Each year, the Department of History offers public outreach programs to educate and entertain county residents and visitors.
Our primary series are the Dutchess County Historic Tavern Trail and Dutchess County Rev250.
To better engage the public in the commemorations surrounding the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, Dutchess County government has funded the following programs:
June 1 – Quaker Meeting House Tours, 12-4 pm, at Nine Partners, Creek, Crum Elbow, and Oblong (Clinton, Hyde Park, Millbrook, and Pawling Historical Societies) visit the Quaker Meeting House webpage here.
June 29 – "Quakers, Anti-Slavery, and the American Revolution" lecture by Sarah Gronningsater, 2-3 pm, at Nine Partners Meeting House (Millbrook HS)
July 5 – Freedom Day, 11 am-1 pm, at Freedom Park (LaGrange Historical Society)
July 6 – Quaker Meeting House Tours, 12-4 pm, at Nine Partners, Creek, Crum Elbow, Oblong (Clinton, Hyde Park, Millbrook, and Pawling HS), visit the Quaker Meeting House webpage here.
July 18 – "Everyday Governance in Revolutionary Dutchess" lecture by Dillon Streifeneder, 7-8 pm, at Stanford Library (Stanford Historical Society)
July 23 – "The Drillmaster of Valley Forge: Baron de Steuben and the making of the American Army" lecture by Paul Lockhart, 6:30-7:30 pm, at Mount Gulian (LaGrange Historical Society)
July 24 – "How to Do History" lecture by Paul Lockhart, 6-7 pm, at LaGrange Library (LaGrange HS)
July 27 – "The Secret Language of Quaker Meeting Houses" lecture by Carl Lounsbury, 2-3 pm, at Nine Partners Meeting House (Millbrook HS)
August 3 – Quaker Meeting House Tours, 12-4 pm, at 9 Partners, Creek, Crum Elbow, Oblong (Clinton, Hyde Park, Millbrook, and Pawling HS), visit the Quaker Meeting House webpage here.
August 10 – Pleasant Valley Transportation Exhibit, 1-3 pm, at the Old Mill Site, Pleasant Valley (Pleasant Valley Historical Society)
August 20 – "The Early Residents of LaGrange" lecture by Charles Donohue, 6-7 p,, at the LaGrange Library (LaGrange HS)
September 6 – "Widow's Weeds: A Revolutionary War Widow's Tale" play, 4 pm at the Stissing Center, Pine Plains (Little Nine Partners Historical Society), visit the eventbrite website here to reserve your tickets
September 6 -- Reenactors and blacksmith demonstrations, 10-4 pm, at the Graham Brush house adjacent to Peck's market, Pine Plains (Little Nine Partners Historical Society)
September 6 -- "A Valley Between Worlds: Indigenous Land, Colonial Property, and Resistance in the Colonial Hudson Valley" lecture by BJ Lillis, 4-5:30 pm, at the Elmendorph Inn, Red Hook (Historic Red Hook) visit the HRH Rev250 page here to reserve your seat
September 7 – Quaker Meeting House Tours, 12-4 pm, at Nine Partners, Creek, Crum Elbow, Oblong (Clinton, Hyde Park, Millbrook, and Pawling HS), visit the Quaker Meeting House webpage here.
September 19 – "Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Change and Continuity in Stanford, NY from the Revolution to the Era of Good Feelings" lecture by Dillon Streifeneder, 7-8 pm, at Stanford Library (Stanford HS)
September 20 – Harvesting Hudson Valley: 18th Century Foodways at the Historic Elmendorph Inn, ongoing cooking demonstration by Sarah Evenson, 10 am-4 pm, at Elmendorph Inn (Historic Red Hook), visit the HRH Rev250 page here to reserve your seat
September 27 – Rombout Colonial Days, 10 am-4 pm, at the Brinckerhoff House, 68 Kensington Drive, Hopewell Junction, NY (East Fishkill Historical Society)
September 27 -- "The Plight of a Loyalist in Revolutionary New York: The Journal of Cadwallader Colden,Jr, 1777-1779" lecture, 2 pm, at Smithfield Presbyterian Church (lower level), 656 Smithfield Valley Road, Amenia (Amenia Historical Society)
September 28 – Rombout Colonial Days, 10 am-4 pm, at the Brinckerhoff House, 68 Kensington Drive, Hopewell Junction, NY (East Fishkill Historical Society)
October 4 – "Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and the Revolution" lecture by Dillon Streifeneder, 4-5:30 pm, at Elmendorph Inn (Historic Red Hook), visit the HRH Rev250 page here to reserve your seat
October 5 – Quaker Meeting House Tours, 12-4, at Nine Partners, Creek, Crum Elbow, Oblong (Clinton, Hyde Park, Millbrook, and Pawling HS), visit the Quaker Meeting House webpage here.
October 11 – Cemetery Crawl launch, Fishkill Historical Society
October 18 -- "An Afternoon with Jeff Shaara: Rise to Rebellion and the Eve of Revolution," 11 AM-5 PM, Family Partnership Center, Poughkeepsie (Poughkeepsie Public Library District Local History Division), visit the event website here to reserve your seat
October 18-- "The Old Upper Road in Dover During the Revolution" Exhibit Launch event, 1-3 PM, Dover Town Hall, 126 East Duncan Hill Road, Dover Plains, Click here to register for this event!
October 18 -- "The Revolution in Union Vale" lecture by Dillon Streifeneder, 3 PM, at Tymor Park, Union Vale (Union Vale Historical Society), visit the event Facebook page here to RSVP
October 18 – "Lenape Perspectives on the Revolution" lecture by Hadrien Coumans and Joe Baker, 4-5:30 pm, Elmendorph Inn (Historic Red Hook), visit the HRH Rev250 page here to reserve your seat
November 2 – Quaker Meeting House Tours, 12-4 pm, at 9 Partners, Creek, Crum Elbow, Oblong (Clinton, Hyde Park, Millbrook, and Pawling HS), visit the Quaker Meeting House webpage here.
November 22 – "Accommodating the Republic: Taverns in Civic Life" lecture by Kristen Wood, 4-5:30 pm, at Elmendorph Inn (Historic Red Hook), visit the HRH Rev250 page here to reserve your seat
For more information, and to sign up for the Dutchess History Dispatch newsletter, visit:
Dutchess History on Facebook
The Historic Tavern Trail brings history and local cuisine together, while introducing the community to iconic locales, with each installment held at a different historic location. Our 2025 series focuses on the first year of the Rev250 Cycle, the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, exploring local stories of patriots and loyalists. All programs are free to attend: you will have the opportunity to make a donation to the local historical society partner.
"The Invasion of Canada, 1775: a Rev250 Story" at Lasting Joy Brewery, 485 Lasher Road, Tivoli, NY, September 12th, 6 PM, with Historic Red Hook.
A year before the Declaration of Independence, while the Thirteen Colonies were still technically part of the British Empire, troops from New York and New England invaded Canada. Join Dutchess County Historian Will Tatum for an action-packed ride through the forgotten first campaign of the American Revolution. Learn about prior invasions of Canada during the Colonial Era, which provided a template for the 1775 operation. Hear how the activities of revolutionary leaders in western and eastern Dutchess, covered in earlier programs, coalesced as the committees of safety worked to raise, arm, and equip the 4th New York Regiment to participate in the invasion. Meet the infamous Henry Beekman Livingston, a mere captain of the northern Dutchess Company of the 4th New York in 1775, who would rise to notoriety as the eventual colonel of the regiment and a terrible domestic abuser who would be disavowed by his own family.
To RSVP, visit the event page here.
Additional dates pending
