North Salem Historical Society

81 Keeler Lane, Post Office Box 31, North Salem, New York  10560        northsalemhistoricalsociety@gmail.com

If you are not a member we hope you will consider joining us.  If you want to receive our emails with information on our events and latest postings, consider joining our list-serve by signing up here:  Join List-Serve 

This wonderful website - Purdys Central High - was created by Pier V. Guidi (PCH class of 1962) in 2012.  It contains photos of all the classes that attended, their yearbooks, school trips, sports events, memorabilia and history of the school since its start in 1928.  

Pier has turned the website over to the historical society to ensure its continuation for all graduates and local history buffs to enjoy.  We are in the process of working with Pier to effectuate the transition (uninterupted, of course).  We are so grateful to him for the tremendous amount of work that he put into building the site, and now, with transferring the site to a more user-friendly platform.  

We will continue to collect memorabilia and add it to the website, so, we hope that you will help us in that regard.  If you have an item to share, please contact us or simply send a high-quality scan or image of the item.  Or, loan the item to us and we will happily make the digital copy/scan and return it to you if desired.  Needless to say, all donations gratefully accepted!

Thank you, Pier, for this labor of love.  His quote from the home page: "I did this in memory of, and the love of having spent my youth (1952 to 1966) in the hamlet of Croton Falls, Township of North Salem, Westchester County, NY." 

2023 . . . .Save the Dates:

Friday, October 27, 2023 Our Annual Meeting and Pot Luck Supper -  Yes, we are bringing back the Pot Luck supper!  Vails Pavilion, 6:00pm.  History Trivia a la the popular NPR show, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!  Get ready to test your knowledge of North Salem local history - with a bit of FUN thrown in!

See our latest Nugget - Maple Acres  - below.  Visit our page History Nuggets to see all of them to date!

Maple Acres

In 1937 Jean MacFarlane mailed out her Fifth Season notice (June 1 to October 1) for a Farm Vacation for children aged three to eight -- a summer vacation at Salem Center on property right next to the town hall campus. The 26-acre farm with gardens, meadows and a brook belonged to Grace and John MacFarlane, Jean’s parents. The summer camp had a trained nurse and four trained teachers. A NYC pediatrician gave each child a physical exam.  An older group of boys aged seven to ten were also invited to fish, hike and swim nearby. 

Stay tuned for our latest bulletin - Maple Acres Farm!

Oh what fun they had making their own personal rendition of Lobdell Store.  Gingerbread House kits at the Library and an evening of pure delight!  Be sure to sign up next time!

Thanks to all who joined us at our Fundraising Cocktail party and 

our Annual Meeting.   

Your generosity is greatly appreciated!

Helen Houghton and Paige DeLeo    photo by John White

Lesa Vogliano and Gene Colley    photo by John White

STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL 2022

WHAT A DAY!

The weather could not have been more perfect

The puppet show was wonderful

The Tug-of-War was actually a kids event - one team being future Firemen and the other team future Horse riders!*

The music was delightful!

And the strawberry shortcake was, as a good friend of the Society once said

"Not Bad!" (It was a high compliment!)

All of our available trustees came together to make this 

A Special Day - for a Special Place !

*While our volunteer Firemen were not able to attend this year we reminded everyone how invaluable their contribution is to our town, how hard they work and they are all volunteers!  Maybe one or two of the young folks who won the Kids Tug-of-War for them will actually be a volunteer one day!  A big Thank You also goes to the members of the Bridle Trails Association who came -- maybe next year!

Gingerbread Contest - Congratulations to our Winners!

People's Choice Award and Most Historic

Pamela Slater

Most Creative

Helen Vail

Most Architectural

Lauren Rosasco

Most Creative

Castine Langewiesche

Most Architectural

Alexandria Franco

Most Historic

Archie Langewiesche

Thanks to all who attended our annual meeting, “Bringing Stories to Life!”  

Our First: The Grants, part 1, Jane Grant deMcCarty, interviewed by Tom Purdy

The Video is posted and so is the original Audio.  Soon we will post a text version with photos.

The video (14 minutes) is a shortened version of the original audio (1 hr, 6 minutes)

Go to our Historical Material page and scroll down to #5.  Audios of all the other tapes are now up as well.

 Coming next Spring/Early Summer

Cocktail Party at the Grant Schoolhouse building, now the beautiful home of the Kamensteins.  Invitations will be out next spring.

The Great Historic Lego Contest Winners

In the 16 to adult category:

Best Historical Construction—Jen Armbruster, The Purdy Homestead

Most Creative Construction—Liam Trageser, Keeler Lane Bridge

In the 9-15 year old category:

Best Historic Construction—Morgan Anderson, Quick Barn

Most Creative Construction—Olivia Anderson, Balanced Rock

In the 8 and under category:

Best Historic Construction—Drew Karam, Balanced Rock

Most Creative Construction—Jack and Blake Haugh, Keeler Lane Bridge

Most Architectural Construction—Dawson Anderson, Purdys High School.



Look who won our Raffle!  Actually, Patty Kravit won but she graciously turned the winning ticket over to her neighbor, Morgan Melkonian.  Morgan's so excited to begin her new adventure!

A big shout-out to Ashley Yozzo of Summit Farm for making this all possible.


Photos from our annual meeting October 2019 at Vails Pavilion

It was our 50th anniversary and another record crowd helped us celebrate


June 2019 at our annual Strawberry Festival draft horses and oxen were on hand from Rock Hill Farm:

The Seventh Graders had a wonderful history tour of North Salem:

We had the best chili ever on Sunday, January 27, 2019 at the White Elephant.  And the Raffle winner of the Horse-drawn carriage ride was....

  



Congratulations Virginia!

We had a full house on Friday, November 30, 2018 for our Winter in Upper Salem cocktail party.  

Due to the wonderful attendance and support for NSHS we decided to give all the proceeds from the wreath silent auction to the Organization of Choice (instead of a 50/50 share).  We thank everyone who participated.

 What a beautiful day and walk in the on Sunday, November 4, 2018.  We hiked through sections of Mountain Lakes Park and caught a glorious view to the north from a spot close to where the Port of Missing Men tavern once stood.  Afterwards lunch at the White Elephant where numerous photos were on display as well as one of the original Registry books.  Some 20,000 people traveled great distances to see this property in the early 1900s.  Now we know why! 

We periodically have an historical display in the Library conference room.  We are working on a new one and should have it up before the library reopens. 

We received a donation of benches from Therese Donahue, and trustee Peter Bliss has spruced them up with a fresh coat of stain.  See how perfectly matched they are for our patio with grindstone centerpiece:

Thanks to all who hiked through Mill Hollow with us.  What a wonderful day!  Here are some photos

  Archives:  Oh What Fun We Had.  Pig Roast 2017:

 July 16, 2017, Sunday:  Strawberry Festival - thank you CF Fire Department, Rob Fogle of Groundbreakers, Jack DeStories from Fairfield Auction, Hannah Holtzer our facepainter, Maggie and Martin our music ensemble and all who came and enjoyed the day!

Annual Meeting 2016:  Topic:  Croton Falls, guest speakers Bobby Tompkins, Ray Furlan and Drew Outhouse.

and

Cat Ridge Day 2016 and the newly restored receiving vault:

Strawberry Festival 2016:   Thank you to the Croton Falls Fire Department, 

Jo Ann Brown (spinner), Michael Blum (balloonist), Chez Leonard (hot dog stand)