“…at Mrs. Kearney's tavern”

Bringing a 19th-century Hudson River tavern back to life at the Kearney House


Punch & Pie…”

An evening of 19th-century tavern fun...

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Top: The tavern, looking pretty at the start of the evening. Above: Left, Kearney House director Eric Nelsen (standing) and Fort Lee Historic Park director John Muller chat with twenty-first-century Punch & Pie guests. Second from right, historical interpreter Damien Charpentier also joins the fun while, right, house musician Thaddeus MacGregor greets some of the crew of the sloop Clearwater, docked at Alpine that evening. Below: More good cheer and music and a friendly card game—and time for the dishes (as shown by historical interpreter Jenny Despotakis).
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Above: Photos taken during Punch & Pie at Mrs. Kearney’s Tavern in fall 2006 (for more about this unique program, see “Making a (Historic) House into a Home”).
Below: Mr. MacGregor.

Photo: Carol Hoernlein    Photo: Matt Dickinson    Photo: John Goodwin.    Photo: John Goodwin.


Shad Bake…”

Celebrating an ancient rite of spring in the Hudson River Valley...

"Shad Bake" at Mrs. Kearney's tavern (.pdf file)

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Above, Chris Letts of the Hudson River Foundation (in the chef’s hat), along with staff and volunteers, prepares samples of baked, smoked, and pickled shad for guests to enjoy.

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Inside the tavern, Mr. Thaddeus MacGregor, the tavern musician, performs a number with his “wee friend Jim,” a “limberjack,” as Todd Braisted and John Muller relax a bit. Below, Nancy Slowik of Greenbrook Sanctuary prepares a “spring tonic” at the hearth.
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.   
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Native-American skills expert Barry Keegan of Hawk Circle demonstrates some ancient tools and lore, above; below, Jennifer Kleinbaum of Tenafly Nature Center discusses marine ecology with guests.
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.   Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Back at the shad bake, wild edibles expert “Bobcat” Saunders shares some of the area’s bounty, as guests (and Mr. MacGregor!) sample some shad.
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.   
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.

See also Of Times and Tides &On the Ebb of a Tide

Collage/photo: R.J. Bogumil.


“Behind the Times…”

    Stepping back in time to a very particular date…

"Behind the Times" flyer (.pdf file)

Photo: R. J. Bogumil    Photo: R. J. Bogumil
New program added summer 2008: Visitors and staff participate in “Behind the Times at Mrs. Kearney’s Tavern,” during which historic newspapers and other materials are used to recreate a specific moment in history, in this case the summer of 1858—one hundred and fifty years ago…


British Encampment…”

    Stepping back in time to the 18th century…*

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
British soldiers occupy Mrs. Kearney’s tavern on the Friday evening before the annual
The Times that Try Men’s Soulsevent at Fort Lee Historic Park, commemorating the Continental Army’s retreat from Fort Lee in the face of the British Army’s invasion of the Jerseys.

Photo: Steve Santucci    Photo: Steve Santucci    Photo: Steve Santucci    Photo: Steve Santucci

* This being part of the annual Retreat Weekend commemorating the fall of Fort Lee, we allow ourselves to stretch our timeline a bit:  In reality, Mrs. Kearney wasn’t even born yet in 1776… For more on matters of chronology and the like, see “On His Lordship’s Mysterious Ascent.”

Below: As part of Closters 300th Anniversary Celebration in spring 2010, re-enactors spent an evening at the Kearney House, memorializing the infamous Loyalist raid of May 1779

Photos courtesy of Curt Schlenker. (To view more photos of this event, please click here.)

Photo: Curt Schlenker.    Photo: Curt Schlenker.    Photo: Curt Schlenker.


Thanksgiving Time…”

    Celebrating the end of a fruitful year…

Photo: Laurie Kaplan    Photo: Laurie Kaplan    Photo: Laurie Kaplan    Photo: Laurie Kaplan    Photo: Laurie Kaplan
Our after-the-holiday present to our friends & visitors, old & new alike: An “open-house” afternoon with music, refreshment, warmth, and mirth…held on the Saturday  & Sunday immediately after Thanksgiving. Photos courtesy of Laurie Kaplan.
Photo: Laurie Kaplan


Click on the play arrow w to view a 5-minute video, “A Traditional Kearney House Thanksgiving with Thaddeus MacGregor.(Video: R. J. Bogumil.)


“Yuletide”

Photo: John Goodwin    "Yuletide" at Mrs. Kearney's tavern (.pdf file)

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
Above, Mr. Thaddeus MacGregor regales young and old alike (with a little help from “Wee Jim” the Limberjack) while, below, with “stockings hung by the chimney with care,”  Lindsey Foschini reads from “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.


Marking the centuries…

Photo: Rocky Fiore    Photo/art: R. J. Bogumil
During “River Day” in June 2009, as a flotilla of historic vessels sailed up the river to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage in 1609 (the 46-star flag is from 1909—and was flown in New York City during that year’s “Hudson–Fulton” event; see “’o9”)

Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.
On a rain-swept Sunday in September 2009, the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the Palisades Interstate Park was commemorated at the Kearney House. Above: “At eleven o’clock in the forenoon” park visitors joined local mayors and other dignitaries in front of the house; Kearney House director Eric Nelsen (in nineteenth-century attire) presented opening remarks; Alpine Mayor Paul Tomasko and NJ Section Assistant Superintendent Chris Szeglin addressed the gathering. Below: Kearney House interpreter Lindsey Foschini and NJ Section trail crew supervisor Christina Fehre, dressed in early-twentieth-century outfits that they crafted for the event, greeted guests inside the house, as musician Thaddeus MacGregor played; the women were joined on the porch of the house by Fort Lee Historic Park interpreter Jenny Despotakis, wearing eighteenth-century garb; the dedication ceremony a hundred years earlier (see “Beyond the Reach of Devastation”).
Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.    Photo: Anthony G. Taranto Jr.   
PIPC archives, all rights reserved.


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07/21/2010

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2010 Area Information & Fee Schedule (4 pages, .pdf file)
2010 Area Information & Fee Schedule (.pdf file, 4 pages)


PIP-NJ Calendar of Events ("poster" style, .pdf file)
Calendar of Events poster (.pdf file).

 

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