This year’s event features two local bands. Ballston Spa High School band, Assembly Required will perform at 7PM, followed by local band, The Familiars As always, the concert proceeds support the museum’s education programs which serve several thousand school children each year.

“Without events such as the Brookside Bash benefit concert, programs such as Sheep to Shawl simply wouldn’t happen,” said Joy Houle, Brookside’s Executive Director. “This year, over 1,500 people attended Sheep to Shawl, experiencing a program the museum has offered for over thirty years. Brookside’s fundraisers allow children to attend these programs at reduced rates.”

Tickets to the Brookside Bash are $12 in advance, and $15 at the door, and there will be food and a cash bar available all evening. Tickets can be purchased from www.brooksidemuseum.org or by contacting the museum at 518.885.4000 or jhoule@brooksidemuseum.org.

The Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside is a non-profit organization located at 6 Charlton Street in Ballston Spa that inspires community memory by telling the story of Saratoga County through engaging exhibits and interactive programs. Brookside’s programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org  or call 518.885.4000.

Contact:

Joy Houle | Executive Director

Saratoga County Historical Society

Ph: 518.885.4000.

Email: jhoule@brooksidemuseum.org

All the night’s proceeds will go directly to funding the museum collections! The night will be hosted by DJ Mark Hersh, and all teams will be made up of four people with prizes up for grabs. Admission is $40 per table ($10 per person in a team of 4). A cash bar will be available. There will only be a couple of questions on local history, so don’t feel you can’t join in because you are new to the area!

Seats are limited, so feel free to stop by the museum and purchase tickets beforehand!

Contact Aoife Conerney| Volunteer Curatorial Assistant for details! 

Ph: 518.885.4000

Email: aoife.conerney@gmail.com

Kick off summer at the Brookside Bash, featuring local band, The Familiars.  The show is on Friday, June 7. The Familiars performs at 8; doors open at 6. A cash bar and BBQ food will be available. Tickets will be $12 in advance; click here to order via PayPal.

(Cost increases to $15 at the door.)

Proceeds support education programs for thousands of Capital Region children!

Questions? Contact Joy at 885.4000 or jhoule@brooksidemuseum.org

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SUPPORTERS!

May 10, 2013 (Ballston Spa, NY) The Saratoga County Historical Society today announced that a series of Wedding Photography will be on display in the Long Room from June 7 to 28, complimenting the beginning of the Here Comes the Bride show, also starting in June.

The photographs on display will be on loan from several local wedding photographers. We wanted to work with local photographers and be able to show modern wedding photography, which is very different from the historic photos we will have on display in Here Comes the Bride.

Here Comes the Bride opens on June 14, 2013. This exciting exhibition will feature historic wedding gowns, invitations, marriage certificates, photographs, and other wedding items from the museum’s collection of historic artifacts from Saratoga County.

The Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside is a non-profit organization located at 6 Charlton Street in Ballston Spa that inspires community memory by telling the story of Saratoga County through engaging exhibits and interactive programs. Brookside’s programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org or call 518.885.4000.

Contact:

Kathleen Coleman| Curator

Brookside Museum

Saratoga County Historical Society

6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Ph: 518.885.4000

Email: kcoleman@brooksidemuseum.org

The stories were written by author Mary Cuffe Perez of Galway from interviews with ten residents of the county run nursing home during 2012-13. The stories, two pages each, are compiled in the collection, What We Keep: Life Stories from Maplewood Manor, published by

the Village Press of Galway Central School. Students from the Press were also photographers for the project and publication designers.

The stories focus on life episodes inspired by keepsakes – whether object, photo, song or just a vivid memory. Storytellers range in age from 76 to 98 and their stories offer a one of a kind point of view on life during the last century.

Warren Foote, 95, tells of the night he and his buddies met at the Union Hotel in Ballston Spa and “drank themselves into the war.” Mary Parente, who lived in Mechanicville when it was a central railroad hub, remembers all the way back to the ocean voyage that brought her to America when she was only five years old. Others recount “making do” during the Depression; of life in rural communities before electricity; of working for the mills and on the GE assembly line during the war; of trolleys and trains, of the rise and fall of local industries.

Many of the people interviewed had never told their stories to anyone, not even family members. “People don’t ask us about our lives,” says Lillian Bills, a resident of Maplewood who formerly lived in Galway, NY. “They tell us about their lives, but they don’t ask us about ours.”

“It’s time to ask,” says Mary Cuffe Perez. “Each person I spoke with for this project had something singular and often surprising to share – whether an experience or observation. They each have a one of a kind perspective on the times they lived through.”

Many of the people whose stories are in the booklet will be in the audience for the reading, along with family members, some of whom will read their relative’s story. A PowerPoint with photos of each storyteller will be shown along with a brief talk about the project.

The Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside is a non-profit organization located at 6 Charlton Street in Ballston Spa that inspires community memory by telling the story of Saratoga County through engaging exhibits and interactive programs. Brookside’s programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org or call 518.885.4000.
Contact:

Joy Houle| Director

Brookside Museum

Saratoga County Historical Society

6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Ph: 518.885.4000

Email: jhoule@brooksidemuseum.org

The students explored the theme Capturing Saratoga, and were asked to look at landmarks, special places and people within the county.

The Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside is a non-profit organization located at 6 Charlton Street in Ballston Spa that inspires community memory by telling the story of Saratoga County through engaging exhibits and interactive programs. Brookside’s programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org or call 518.885.4000.

Contact:

Kathleen Coleman | Curator

Brookside Museum

Saratoga County Historical Society

6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Ph: 518.885.4000

Email: kcoleman@brooksidemuseum.org

We need supplies! We need volunteer labor! We need the community to watch this project! And sure, we can use some money too!

Want to volunteer? Here’s what we need: Volunteers to help with the garden installation, others to help set up/ arrange booths, and others to help prepare food for volunteers. All volunteers for garden installation must be 12+.

Want to donate supplies? Email Joy at jhoule@brooksidemuseum.org and she’ll get you a current list of needs.

Want to come watch? Please do! This whole project will be complete in one day!

Want to support the project with a donation? We use PayPal, which is totally safe and secure. Just click the link below, and make sure you note “Go Green” on the form.
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=naODoEg5Jpn0wyvZSSp9ZJTU1-lDBr5QHNxhyyIh5OIce4fMlA9pFdtWTKS&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8d5348ead9d61c709ee8c979deef3ea735

You can find out ways to help here:https://docs.google.com/a/brooksidemuseum.org/forms/d/1qXoFhGO0bO99U1w81CsOu_qFD28R35H-cZ8_a-dTDFE/edit

March 20, 2013 (Ballston Spa, NY) The Saratoga County Historical Society, today announced that for the fourth year in a row, the partnership between major capital region retailer Kohl’s Department Stores, and Chip’s Landscaping will produce a new sustainable water feature and gardens here at the museum’s site.

Joy Houle says, “I’m very excited about the project, not only because it’s ‘green’ and beautiful, but also because it should draw visitors to the museum’s beautiful site, where they can see an eco system at work.”

A new twist to the annual ‘Go Green’ build: this year, beneficiary, Brookside Museum, will be not only be receiving a new natural, sustainable water garden on site, but a unique element for the museum to supplement existing educational programming. The feature will create a sustainable ecosystem to serve as an outdoor history learning lab. We call it “Learning and Making History with Green”, says Chips Landscaping Master Gardener, Sue Ann DuBois. The new water garden will compliment the historical nature of the grounds. Design will include a pond-less waterfall with natural stream, and rainwater harvesting system to capture and reuse rainwater from the extensive Museum roof system. The expansive roof system of this historical structure has the potential to capture over 34,000 gallons of annual precipitation! A portion of this rainwater will be reused to sustain the water feature with potential to also serve as an irrigation source for perimeter gardens. The gardens will feature native plantings, “nativores” and infusion of historical artifacts within.

To help out and sign up to volunteer, please take a look here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qXoFhGO0bO99U1w81CsOu_qFD28R35H-cZ8_a-dTDFE/viewform

The Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside is a non-profit organization located at 6 Charlton Street in Ballston Spa that inspires community memory by telling the story of Saratoga County through engaging exhibits and interactive programs. Brookside’s programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org  or call 518.885.4000.

Contact:

Joy Houle | Executive Director

Saratoga County Historical Society

Brookside Museum

6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Ph: 518.885.4000.

Email: jhoule@brooksidemuseum.org

Discover how one of the nation’s worst floods interrupted life in and around Saratoga County. Through photographs, newspaper articles and personal accounts, Corinth Historian Rachel Clothier will explain how this natural disaster destroyed local landmarks and created permanent changes in the area.  Suggested donation: $5.00.

The Saratoga County Historical Society at Brookside is a non-profit organization located at 6 Charlton Street in Ballston Spa that inspires community memory by telling the story of Saratoga County through engaging exhibits and interactive programs. Brookside’s programs and services are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, please visit brooksidemuseum.org  or call 518.885.4000.
Contact:

Carolyn McGraw| Administrative Assistant

Brookside Museum

Saratoga County Historical Society

6 Charlton Street, Ballston Spa, NY 12020

Ph: 518.885.4000

Email: admin@brooksidemuseum.org