It’s the most sparkly time of the year! It’s the holiday season and the grand finale of the year of wellness at New York State Parks and Historic Sites. All year long, we’ve come together to improve all aspects of our well-being, build community, and connect to nature and history. We celebrated the holiday season the same way, with handcrafted experiences designed to bring people together to make memories without breaking the bank. Our gift to you is a look at the holiday and winter festivities at state parks and historic sites all across New York. Thank you for making us part of your year-end traditions!
We’re showcasing some of the stand-out, unusual, and noteworthy New York State listings in the National Register of Historic Places in honor of the milestone 200th meeting of the New York State Board for Historic Preservation (on September 10, 2025). There are around 130,000 resources in New York listed in the National Register, either as individual sites or as parts of historic districts.
Our list recognizes decades of work by historic preservationists. They are listed here in no particular order, but rather by characteristic or region to give a flavor of the different types of listings on the register.
The Board – which was established in 1972 and expanded by the New York State Historic Preservation Act of 1980 – works with the New York State Historic Preservation Office to review nominations to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. You can learn more about the State Review Board online.
As our understanding of history grows, so do the stories we tell about our past. The upcoming commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution (2025) and the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in New York and 200th anniversary of the ending of legalized slavery in New York (both in 2027) provide the perfect opportunity for a re-examination of these key events in American history.
On Saturday, November 16, 2024, the public and staff members from New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation gathered at Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site in Yonkers and online for “Making History: Revolution, Abolition, and Preservation in New York State,” a symposium highlighting the agency’s Our Whole History initiative. The initiative starts with acknowledging that our understanding of history is complex and nuanced, and evolves with historical research. Our Whole History actively fills in parts of history that were previously ignored to gain a more complete understanding of the past.
The digital chirrup of my alarm shakes me from my slumber. I dress, kiss my wife goodbye, get in my car and drive to work. After burning my tongue on hot coffee, I step through the doors of my workplace. This, however, is no ordinary door. It is a wooden drawbridge across a dry moat, guarded by five iron cannons pointed directly at me as I hurry to clock in.
Old Fort Niagara’s first entrance, a drawbridge over a dry moat.
The second door I must pass is a stalwart oaken gate attached to a great stone tower built by British engineers in 1770. I step into our office, the façade of the old provisions warehouse that once supplied every English fort in the Great Lakes region. Once inside, my colleagues and I receive the morning’s briefing and decide who will dress in what uniform and who will carry what firearm onto the field today.
Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Derek, and I am a historical interpreter at Old Fort Niagara. It is my job to portray — in a living, breathing image — the lifestyle of a soldier in the eighteenth century.
Blog post authorDerek Schultz, historical interpreter at Old Fort Niagara.
I suppose I should begin where it makes most sense to begin; getting ready for “battle,” so to speak. In the case of our current garrison, this involves layering a linen shirt, wool socks, wool breeches, a double-layered long-sleeved wool vest, a double layered long-sleeved wool overcoat, a leather belt and cartridge box, leather buckled shoes, and a wool felt hat. Perfect for summer weather!
In 2024, New York State Parks and Historic Sites will celebrate our Centennial, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of our parks and sites system. While we have incredible public properties older than the 100-year-old system, the Centennial celebrates the vital legislation that allowed us to build and expand our network of parks and sites, forging the system we know and love today.
As OPRHP Commissioner, I am reminded every day of the immense pride and enjoyment New Yorkers take in our facilities. To prepare New York State residents and visitors from around the world for the exciting year ahead, I recently embarked on a two-day journey to showcase the breadth of our parks and sites system, highlighting various activities and partnerships that make our system so unique.
New York State Parks and Historic Sites Blog 