Up the River

Welcome back to the blog! Today, we begin a series covering my December 2021 trip to the Hudson River Valley. The official name of the region, as related to the National Park Service, is the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. The area is vast, stretching from Yonkers, NY, in the south to just north of Albany (but not quite to Saratoga). In that 150-mile range are historic houses, Revolutionary War routes and battlefields, and even the home of a former president. In all, there are 83 sites to visit. We managed only a handful over the weekend, so you can see that a full exploration would take many months! 

I based this kick-off page on a sketch I had saved. I was digging through my stash and came across CM's Gallivant from 2017. There were just scraps of paper and a few stickers left, so I decided to use what I could and recycle the rest. I added a piece of non-CM paper that's been in the stash for a while. The gray-toned paper with the driving logos matched the original Gallivant papers well. CM had suggested Evergreen cardstock, but that color is no longer made. I chose Sequoia, with its gray-green tone, and it proved a good choice. I also used some blue-gray cardstock that matched the mountains, the brochure, and my sweatshirt for some of the contrast strips and triangles. 

The right side page mat is a piece of vellum with a map printed on it. I trimmed that somewhat larger than the original sketch, but I didn't want to cut down my bridge photos. Keeping the larger photos meant I wouldn't have room for the tags at the top, so I moved them to the bottom, which created a bit of symmetry with the left page. I had initially planned this as an itinerary page, but then decided that for a 2-day trip, that wasn't necessary. I changed the focus to my arrival in the area. It did give me a spot for the Hudson River Valley brochure, though!

The Patriot on the Hill

We have reached the final entry for the 2021 Union County Four Centuries in a Weekend. While at the Deserted Village, we walked up the hill behind the general store (the one you saw in the last blog post) to find a reenactor discussing the property's original owner. John Willcocks (later Wilcox) used the abundant forest to create a sawmill and sell planks for building homes. He was killed in the evacuation of Fort Lee (NY) during the War of Independence. He is not buried here, but has an original tombstone and an updated one that is a tad more legible. We enjoyed our talk with the reenactor about what life was like for soldiers of the period.

This layout is based on one of the 101 Sketches book from CM (page 82). I rotated the sketch 90 degrees because most of the photos were vertical. The background paper is from the Bedazzled collection. I love that dark blue tonal pattern with the gold stars. The white mats with gold stripes are also from that collection. The "Patriot" card is from a page my mom gave me from a colonial paper she found. The "journal box" is really a remnant of red-and-white striped paper from a 6x6 tablet. The little birdhouse worked well here as we were standing in the forest.

Where'd Everybody Go?

Welcome back to the Union County Four Centuries in a Weekend 2021 event. The last stop on our tour was called The Deserted Village. This location is a bit like one where restaurants come and go. None of them seems able to thrive for very long. This parcel of land was, in turn, a sawmill, a print shop (which required an entire village to operate), and a summer resort. As each venture failed, the buildings began to deteriorate slightly. A local foundation is raising funds and actively renovating many of the structures so they can be toured, with the eventual goal of housing people again. A barn has been restored and now hosts weddings. There is a tie-in to the Revolutionary War, which you'll see in the next blog post.

This layout was made for Tammy McEwen's end-of-year challenge. It was originally a sketch from the CM August 2025 Virtual Crop (scroll to sketch #3). As I contemplated the papers to use, I wanted something with an almost camping theme. I chose Earthy Home, and while it's stored in my heritage theme box, it could also be in the Camping and Nature box with the wooden texture paper and green leaf patterns. The top border, called "Charming Village," is intended for Christmas pages. But punched from a brown cardstock, it becomes my deserted village in the middle of the forest! A few random stickers from my stash reinforced the nature theme and the fall colors.

Too Salty

Welcome back to the 2021 Four Centuries in a Weekend series. The next visit was to the Salt Box House. Originally, salt boxes had a very steep slope on the opening edge. Here's an example of one.

Compare that to the slope on the back side of this house. This house style was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in snow-prone areas, because the steep slope allowed snow to slide off without damaging the roof and deflected strong winds. 

This is another stop on the Crossroads of the American Revolution, but it lacks a substantial piece of war history. The houses (2 houses joined) were built well after the War of Independence, though they contain artifacts from the war era. The collection is just that — a collection of donated items. Many of these historical societies need a professional curator to create distinct displays and stories for the houses. On the plus side, we found a historic nursing outfit, and as both Mel and I are nurses, we enjoyed posing with it. There's another oxen yoke too..... (Read the journaling on this blog post.)

This layout is inspired by Tammy McEwen's end-of-year challenge. Initially, it was CM's March 2025 sketch, which you can see here. Scroll to sketch #3. I had used it previously on this John Smith Chesapeake layout. You'll agree that the change of paper creates a dramatic difference between the 2. This layout uses Memoirs and Memories paper, and finishes off my stash of it. I chose a dark background and light-toned documents for the various elements, with the last edge in dotted gray. Instead of punching a design, I simply tore the edges for a vintage feel. The title box is from one of the original CM Archiver's collections. The "What a Trip" title sticker is printed in white, so it needs to be mounted on a dark cardstock strip to be visible. A few "antique" flowers from my stash finished off the layout.

Bonus post--Making it Work

Hello all! I'm adding a bonus post as I'm playing with Lasting Memories Challenges again. This post shows some of the downstairs areas of the Franklin D. Roosevelt House in Hyde Park, near Poughkeepsie, New York. This is part of my Hudson River Valley tour, which you'll see soon. When FDR contracted Polio, the house had to be modified to accommodate his wheelchair. The stairs to the downstairs rooms were replaced with ramps. Luckily, the family had put in an early elevator to haul luggage from the bedrooms to the entry hall. FDR used that for transport upstairs.

I put this layout together for the Lasting Memories challenge: using a quote. Since that's the only rule, I started by looking for a sketch to follow, and I chose this sketch from Club Scrap. They post a bonus sketch for those who receive monthly kits. I found a few of the layout instructions, so I was able to use them for my pages. I chose papers from the latest CM Decades packs. This one uses papers and stickers from the 1920s-1930s, which are right in the home's time period. I wanted to highlight how the Roosevelt family accommodated FDR's paralysis from polio, beginning when he was 21. I found a sticker that says, "Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances" (Benjamin Franklin). I thought that an apt saying for these photos and his drive to overcome his illness.

Scrapbookers Unite!

Welcome back to my 2021 Four Centuries in a Weekend trip. Our next stop was the Carter House. There is no significant reason this house is included in the Crossroads of the Revolution. It's the oldest house in Summit Township, preserved and moved to its current location by the historical society. No battles here; no prominent citizens lived here. It's just a lovely old house. It is currently home to the Historical Society, and what I loved most was the stacks of scrapbooks from the area. For anyone who wonders what will happen to their albums when they are gone, you should offer them to historical societies. They like seeing the everyday lives of people in the area.

This Layout is based on another of Tammy McEwen's end-of-the-year challenges. It's from the February 2025 CM Virtual Crop; you can see the sketch here. Scroll to sketch #3. I used Legacy of Love for the floral background paper, the title card, and the stickers. The borders along the edge of the patterned paper are from the Burlap and Lace collection. The title card matched the sketch perfectly, and I needed one more photo spot to complete it. Serendipity!

The Fighting Parson

Welcome back to the 2021 Four Centuries in a weekend event. This layout focuses on the Caldwell Parsonage, which is a fancy way of saying "house where the preacher lived." You'll remember that I mentioned Reverend Caldwell when we saw the church he preached at in Elizabeth, NJ. He and his wife, Hannah (pictured on the trading card), lived here with their 10 children. 

The Battle of Connecticut Farms Church, discussed in the last blog, is relevant here. As the British soldiers retreated, they streamed past this house. A shot was fired, which entered the home and killed Hannah. Was it intentional? Was it to get back at her husband, who had been preaching Independence along with the bible? No one really knows. But the moment is sealed into Union County history as the portrayal of her murder is featured in the official County Seal! The original house was, of course, burned by a Loyalist mob, but this home was rebuilt on the original foundation. 

This is the site of the local Historical Society, and so the contents range from the 1700s through the 1800s. The braided hair death memorial is typical of the 19th century, but it fascinates me. I had to take issue with the guided tour, though. We were shown a hip bath and told that families bathed in order, all in one bath, and that by the time the youngest were washed, the water was pretty dirty, which is where the phrase "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" originated. This is FALSE. Please stop repeating it. That phrase and others are debunked in this Snopes page.

This layout is based on another challenge in Tammy McEwen's end-of-year event. This one goes back to the CM November 2025 virtual crop, and it's the same sketch I used for the East Jersey Olde Towne Print Shop. Because it's different papers on the same sketch, you'd never know that they are from the same source material! It also helps that I had flipped the first layout horizontally. This one uses the Legacy of Love pack. I found 2 sticker borders for the right-side page, then a laser-cut border with a similar pattern for the left vertical strip. I thought that, based on Hannah and Reverend Caldwell's family life, Legacy of Love was a fitting title for this layout.