Happening in the New Year

Next year, 2026, marks the Semiquincentennial, or the Quarter Millenium, of the United States. Although, to my knowledge, there are no Semiquincentennial Minutes on TV, like the Bicentennial Minutes of fifty years ago, there are events being planned locally to commemorate the country's anniversary. The first of those happening in Columbia County begins two weeks from today.

A series of public events commemorating the historic 1776 passage of the Knox Expedition through northern Columbia County during the Revolutionary War will be held from January 4 to 10 at various locations in Kinderhook and Hillsdale.

The Knox Expedition was one of the war's more heroic achievements and gave the Continental Army one of its earliest victories. Sixty tons of cannon and munitions were transported 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, secretly and in the dead of winter, to drive out British forces who had been pinned down by local militias since the Battle of Bunker Hill the prior June. Leading the expedition was Colonel Henry Knox, a self-educated, 25-year-old Boston bookseller who had impressed General George Washington with his knowledge of military strategy and engineering.

January 4, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at the James Vanderpoel House, 16 Broad Street, Kinderhook Columbia County Historians and the Columbia County Historical Society will be commemorating the Knox Noble Train of Artillery, which entered the Kinderhook District on January 4, 1776. This event will be an opportunity to speak with local historians and CCHS staff about the Noble Train's impact on the Revolutionary War.

January 9, 10:00 a.m. at the James Vanderpoel House Knox Train re-enactors will be in the Village of Kinderhook to discuss the passage of the Noble Train through Kinderhook. The presentation will begin at 10:00 a.m., followed at 11:00 a.m. by refreshments and remarks under a heated tent.

January 10, 11:30 a.m. at Hillsdale Firehouse, 9387 State Route 22, Hillsdale Hillsdale will host costumed re-enactors from Fort Ticonderoga in an entertaining, educational program about the Knox Train of Artillery, which passed through North Hillsdale (then called Nobletown) before crossing into Massachusetts on January 10. Free food and beverages will be served.

"The Revolutionary War's early battles took place at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, but the conflict spread rapidly to other colonies; nearly one-third of the war's engagements actually occurred in New York, many in the Hudson Valley," said Hillsdale's Co-Town Historian Lauren Letellier. "While Columbia County did not see any battles, it was strategically important to both American and British forces as a corridor for troop and supply movement. The Knox Expedition was one of the most stupendous logical feats of the war, and Knox and his crew completed it over challenging terrain in only 56 days. Bringing this piece of Revolutionary War history to life at the local level will be exciting and fun for everyone involved."