Stephen Blauweiss and Karen Berelowitz tell the origin story of New York’s first capital city in the recently published The Story of Historic Kingston, a kind of documentary film in book form. (With Lynn Woods, Blauweiss codirected Lost Rondout, documenting urban renewal’s effect on the city’s waterfront neighborhood.) Over 950 photos, maps, and drawings are spread across 475 pages in the book, weaving together a town history that dates back to the Ice Age. The book is broken into two parts—the Ulster County section takes readers through the land’s earliest recorded history through the mid-20th century. It also includes details about the construction of some of the area’s iconic landmarks, including the Wurts Street Bridge and the James Taylor Knox-designed post office, which was torn down in 1969 and replaced with a Jack in the Box. Historic Kingston, the book’s second section, takes a deeper look at the city’s neighborhoods, detailing life in the city through historic photographs and ephemera.
—Brian K. Mahoney
Opened in 1897, the Kingston Point Park was designed by Downing Vaux and included lush gardens as well as a Ferris wheel, carousel, movie theater, dance hall, and convention center. Photo courtesy Library of Congress
