3.06.2006

Goings on around the grand state of New York

I thought I might add some links to various websites that have interested me of late. All of them talk about Upstate in some capacity, but besides that, they run the gamut. Hopefully, there’s something for everyone here.

Wildrun: A blog dedicated to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Loose Cats.” The blogger, a woman named Susan Darling Greene operates out of Spencer and seems to have made it her mission to rescue wild cats and set them up for adoption. Good luck to you Susan.

Mordecai M. Noah and the Mormon Zion: This website discusses a historic event that has been referenced in earlier posts, namely, a plot to build a theocratic Jewish state on Grand Island in the 1820s. A bizarre and fascinating story, it’s worth taking a look. The author brings up excellent points on the effect that this failed idea had on the founders of Mormonism a few years later.

For the folklorists in audience,
I do? Northern New York’s Mock Weddings is a little jaunt into a captivating tradition of “spoof” weddings conducted in the North Country. Lots of gender-bending and satire. This article is from Voices, the Journal of New York Folklore.

New York State offers motorists a wide variety of
vanity plates for your cars. In particular, I noticed the regional plates (for example, the Adirondacks or the Finger Lakes) and those dedicated to causes and organizations (like agriculture in the classroom and the Erie Canal museum).

This website is one of my favorites. It has maps tracing the history of county formation in New York and census maps. Sounds boring, but in five minutes time you can have a fascinating lesson on the expansion and settlement of Upstate New York.

One last note: my timeline of Upstate History from 1779 to 1861 has been updated, refined and cleaned up. Hopefully I've got it right this time.

I suppose that’s enough for the time being. Cats, Jewish theocracies, spoofed matrimonies, Yankees plates and census maps… we live in a strange and wonderful state.

-Posted by Jesse

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