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| Tappantown Historical Society |
President’s Annual Report, November 16, 2007
Good evening. I welcome you to the 42nd annual meeting of the Tappantown Historical Society. My
name is Tom LaValle and, as president of the society, I’m here to give the annual report. I begin by
thanking members of the Board: Officers Jackie Shatz, 1st Vice President; Chris Gremski, 2nd Vice
President; Pam Peters, Recording Secretary; Lucille Starink, Corresponding Secretary; Bill Colman,
Treasurer; and Geri McCauley, Ass’t Treasurer; and the Directors: Sally Dewey, June Starke, Joe Napoli,
Susan Gewirtz, Ginny McCarthy, and John Morton. Again, as in past years, I appreciated your faithful
attendance at monthly meetings, your valuable suggestions, and your energetic commitment to the
Society’s mission.
I especially want to thank June Starke, who is going off the Board. June has been particularly helpful in
getting local merchants to give raffle prizes for our successful plant sales. And she, with John Morton,
was instrumental in getting our Tappan Memorial Park refurbished. Thanks, June. In our musical chairs
approach to Board nominations, we hope she’ll be back on the Board soon.
Now, I’d like to touch on some of the things we did in addition to our main annual functions and review
our Awards Dinner, Plant Sale, and Colonial Day.
Under the direction of Joe Napoli, we revised our Mission Statement. In addition to language that
maintains our mission to preserve and protect Tappan’s historical heritage, we added an emphasis on
aesthetics – how the hamlet looks – and on working cooperatively with other entities in town in the best
interest of the community. Thanks, Joe, for your perseverance in seeing this project through.
On the business of cooperating with other entities in the best interest of the community, it’s not always
easy to work things out. Sometimes there is a lack of communication. An example was our initial
criticism of the Volunteer Fire Association of Tappan’s plan for building a new fire station on the property
east of the present station. We thought that the new station would be too big and would impact
negatively on the park. After discussions with the firemen, we agreed that newer, longer trucks needed
longer buildings and that the placement of the building on the site would impact the park less than THS
imagined, I mention this as an example of strained relations when there isn’t an open dialogue at the
outset. I believe that now we have open lines to the VFAT, and I hope they stay open. Volunteer Fireman
Don Higgins’ presence at our monthly meetings will help.
HABOR – Keith Walker, an architect, and I continue to attend the monthly meetings of HABOR. Keith
has been assiduous in getting agenda, explaining to me sitting next to him exactly what is going on, and
reporting to the Board at our monthly meetings. So, I’ve come to appreciate HABOR more and more as
they patiently advise applicants to change their plans in accordance with historic area laws. Let us
continue to attend HABOR monthly meetings and support their work.
Another positive ongoing project under the leadership of Sally Dewey is the Thrift Shop in Piermont. Her
volunteers, Winnie Strakosch, Ginny McCarthy, Jackie Shatz, Sally herself, and Lanie Turner put in
weekly stints totaling hundreds of hours for the benefit of the Society. This year, we benefited to the tune
of $1,625. (To raise that figure next year, the Thrift Shop needs more quality donations. So please think
about this painless way of fund raising when you are cleaning out attics and basements.)
Wearing another hat, Sally Dewey fields requests from elementary school classes and adult groups
who wish to take guided tours of our historic district. She then schedules her enthusiastic, informative
guides Ginny McCarthy, Janet Galloway, Peter Schuerholz, and Thano Schoppel. Harold and Kathy
Jones are particularly effective here at the DeWint House. Thank you, Sally, for chairing these important
undertakings.
Something we have done for the past two years and hope to make an annual event is Jazz in the Park
around Father’s Day. John Morton has directed this effort, getting Charlie Descarfino and his quintet of
professional musicians to play. This year, it was jazz with a Latin beat, and it was wonderful. Thank you,
John.
Each year, we give the Andre Award to the Tappan Zee student who excels in history. (This year, we
increased the stipend significantly.) The award went to Stephanie Costa.
To move on to quickly review our annual major undertakings, the Awards Dinner, the Plant Sale, and
Colonial Day.
The awards at our annual dinner went to Jean and Thano Schoppel for their new porch at 193
Washington St., and to the team of Murphy, Hanrahan, Kruthers, and Carney for their renovation of the
Jean Carey house at 183 Washington St. Thanks to Peter Schuerholz and Ginny McCarthy for their work
on the Awards Committee.
Once again, Edna Nitopi arranged the menu with Rob Norden at the ‘76 House and saw to the details.
Thanks, Edna. It was an extremely pleasant evening enjoyed by about sixty people.
Our Plant Sale on May 5 at the perfect venue – the rising lawn of the Manse property across from the
Post Office – went off with practiced precision under the quiet guidance of Winnie Strakosch. There is
usually a good turnout from the Board and members as volunteers work this event, and this year was no
exception. Ginny McCarthy, Bill Colman, Keith Walker, Carol LaValle, Geri McCauley, Marilyn Schnauzer,
Lois Reid, Chris and Ruzena Gremski. Peter Schuerholz, Sally Dewey, Joe Napoli, Michael Gewirtz, and
June Starke all contributed. We netted about $1,500. Thanks to all.
We had our annual Colonial Day on Sept. 29. Colonial Day gets bigger and better. Lucille Starink and
Geri McCauley put in dozens of hours organizing this event, gathering volunteers and making sure all
goes well on that special day at the end of September. This year, I think we had our largest number of
visitors, and they stayed late enjoying the demonstrators and the children’s activities, such as dipping
candles, making mob caps and tussie mussies, and pressing apples into fresh cider. I’d like to
highlight the contributions of Ginny McCarthy and Geri and Jim McCauley.
Ginny, one of the founders of Tappantown Historical Society, is an expert on the subject of Dutch
Colonial cooking. For 23 years, she has, with her school age assistants whom she has trained,
demonstrated how an 18th century family prepared for winter, specifically in drying apples and churning
butter.(Not many kids these days can peel an apple, but they can after a stint with Ginny.) Ginny has
been an important part of Colonial Day. She comes religiously to Colonial Day Committee meetings,
and we learn from her experience and are invigorated by her enthusiasm. Thanks, Ginny.
The tone of Colonial Day is set by the excellence of the demonstrators. We have a blacksmith, a
cooper, a spinner, quilters, a sheep shearer, colonial dancers, and more. Geri and Jim McCauley have
done a great job scouting out top demonstrators, and they visit Colonial Days and fairs in upstate NY
and New England. Two examples come to mind: on is the Colonial with their beautiful authentic
costumes supported by colonial music and instruments. The McCauleys saw Ridley and Ann at
Saratoga Springs a number of years ago and brought them to Tappan. Another example is the popular
sheep shearer Fred DePaul from Plymouth, Vermont. The McCauleys saw Fred work his magic clippers
at a fair at Estate Hildene at Manchester, Vt. and persuaded him to come here to delight our children.
Thanks Geri and Jim for your explorations on our behalf and your good taste in choosing demonstrators
of such quality.
At Colonial Day, Chris Gremski handed out membership applications. One return from a family in New
Jersey. Appended a short message: “We thoroughly enjoyed and truly appreciated the Colonial Day
events. Well done!”
And to all of you who contributed, Well done!
Good evening. I welcome you to the 42nd annual meeting of the Tappantown Historical Society. My
name is Tom LaValle and, as president of the society, I’m here to give the annual report. I begin by
thanking members of the Board: Officers Jackie Shatz, 1st Vice President; Chris Gremski, 2nd Vice
President; Pam Peters, Recording Secretary; Lucille Starink, Corresponding Secretary; Bill Colman,
Treasurer; and Geri McCauley, Ass’t Treasurer; and the Directors: Sally Dewey, June Starke, Joe Napoli,
Susan Gewirtz, Ginny McCarthy, and John Morton. Again, as in past years, I appreciated your faithful
attendance at monthly meetings, your valuable suggestions, and your energetic commitment to the
Society’s mission.
I especially want to thank June Starke, who is going off the Board. June has been particularly helpful in
getting local merchants to give raffle prizes for our successful plant sales. And she, with John Morton,
was instrumental in getting our Tappan Memorial Park refurbished. Thanks, June. In our musical chairs
approach to Board nominations, we hope she’ll be back on the Board soon.
Now, I’d like to touch on some of the things we did in addition to our main annual functions and review
our Awards Dinner, Plant Sale, and Colonial Day.
Under the direction of Joe Napoli, we revised our Mission Statement. In addition to language that
maintains our mission to preserve and protect Tappan’s historical heritage, we added an emphasis on
aesthetics – how the hamlet looks – and on working cooperatively with other entities in town in the best
interest of the community. Thanks, Joe, for your perseverance in seeing this project through.
On the business of cooperating with other entities in the best interest of the community, it’s not always
easy to work things out. Sometimes there is a lack of communication. An example was our initial
criticism of the Volunteer Fire Association of Tappan’s plan for building a new fire station on the property
east of the present station. We thought that the new station would be too big and would impact
negatively on the park. After discussions with the firemen, we agreed that newer, longer trucks needed
longer buildings and that the placement of the building on the site would impact the park less than THS
imagined, I mention this as an example of strained relations when there isn’t an open dialogue at the
outset. I believe that now we have open lines to the VFAT, and I hope they stay open. Volunteer Fireman
Don Higgins’ presence at our monthly meetings will help.
HABOR – Keith Walker, an architect, and I continue to attend the monthly meetings of HABOR. Keith
has been assiduous in getting agenda, explaining to me sitting next to him exactly what is going on, and
reporting to the Board at our monthly meetings. So, I’ve come to appreciate HABOR more and more as
they patiently advise applicants to change their plans in accordance with historic area laws. Let us
continue to attend HABOR monthly meetings and support their work.
Another positive ongoing project under the leadership of Sally Dewey is the Thrift Shop in Piermont. Her
volunteers, Winnie Strakosch, Ginny McCarthy, Jackie Shatz, Sally herself, and Lanie Turner put in
weekly stints totaling hundreds of hours for the benefit of the Society. This year, we benefited to the tune
of $1,625. (To raise that figure next year, the Thrift Shop needs more quality donations. So please think
about this painless way of fund raising when you are cleaning out attics and basements.)
Wearing another hat, Sally Dewey fields requests from elementary school classes and adult groups
who wish to take guided tours of our historic district. She then schedules her enthusiastic, informative
guides Ginny McCarthy, Janet Galloway, Peter Schuerholz, and Thano Schoppel. Harold and Kathy
Jones are particularly effective here at the DeWint House. Thank you, Sally, for chairing these important
undertakings.
Something we have done for the past two years and hope to make an annual event is Jazz in the Park
around Father’s Day. John Morton has directed this effort, getting Charlie Descarfino and his quintet of
professional musicians to play. This year, it was jazz with a Latin beat, and it was wonderful. Thank you,
John.
Each year, we give the Andre Award to the Tappan Zee student who excels in history. (This year, we
increased the stipend significantly.) The award went to Stephanie Costa.
To move on to quickly review our annual major undertakings, the Awards Dinner, the Plant Sale, and
Colonial Day.
The awards at our annual dinner went to Jean and Thano Schoppel for their new porch at 193
Washington St., and to the team of Murphy, Hanrahan, Kruthers, and Carney for their renovation of the
Jean Carey house at 183 Washington St. Thanks to Peter Schuerholz and Ginny McCarthy for their work
on the Awards Committee.
Once again, Edna Nitopi arranged the menu with Rob Norden at the ‘76 House and saw to the details.
Thanks, Edna. It was an extremely pleasant evening enjoyed by about sixty people.
Our Plant Sale on May 5 at the perfect venue – the rising lawn of the Manse property across from the
Post Office – went off with practiced precision under the quiet guidance of Winnie Strakosch. There is
usually a good turnout from the Board and members as volunteers work this event, and this year was no
exception. Ginny McCarthy, Bill Colman, Keith Walker, Carol LaValle, Geri McCauley, Marilyn Schnauzer,
Lois Reid, Chris and Ruzena Gremski. Peter Schuerholz, Sally Dewey, Joe Napoli, Michael Gewirtz, and
June Starke all contributed. We netted about $1,500. Thanks to all.
We had our annual Colonial Day on Sept. 29. Colonial Day gets bigger and better. Lucille Starink and
Geri McCauley put in dozens of hours organizing this event, gathering volunteers and making sure all
goes well on that special day at the end of September. This year, I think we had our largest number of
visitors, and they stayed late enjoying the demonstrators and the children’s activities, such as dipping
candles, making mob caps and tussie mussies, and pressing apples into fresh cider. I’d like to
highlight the contributions of Ginny McCarthy and Geri and Jim McCauley.
Ginny, one of the founders of Tappantown Historical Society, is an expert on the subject of Dutch
Colonial cooking. For 23 years, she has, with her school age assistants whom she has trained,
demonstrated how an 18th century family prepared for winter, specifically in drying apples and churning
butter.(Not many kids these days can peel an apple, but they can after a stint with Ginny.) Ginny has
been an important part of Colonial Day. She comes religiously to Colonial Day Committee meetings,
and we learn from her experience and are invigorated by her enthusiasm. Thanks, Ginny.
The tone of Colonial Day is set by the excellence of the demonstrators. We have a blacksmith, a
cooper, a spinner, quilters, a sheep shearer, colonial dancers, and more. Geri and Jim McCauley have
done a great job scouting out top demonstrators, and they visit Colonial Days and fairs in upstate NY
and New England. Two examples come to mind: on is the Colonial with their beautiful authentic
costumes supported by colonial music and instruments. The McCauleys saw Ridley and Ann at
Saratoga Springs a number of years ago and brought them to Tappan. Another example is the popular
sheep shearer Fred DePaul from Plymouth, Vermont. The McCauleys saw Fred work his magic clippers
at a fair at Estate Hildene at Manchester, Vt. and persuaded him to come here to delight our children.
Thanks Geri and Jim for your explorations on our behalf and your good taste in choosing demonstrators
of such quality.
At Colonial Day, Chris Gremski handed out membership applications. One return from a family in New
Jersey. Appended a short message: “We thoroughly enjoyed and truly appreciated the Colonial Day
events. Well done!”
And to all of you who contributed, Well done!