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Greenway Awards $10,000 to Columbia County Historical Society
11/2/2011 11:53:32 AM
Greenway Awards $10,000 to Columbia County Historical Society
Contact: Mark Castiglione For Immediate Release
(518) 473-3835 November 2, 2011
Greenway Awards $10,000 to Columbia County Historical Society
For Connecting Trail Between Two National Historic Sites
(Albany, NY) Mark Castiglione, Acting Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Greenway is pleased to announce the Columbia County Historical Society (CCHS) has received a $10,000 Greenway grant for the Lindenwald-Van Alen connector, a project for the development of a segment that is part of the larger Kinderhook-Stuyvesant-Stockport trail system. The Greenway Conservancy board made the announcement at a recent meeting. A total of $50,000 in trail grants were awarded at the Board Meeting.
The Greenway Conservancy Small Grant Program is an annual competitive grant funding opportunity available to communities and not-for-profit organizations within the designated Hudson River Valley Greenway area, which extends from Saratoga County and Washington counties to Battery Park, Manhattan. The program offers funding for trail planning and design, construction and rehabilitation, and education and interpretation. Emphasis is placed on trail projects that seek to implement the goals of the Draft Greenway Trail Vision Plan, fill in identified gaps in the Greenway Trail System, and make improvements to designated Greenway Trails. Copies of the Draft Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail Vision Plan may be downloaded at http://www.hudsongreenway.ny.gov/Trailsandscenicbyways/LandTrail/HRGTResources.aspx .
The trail intersects three properties; the Luykas Van Alen House, Roxbury Farm and Lindenwald, the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. Construction of a pedestrian path will enhance the Society’s opportunity to interpret 3 centuries of agricultural history in the region. The Luykas Van Alen House is an intact Dutch farmhouse, built c. 1737 that serves as an example of 18th century farming. The property is wrapped on the western and southern sides by Roxbury Farm, a working farm which has a conservation easement purchased by the Open Space institute that allows for trail construction. The trail segment ends at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, home of the 8th president of the United States who retired to the property and engaged in progressive farming in the 19th century. Not only will the trail strengthen the historic tie that each of these sites has to farming in the Hudson Valley, but it will also serve as an alternative mode of transportation to site visitors.
Mark Castiglione, Acting Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Greenway, stated “These projects will enhance recreational opportunities, provide deeper opportunities for historic interpretation by connecting these historically significant sites and the historic landscape that surrounds them. What’s more, this project will help to kick-start the larger intermunicipal effort to build the Kinderhook-Stockport-Stuyvesant trail. The Greenway is proud to be able to provide the financial assistance to municipalities and non-profits in their efforts to improve trail connections. We applaud all of these groups and their commitment to the expanding trails and public access throughout the Hudson River Valley Greenway.”
“We are so pleased to have been selected for a greenway grant! This is a true community partnership involving CCHS, the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, a CSA farm, private land owners, and multiple trail groups. We are so happy that linking our two nationally significant sites has brought so many people together, and we hope that the greenway’s support for building this first section of the Kinderhook-Stuyvesant-Stockport trail will inspire action on the remainder of the trails” said Ann-Eliza Lewis, Executive Director of the Columbia County Historical Society.
The Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley is a public benefit corporation established by the Greenway Act of 1991 to continue New York State’s commitment to the preservation, enhancement and development of the world-renowned scenic, natural, historic, cultural and recreational resources of the Hudson River Valley, while continuing to emphasize appropriate economic development activities and remaining consistent with the tradition of municipal home rule. One of the Conservancy’s primary objectives is to establish a Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail System that links cultural and historic sites, parks, open spaces and community centers, and provides public access to the Hudson River.
Visit www.hudsongreenway.ny.gov for more information on the Greenway
Visit www.hudsonrivervalley.com for more information on the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
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