At the meeting on September 17, the Board of Directors of the Lebanon Valley Historical Society agreed on three programs for 2009 and discussed a number of others. They are listed below for your information. If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact us. We plan to have the final list ready for presentation at the Annual Meeting in November. Remember that the Annual Meeting is also the time when members renew their memberships and vote for the slate of officers for 2009.
The three programs planned for sure are:
• “Echoes of The Echo” – Tom Bleezarde, son of a co-founder of The Echo, offers the story of the founding and early history (1940 – 1974) of “the independent home town paper of the Lebanon and Taconic Valleys.”
• Samuel J. Tilden and the Presidential Election of 1876 – Todd Houghtlin will discuss the Tilden campaign and loss, supplemented by Robert Allard’s imaginative “What If Tilden Had Won?”
• The Shaker Swamp Project, a 30 minute documentary film by Ted Timreck, was offered in June 2008 and was very popular. Because many members missed that showing, this program will be offered in 2009. The project is identifying the medicinal plants still found in the Swamp that were the basis of Shaker remedies and later Tilden pharmaceuticals.
Other Programs Ideas
• History of the Lebanon Valley Speedway, presented by Howard Commander, proprietor.
• Historical importance of Native Americans in the Valley, presented by Town Historian Kevin Fuerst.
• The Underground Railroad in Lebanon Valley.
• Columbia County Historical Society presentation on CCHS activities and plans.
• School history, possibly with Lenny Brown III presenting.
• Churches of the Valley – focus on the Baptist Church in Lebanon Springs, which has not been recently discussed.
• Restaurants Past and Present – The Pillars, The Showboat, Mario’s, Lenny’s, Fresco’s.