A Week of Significant Events Approaches

As regular readers know, this year--this month--marks the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Elaborate plans are being made (which you've heard about more than once on Gossips and will hear about again before they come to fruitation) to re-create what transpired when the train bearing the body of Lincoln from Washington, D.C., to Springfield, Illinois, stopped briefly in Hudson on the night of April 25. In the days surrounding this event, much is happening in Hudson--some part of the sesquicentennial commemoration, some not.  So mark your calendars and organize your schedules. These are events you won't want to miss.

On Sunday, April 19, as part of the Lincoln Funeral Train Commemoration, the 77th New York Regimental Balladeers will be performing at the First Presbyterian Church, 369 Warren Street. Of no little significance, Lincoln's funeral took place on April 19, 1865, and on the 150th anniversary of that event, the Balladeers will present a musical tribute to the life and times of Lincoln called Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Nation Mourns. The concert begins at 3 p.m.

Wednesday, April 22, has historic significance for our city. On that day, in 1785, the City of Hudson was incorporated. Hudson FORWARD is planning to celebrate Hudson's 230th birthday with a party to kick off its voter registration drive. The goal of the drive is to register, appropriately, 230 new voters. The party begins at 6 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce, 1 North Front Street.

Also on Wednesday, April 22, as part of the Lincoln Funeral Train Commemoration, there will be a special screening of the 2012 movie Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis. The movie begins at 7 p.m., so if you don't linger too long at the birthday party, you should be able to do both. 

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--April 24, 25, and 26--there will be a special exhibit at the Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 113 Warren Street. Entitled Lincoln's Long Journey Home, the exhibit "tells the story of the assassination of President Lincoln and the trip on the Funeral Train." Included in the exhibit will be a replica of the tiny derringer used by John Wilkes Booth to shoot Lincoln. The exhibit is open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. on each of the three days.

On Saturday, April 25, at 3 p.m., Basilica Hudson opens its 2015 season with 24-Hour Drone: Experiments in Sound and Music. This long duration event, to which attendees are invited to bring "camping pads, yoga mats and/or pillows; sleeping bags/blankets, comfortable clothes, bottles for refill at Basilica's water fountain, and endurance enhancing snacks," will pause at precisely 8:45 p.m. to embrace another event beginning at that hour just outside the Basilica doors: the re-creation of what happened when Lincoln's funeral train stopped briefly in Hudson that night. Afterward, back at the Basilica, Bobby Previte will conduct an ensemble of Hudson Valley musicians in his re-imagining of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, narrated by Brian Dewan.

Gossips has written about the re-creation before and will do so again, but, as you're planning your activities for the end of April, keep in mind that the re-creation, based on Assistant Adjutant General Edward Townsend's journal account of what transpired, in which he describes the scene in Hudson as "one of the most weird ever witnessed," begins at 8:45 p.m. in front of the Kite's Nest building at Basilica Hudson and proceeds across South Front Street and the railroad tracks to the lawn beside the old Dunn warehouse. Everyone attending the re-creation is urged to join in the torchlight procession and be part of the weird scene.

On Sunday, April 26, there is an event that is not part of the Lincoln Funeral Train Commemoration but nonetheless will appeal to those who love history, especially Hudson's architectural history. Historic Hudson is reviving its tradition of holding an annual meeting that fulfills the requirements of its bylaws but feels more like a party. This year, the meeting will take place at 620 Union Street, the former Home for the Aged, which in 1865, when Lincoln's funeral train passed through, was the home of Robert and Sarah McKinstry.

Historic Hudson's annual meeting takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. and is open to all members of the organization--past, present, and future.
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