In April 1976, as the United States of America was getting ready to celebrate the Bicentennial, The Putnam Valley Historical Society moved into the former Adams Corners Schoolhouse and opened the schoolhouse museum. The building has more or less been in use since its construction in the mid 1840s. After serving as the District 3 school in Putnam Valley, it was also proud to serve as the town library for one summer, a Red Cross donation center, the home of the Public Health Association of Putnam Valley & Kent for many years, and a nursery school.

Stepping back 50 years earlier to 1926, we have the first documented visit to Putnam Valley by none other than Babe Ruth. On August 21, 2026 it will be 100 years to the day since he was first photographed playing ball with neighborhood children near Lake Oscawana. Visit the museum during the month of August as we celebrate Babe Ruth in Putnam Valley month.

So what are we doing to celebrate our 50th Anniversary as well as the Semiquincentennial? We have a new historic marker recognizing Israel Putnam to install at Adams Corners this summer and will celebrate our anniversary at the unveiling of the marker. Another Lake Oscawana Boat Tour is planned for late summer. We’re organizing a long overdue historic cemetery project that will include identifying Revolutionary War veterans and last, but certainly not least, we’ll be inviting everyone to join us on October 3rd at Adams Corners from 12:00PM – 4:00PM as we step back in time to experience life during the American Revolution. We’ll have activities for folks of all ages at both the schoolhouse museum as well as the Putnam Valley Grange. Finally, we are reworking and moving up our annual Holiday Boutique to November. Until then, we’re open nearly every Sunday from 12:00pm – 4:00pm.

More recently, for the first time in many years, we welcomed students from Putnam Valley Elementary School! The third grade classes are coming over this week to explore the museum from front to back. They rotated through different stations and used slate & chalk to draw and work some math problems, saw a 149 year old schoolbook, held a cannonball, used a corn planter, identified some old buildings in photographs, looked at an 1867 map to see what one-room schoolhouse they would have gone to, saw a chamber pot (this was a huge hit), tried on some fancy hats, sat on a saddle and more. They’ve asked some very intuitive questions, made some astute observations, and left us feeling very inspired and enthusiastic about our plans for the future.

We look forward to welcoming you at the museum this year!