Can you feel it? The subtle change in the air, the late summer wildflowers blooming, the cacophony of nighttime insects, the panic of students realizing they have to cram their summer reading assignments into the next two weeks. It’s almost time to head back to school!

As a kid, this was one of my favorite times of year. New school supplies, new sneakers and a few new outfits…it was a chance to refresh. You know, in case your New Years Resolutions didn’t pan out the way you’d hoped.

You may have noticed that our website looks a little different. It’s time for us to refresh. We upgraded a few things, and will now be able to not only post many more photos in the coming weeks, but video and audio clips. The opening ceremony and dedication of our museum, the history of the library, first hand accounts of the early development of Lake Peekskill, growing up on Lake Oscawana, and much more. The plan is to have it up by around September 5th – the first day of school here in Putnam Valley.

Over on the right side of the site, there will be a short list of upcoming events.

Our new t-shirts (kid and adult sizes!) should be in the museum by next week, and this week we’re expecting tote bags! Who can’t use an extra tote bag in the car, and what better place to get one than your local historical society?

For those tech-savvy, on the go followers of ours with smart phones, we’ll be up and running on Instagram soon. It’ll be the quickest way to show you what we’re up to, both in the museum and live(ish) from our events and goings on outside the museum walls.

Speaking of events outside the museum; Coming up on September 8, 15, and 23 you’ll find us at the following places:

September 15th you can find us at Putnam Valley Town Day at Leonard Wagner Memorial Park (town park), and the following weekend on Sunday, Our American History returns with our very own Michael Adamovich.

Our annual meeting will be held on Sunday October 14th at 1:00pm at the Putnam Valley Volunteer Ambulance Headquarters on Oscawana Lake Road. We’ll be doing something new this year. In addition to honoring members of our community, having a silent auction and conducting our annual meeting, we’ll also be having a rather lively presentation about Luigi Del Bianco. Who is that, you’re wondering? Why, he was the chief carver of Mount Rushmore. Yes, that Mount Rushmore. It’ll be dinner and a show, if you will. Invitations will be going out to our members shortly, and of course non-members are always welcome.

Halloween’s not to far off either, and if you’ve been to any grocery stores lately you’ll have noticed the candy displays are already out. We’re working out our Halloween plans for this year but in the interest of keeping some things on a traditional, seasonal type schedule, we’ll share all that info in September.

We’ll hold off on any holiday boutique announcements until October.