Up until 1776, the Public Universal Friend has been known as Jemima Wilkinson, a spirited if not incredibly precocious young Quaker woman from Cumberland, Rhode Island. In the year 1776, at the age of 24, she succumbed to a terrible illness—likely…

The Trasks began to plan the Rose Garden during the summer of 1899 after they decided to make Yaddo into an art colony. Katrina Trask wrote that she did not feel like she could design the Rose Garden until she knew who would use it after her and…

The Oneida community’s relationship with outsiders was an art form. Community members led visitors around the Mansion House, actively trying to dispel rumors that they were yet another sect like the Mormons, while also showcasing the affluence they…

Four and a half years after breaking ground on West Hill overlooking Ithaca's downtown, the Ecovillage at Ithaca (EVI)’s first neighborhood, called FROG (First Residential Group), hosted an open house for new residents and the public to experience…

The Crystal Restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Watertown. It has been continually operated since 1925. The Crystal Restaurant and the building it which it resides, are currently owned and operated by Watertown residents Peter and Libby…

The Hotel Woodruff was a five-story, luxury hotel that once stood in the center of Watertown’s Public Square. Originally called the Woodruff House, the Victorian stone structure was built in 1851. The Woodruff House was greatly expanded when it was…

On its official website, the City of Watertown designates the Historic Paddock Arcade as the keystone of the Public Square. After the Westminster Arcade in Providence, Rhode Island closed its doors permanently in 2008, The Paddock Arcade was…

When construction of the Brighton Building completed in 1903, it was the city’s first skyscraper. The eight-story building is an Art Deco interpretation of the popular Italianate architectural style as seen in its Renaissance-inspired cornices,…

Although it is now the site of vacant office spaces, income-adjusted apartments, and a lone optometrist, the Woolworth Building was once a bustling department store. In 1873, Frank Winfield Woolworth, a Rodman, New York resident and future…

The Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company was widely regarded as one of the largest of its era. With thousands of workers producing millions of shoes a year, Endicott-Johnson was one of the premier United States shoe manufactures throughout the early to mid…