To the Editor:

Perhaps you have seen the installation of green lecterns along our village streets? They are the posts that will display text panels using the village’s archival images placed for a walking tour to learn about our village’s origins.

It will be called Altamont’s Museum in the Streets and will depict various aspects of the village buildings’ history in 26 locations throughout the Village. The village plans to open the project in July so visitors and residents may stroll our streets, and visit our businesses, while they learn about our past. Look for announcements of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A large panel will be installed In Orsini Park and will provide a stylized map of Altamont to help visitors get oriented to our village and to locate the individual lecterns at each of the 26 sites on the walking tour. The area defined by the map was once farmland and was included in a vast tract of land owned by Dutch diamond and pearl merchant Killian Van Rensselaer. Early settlers were tenant farmers, required to pay an annual rent to the land’s owner.

What is now Main Street was once a trail linking the fertile Schoharie Valley to the markets in Albany. A tavern, the Wayside Inn, opened after the Revolutionary War along this trail, halfway between Albany and Schoharie.

For over 50 years, the Wayside Inn remained the only commercial structure in the midst of what was essentially farmland. The settlement of Knowersville was located approximately a mile east of the Wayside Inn, centered around the Jacob Crounse Inn, the first school, and stores.

A railroad route was mapped through what would become Altamont prior to the Civil War and, after the first train came through in 1863, a building boom transformed this farming area into a thriving community.  By the time the village incorporated in 1890, there were hotels, grocery stores, a post office, a carriage factory, a shoemaker, a tin shop, a furniture store, an undertaker, a library, a newspaper, three churches, and a school.

Altamont has always welcomed its visitors. We are proud of our history and proud to have the opportunity to welcome everyone to our Museum in the Streets to learn about our history; to enjoy our parks and green spaces; patronize our businesses; and visit our historic churches, and our renovated train station, now the home of the Altamont Free Library.  If you are here in August, do not miss the Altamont Fair, celebrating its 125th year.

The Village Board initiated the project in early 2016.  All images that will be used are the property of the Village of Altamont Archives and Museum.  The village owes a debt of gratitude to photo specialist Ron Ginsburg, researcher Keith C. Lee, and archives curator Marijo Dougherty for their contributions to the success of this project.

Special thanks to The Altamont Enterprise, for 130 years of chronicling the growth and vibrancy of our village, and whose historic records provided excellent source materials.  We also recognize the cooperation and assistance of Altamont’s Department of Public Works, without wich the installation would not be possible. Most importantly, the village of Altamont wishes to thank our property owners for their support and cooperation.

The Museum in the Streets installation is made possible by grants from the Hudson River Valley Greenway and from Assemblymember Patricia Fahy. Generous donations were also received from: Jeff Thomas, Stewart’s Shops, CM Fox/ Remedies Wine and Spirits, the Cure Family, Sundown Lawn and Landscape, Altamont Community Tradition, and the Village of Altamont’s Roger Keenholts Fund.

No tax dollars were used in this private-public partnership.

If you have any questions, contact the village office at (518) 861-8554, ext. 10 or fill out the contact form on the village website:  altamontvillage.org,

Hon James M. Gaughan

Mayor of Altamont, 2005-2017