Hello, friends! We hope you are all doing well and that you have been enjoying your summer. Time has been slipping away here at the Brinckerhoff Farmhouse and we are looking forward to the crisp cool days and nights of Autumn. This past Spring our annual Civil War Weekend brought in close to 200 visitors during the last weekend in April. In May and June, we hosted 8 field trips with close to 300 local school children over a 3 week period, including a first time group from the Ostrander Elementary School, Wallkill, New York. These field trips are vital to our mission regarding education. They cannot happen without our regular dedicated volunteers, and our student volunteers from the History Honor Society at John Jay High School, East Fishkill. If you enjoy working with children and have some spare time, please consider being a part of our team. Our annual Strawberry Festival in June was a success once again, as we welcomed close to 300 visitors.

We began our Sunday Summer house tours on June 2nd, and they will run through Sunday September 29th. If you have never been by for a visit, this is a great opportunity to step back in time and enjoy a guided tour by one of our knowledgeable volunteers.

In addition to the continuous maintenance projects and upkeep that is required here at the Brinckerhoff House Historic Site, every so often we are the lucky recipients of a local boy scout looking for a project to earn their Eagle badge. Local scout Chandler Taylor of troop #41 Beacon, N.Y. has installed a brick path from our driveway to the front porch of our schoolhouse. Along with the removable ADA ramp we purchased last year as part of a grant from Dutchess County, we will now have a safe way for those with mobility issues to access our one room schoolhouse. We also thank John and Tim Paraskeva of Stormville for all of their help getting the area ready for the project.

The weekend of September 21st and 22nd was our 6th Annual Rombout Colonial Days Weekend & Encampment.

We will end the year with our annual Christmas Open House on Sunday December 8th, and our popular Holiday Tea on Saturday, December 14th. As always we thank you for your continued support and we hope to see you around the farm.

Please consider becoming actively involved in the East Fishkill Historical Society. With the recent loss of several key people, we welcome any and all help big or small our members are willing to give. We need help with running and presenting events, school field trips, gardening, collections management, operating our general store and other site work. Please share this with any high school students that you know who are looking to fulfill their community service hours prior to graduation. Please contact Rick Soedler if you are interested.

Thank you. History matters!