historic Fund, conducting tours of the famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Since 2000, she has developed programs and exhibits as a 19th-century school
marm and living historian, offering these programs to local communities. She is also a past president of the Lincoln Society in Peekskill, and is also a past president of the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society, where she is an honorary member. She retired from AT&T after 31 years, having worked in that company’s Records, Information and Property Management departments. She and her husband, Craig, are longtime residents of Cortlandt Manor.

Mrs. Moczarski is a retired educator from the Hendrick Hudson School District and during her 40-year career there she taught both elementary grades and English. She continues her passion for education by doing private tutoring. In 2008 and 2009, she wrote and published 
the City of Peekskill’s quarterly newsletter. Also in 2009, she served on the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Committee, which celebrated Henry Hudson’s discovery of the river which bears his name. Currently a free-lance writer, in 2010 she authored the book Behind the Lens, the Story of Joe Deutsch: Hudson Valley Photographer. She is also active 
in the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce. She and her husband, Peter, are residents of Peekskill.

The Little Red Schoolhouse (the location of the March 15th program) is next to Old Saint Peter’s Church and Cemetery at the northern end of Locust Avenue, on the hill just south of Oregon Road in the Town of Cortlandt. For more information, visit: www.vancort.net; or, call (914) 736-7868.