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1963: A North Country Racehorse Makes Good

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With the Kentucky Derby fast approaching, here’s an item from 1963, when a horse whose name had North Country ties nearly won the coveted Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont). The owner was John W. Galbreath, well known nationally and a frequent visitor to the Adirondacks. While his wealth was notable, it was in the world of sports that Galbreath earned his greatest fame.

He owned baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates from 1946–1985 (one of his partners was Bing Crosby), winning the World Series in 1960, 1971, and 1979. He was also a graduate of Ohio State and a longtime supporter of the school’s athletic program, one of the most successful in the nation.

Galbreath became fabulously wealthy as a real estate developer, owning major properties in Columbus, Los Angeles, New York, and Pittsburgh. In 1986, the family fortune was estimated at $400 million. Despite his substantial fame in baseball and real estate, Galbreath’s favorite subject was horseracing. Perhaps the name of his birthplace (in 1897) was a good omen for a future in the sport: he was born in Derby, Ohio.

Among other things, Galbreath’s great wealth allowed him to indulge his passion. He became involved in horse racing in the 1930s, eventually serving as chairman of Churchill Downs in Louisville (where the Kentucky Derby is run). Near Columbus, Ohio, he developed the famed Darby Dan Farm into a 4000-acre spread, producing many outstanding racehorses.

He had never won the Kentucky Derby, a goal of all major owners, and in 1963, none of Galbreath’s horses seemed particularly promising. Then, shortly before the Derby, one of his colts captured three straight races, including the Bluegrass Stakes. Suddenly, anything was possible.

The horse’s name was Chateaugay, and despite the sudden success, most of the media hype went to several other competitors prior to the Triple Crown races. Never Bend was the leading money-winner, and Candy Spots and No Robbery were the first undefeated horses to face off in the Derby in 88 years.

In front of 120,000 fans at the Kentucky Derby, Galbreath’s favorite horse went off at 9-1 odds. There appeared to be little chance for success. After running at mid-pack for much of the race, Chateaugay moved up to fourth. Near the final stretch, future-hall-of-fame-jockey Braulio Baeza steered his horse through an opening to the inside, and Chateaugay strode to the front, topping all the pre-race stars to win by 1? lengths.

In race number two, the Preakness, the same strategy was employed. This time, Chateaugay came roaring to the front but fell just short, finishing 3? lengths behind winner Candy Spots. In the Belmont, the results were very similar to the Preakness, but this time, Chateaugay’s charge to the lead was successful, overtaking Candy Spots to win by 2? lengths.

Only a close loss at the Preakness prevented Chateaugay from winning the Triple Crown, but Galbreath’s colt had proven nevertheless to be a great racehorse.

During this time, the excitement in the North Country was fairly palpable, especially in the town of Chateaugay (in the northeast corner of Franklin County). Many residents were fervent supporters of Galbreath and his horse, and the famed owner expressed his appreciation in a letter that appeared in local newspapers:

Dear Mr. Peacock:
It was certainly nice of you to write me a letter about Chateaugay winning the Kentucky Derby. Several people have asked me how we happened to name this horse as we did.

As you perhaps know, we have some interest in Lyon Mountain and Mineville, New York [the iron mines], and while I was up there several years ago, I saw the name Chateaugay. I made the remark at the time that I thought it was a pretty name for a town, and also thought it would be a good name for a horse.

Since Chateaugay’s older sister, Primonetta, was our best filly to date, we naturally hoped this colt would be a good one, and for that reason, we applied the name to him.

It has been very gratifying indeed to have so many nice letters from people of your town, and I hope you will thank the members of the Chamber of Commerce for their nice telegram which they sent under your name last week. I am going to have some pictures made just as soon as we receive the proofs, and I will eventually send you a picture which you can use for publishing in the paper.

Thank you again for your nice letter and wire.
Sincerely yours,
John W. Galbreath

In honor of the victory, Galbreath named one of Darby Dan’s buildings “Gay Chateau” (well before a new meaning for “gay” entered the vernacular).

A few years after winning the Derby, Chateaugay was retired to stud service, first at Darby Dan Farm, and later in Japan after his sale to racing interests there. He died in 1985.

Galbreath died in 1988 at the age of 90. Besides a grand legacy in the sporting world, he left behind the John W. Galbreath Company, America’s third-largest real estate developer. A second Darby Dan horse, Proud Clarion, won the Derby in 1967, but it was Chateaugay who first made Galbreath’s long-held dream a reality.

Photos: Top?Chateaugay after winning the Kentucky Derby (1963). Bottom?Chateaugay after winning the Belmont Stakes (1963).

Lawrence Gooley has authored ten books and dozens of articles on the North Country’s past. He and his partner, Jill McKee, founded Bloated Toe Enterprises in 2004. Expanding their services in 2008, they have produced 20 titles to date, and are now offering web design. For information on book publishing, visit Bloated Toe Publishing.

Thomas Cole Historic Site Opens Mignot Exhibit

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Louis Remy MignotThe Thomas Cole National Historic Site has opened a new exhibition: Worlds Between: Landscapes of Louis Remy Mignot. Curated by Katherine E. Manthorne, this is the first major solo show of Louis Remy Mignot (1831-1870) in over two decades. The exhibition will offer an intimate look at the work of this young, Charleston-born artist who painted in the style of the Hudson River School – and whose tragic life story is as captivating as his landscape paintings.


In this exhibition the Thomas Cole National Historic Site offers a rare chance to see a full range of Mignot’s work. The catalogue produced for the exhibit includes full-color reproductions of the paintings and an essay by Dr. Manthorne. Guest Curator Katherine Manthorne brings her expertise on traveler artists to the exhibition and accompanying catalog, which offers a fresh look at Mignot as a painter whose global journeying fed his unique artistic creativity. 

Specifically, at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site one may view Mignot’s early Dutch landscapes, subtly nuanced snow scenes, coloristic Tropical landscapes, and painterly European pictures. To celebrate the legacy he inherited from Thomas Cole, the exhibition highlights Mignot’s distinctive views of upstate New York and the Hudson River Valley. In many ways, the gallery at the Cole Site offers the perfect venue for this artist living between worlds. 

 Louis Remy Mignot (1831-1870) lived between many worlds: he was a Southern artist living in New York City in the years leading up to the Civil War- a French-Catholic, he worked within a predominantly Anglo-Protestant community of artists- he traveled from the American South to South America, and painted both subtle snow scenes and fiery tropical pictures. He belonged to the inner circles of polar opposites &#8211 Frederic Church and James Whistler- and in his all too short career, his style moved from Hudson River School realism toward Aestheticism. 

His art and life embodied the mobility that characterized the 19th c. Atlantic world, as he moved from one busy, cosmopolitan port to another. Mignot grew up in Charleston, S.C., where the slave-holding Low Country planter elite frequented his father’s coffee house and confectionary on King Street. At age 17 he traveled to The Hague in the Netherlands for artistic training, and then moved to New York City. From there he visited tourist sites from New York’s Hudson Valley to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. In 1857 he explored South America, painting the steamy lowlands and lagoons that rivaled the Andean panoramas of his traveling companion Frederic Church. 

With the outbreak of Civil War, his southern identity and world experiences made it difficult for him either to remain in the North or to return home to Carolina, and he took up his travels again. Mignot never reached his intended destination of India, but got as far as London. Ever restless, he spent summers in the Swiss Alps and headed for Paris in 1870, where he was trapped during the Commune and contracted small pox. He died at age 39, leaving behind one of the most diverse and sophisticated bodies of work of any American landscapist. 

This is the 9th annual presentation of 19th century landscape paintings at the Thomas Cole site. The exhibition program seeks to foster discussion and understanding of the influence of Thomas Cole on American culture through a generation of artists known as the Hudson River School. Worlds Between &#8211 Landscapes of Louis Remy Mignot will be on view until October 28, 2012. 

DIRECTIONS: The Thomas Cole Historic Site is located in the scenic Hudson River Valley, at 218 Spring Street in Catskill, New York. Located near the western entrance to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, with easy access from the New York State Thruway exit 21 or Amtrak train service in Hudson, detailed directions and more information can be found at www.thomascole.org or call 518-943-7465. 

HOURS: Starting May 3rd, the Main House and Old Studio are open for tours from 10 to 4pm, with the last tour at 3pm, Thursday through Sunday, through October 28th. Admission to the grounds is free and open dawn until dusk.

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Guided Tours at the Shaker Heritage Society

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The Shaker Heritage Society is offering guided tours of America’s first Shaker Settlement. Tours will run every Saturday beginning May 5th through September 29th. Participants will learn the story of the Shakers, a group that played important roles in shaping local and national history. The grounds also house a historic herb garden, chickens, turkeys, and oxen, the grave of Shaker founder Mother Ann Lee and other important Shakers in the Shaker cemetery.

Guided tours begin the 1848 Shaker Meeting House at the site of America’s first Shaker settlement. The historic site is adjacent to Albany International Airport off of Heritage Lane. Tours begin at 1:00pm. There is a suggested donation of $5.

For more information visit www.shakerheritage.org or call 518-456-7890.

Stoddard’s Natural Views Exhibit Opeing May 4th

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Long considered beautiful photographs of the Adirondack landscape, Seneca Ray Stoddard’s views also serve as documents of the plants that inhabited the region in the 19th century. Since he was rediscovered in the late 1970s, Stoddard’s work has been featured in numerous exhibits that explored the history of 19th century life in the Adirondacks. A survey of the 3,000 images in the Chapman Historical Museum archives, however, revealed hundreds of images that are purely natural landscapes. The subject matter is the Adirondack environment – not great hotels, steamers, camp scenes or other obvious evidence of human activity.

The Chapman’s summer exhibit, S.R. Stoddard’s Natural Views, features forty enlarged photographs of varied Adirondack settings – lake shores, marshes, meadows, riverbanks and mountainsides. Included are such locations as Surprise Falls on Gill Brook, Indian Pass, Lake Sanford, Ausable Chasm, Wolf Pond and Paradise Bay on Lake George. The exhibit examines these photographs as documents of the history of ecological habitats, providing an opportunity to consider the issue of environmental change – an issue as relevant in Stoddard’s time as it is today.

To address this issue the museum consulted with Paul Smith’s College biologist, Daun Reuter, and Don Leopold of SUNY-ESF, who identified botanical species in Stoddard’s photographs. Plants that they discovered in Stoddard’s photographs &#8212- from small flowers to shrubs and trees – are highlighted in modern color images supplied by Ms. Reuter and others and in digital reproductions of period specimens from the herbarium at the New York State Museum. These show details of the plants in their various stages – details rarely visible in Stoddard’s photographs many of which were taken late in the year after the plants had lost their flowers and started to wither.

By bringing attention to this group of Stoddard photographs, the exhibit will give visitors the opportunity to discover and reflect on the changing environment – a topic of urgent concern in the region. Through their experience visitors will gain greater appreciation for not only Stoddard’s photographic vision but also the natural world of the Adirondacks. The exhibit is funded by grants from the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation and the Waldo T. Ross & Ruth S. Ross Charitable Trust Foundation and sponsored by Glen Street Associates and Cooper’s Cave Ale Co.

For those who wish to learn more, the Chapman Historical Museum has scheduled a series of programs (detailed below) to be held at both the museum at and other sites. The museum is located at 348 Glen Street, Glens Falls, NY. For more information call (518) 793-2826 or go to www.chapmanmuseum.org.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Wednesday, May 30, 7 pm
Talk: “UNWANTED: Invasive species of the Adirondacks”
Speaker: Hilary Smith, Director, Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program
At the Chapman. Free.

Saturday, June 9, 8:30 -11:30 am
Bird Walk in Pack Forest, Warrensburg
Guide: Brian McAllister, Adirondack Birding Center

Bird watch along the nature trail to the old growth forest. Bring binoculars, field guide, water, snack, bug repellant, hiking shoes, and appropriate dress. For birders of all levels. Call (518) 793-2826 for directions.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 7 pm
Talk: “Go Native! An Introduction to Gardening with Native Plants”
Speaker: Emily DeBolt, Fiddlehead Creek Farm & Native Plant Nursery
At the Chapman. Free.

Thursday July 12, 9:30-11:30 am.
A plant paddle at Dunham’s Bay.
Guide: Emily DeBolt, Lake George Association.

Part of the 7th annual Adk Park Invasive Species Awareness Week Bring your own canoe or kayak. Meet at Dunham’s Bay Marina For reservations call the LGA at (518) 668-3558

Saturday, August 4, 1 &#8211 3 pm
Guided Bog Walk of Native Adirondack Plants
Guide: Daun Reuter, Dept Biology, Paul Smith’s College

At Paul Smith’s Visitor Interpretive Center. Reservations: $20. Call the VIC at (518)327-6241

Saturday, August 18, 8 am
Guided alpine plant hike up Wright Peak
Guide: Sean Robinson, Dept Biology, SUNY Oneonta

Meet at ADK LOJ parking lot. Parking $. Info & Reservations: Call the museum at (518) 793-2826

Photos: Above, Silver Cascade, Elizabethtown by S.R. Stoddard, ca. 1890.

Wanda Burch on Civil War Letters The Home Voices Speak Louder than the Drums

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On August 7, 1862, Henry Graves, physically exhausted from walking, fighting, and from four days detail digging trenches under a Petersburg, Virginia, sun and not “a breath of air stirring,” sat down and wrote to his wife, describing the importance of the imagination to survival.

He saw himself standing – not with spade in hand &#8211 but eating from a bowl of peaches in the midst of “homefolk” with his coat off, moving across the piazza, enjoying the cool breeze “that almost always is blowing fresh through there.” He told her that he often went into this place in his imagination to pass time swiftly and shared that “soldier mortals” would not survive if they were not “blessed with the gift of imagination and the pictures of hope.” The second “angel of mercy,” he said, was the night dream, which presented him even more vivid pictures of hope than any daydream. Read more →

Cultural Landscape Workshop Set for Lorenzo SHS

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Lorenzo State Historic Site, in Cazenovia, Madison County, NY, will host a one-day workshop for preservation planners, cultural resource managers and stewards of historic properties.

The day’s agenda will include defining the types and characteristics of cultural landscapes- documenting historic and current conditions including preparation of period and contemporary plans- developing treatment plans within an historic preservation context- examples of cultural landscape reports and their various components- interpreting the cultural landscape- what resources to consult and what steps to take in establishing a cultural landscape preservation program- and touring the historic landscape at Lorenzo.

Presenting cultural landscape experts:

John Auwaerter, Co-director of the Center for Cultural Landscape Preservation, SUNY ESF, and a National Park Service Partner with the Olmsted Center in Boston

Christine Capella-Peters, member of the technical staff for the NYS Historic Preservation Office, a division of OPRHP

George Curry, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, SUNY ESF and cultural landscape Project Director at SUNY ESF

The registration deadline is May 15, 2012. The cost is $40 for MAAM members- $50 non-MAAM members (payment accepted by check or credit card). More information can be found online.

The program is presented by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums in cooperation with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP), the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science & Forestry (SUNY ESF), and the National Park Service Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation.

Website Highlights Free New York Documentaries

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The popular website DocumentaryStorm.com is celebrating its 1st anniversary, and is recommending several documentaries available on the site about New York City for New York History readers. These documentaries that focus on a couple of seldom visited spaces in New York life, the sewer system and the fire department, along with one of New York City’s most visited places. DocumetaryStorm.com is dedicated to finding providing free, full-length documentaries from around the web.

The New York City Fire Museum

NYC’s Fire Department plays an indispensable role in keeping New York’s citizen’s safe. While September 11th, 2001 shone a very bright and hot media light on the department &#8211 rightfully highlighting their training and sacrifice &#8211 the department has a sordid and quite remarkable history dating back many centuries. For many decades the firefighters were all community volunteers. This documentary explores the department’s origins and traces the various incarnations, training, and equipment through the 1800&#8242-s to today. When was the first fire truck used? How were fires put out in the early 1800&#8242-s? What did the firemen used to wear to protect them against fire?

New York from the Underneath

This is a rare and unique glimpse into the sewer system that runs below New York City. Beautifully shot, captivating, and gritty, the documentary traces the underbelly of New York from the Bronx to Queens. Urban Historian Steve Duncan leads the journey through a maze of winding tunnels, man-made waterfalls, and local wildlife. The scars of history’s past is evident in the brickwork and drawings on the wall. We explore more than two centuries of urban planning: a generational patchwork. Half vision, half compromise. The city’s first enclosed sewer system is located on Canal Street and survives intact to this day. Duncan sleeps in the sewers by day and leads us on an entertaining 25 minute tour by day. New York City: like you’ve never seen her before.

The Empire State Building Shall Rise

Proving that the Great Depression was no match for New Yorkers- the Empire State Building continued to rise: past the height of the Eiffel Tower &#8211 which had been the tallest building in the world for decades. Past the height of the Chrysler Building &#8211 which had been the tallest building for barely a year. The Empire State would stand as the tallest building in the world for over 40 years. It is still the tallest building in New York, following September 11th, 2001. Remarkable historical footage of an American treasure.

Adirondack Museum Program in Rochester

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The Adirondack Museum will offer a special presentation in Rochester, NY, &#8220The Adirondack 46er &#8211 the Ultimate Challenge!&#8221 The program will be held Thursday, May 3 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., in the Adirondack Lodge at the Midtown Athletic Club.

Learn about becoming a &#822046er&#8221 with Tony Goodwin, guest speaker and author of Ski and Snowshoe Trail in the Adirondacks, and current editor of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Adirondack Trails High Peak Region. Most recently, Tony wrote the introduction to the 2011 publication, Heaven Up-h’isted-nes: The History of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers and the High Peaks of the Adirondacks.

With Tony, and back by popular demand, is Nancie Battaglia, renowned Lake Placid based photographer and licensed guide. Both have climbed all 46 High Peaks more than just once &#8211 Tony five times.

Tickets are $10 per person and proceeds benefit the Adirondack Museum. For tickets, please call the Midtown Athletic Club directly at (585) 461-2300.

A NY Classic: Drums Along the Mohawk

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After its first publication in 1936, Walter D. Edmonds’ classic historical novel Drums Along the Mohawk battled Gone With the Wind as the most popular historical novel of the ensuing years, and became a feature film in 1939 directed by John Ford, and starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda.

A New York Times review by Frank Nugent celebrated the film. &#8220It is romantic enough for any adventure-story lover,&#8221 Nugent wrote. &#8220It has its humor, its sentiment, its full complement of blood and thunder. About the only [John] Ford staple we miss is a fog scene. Rain, gun smoke and stockade burnings have had to compensate. The fusion of them all has made a first-rate historical film, as rich atmospherically as it is in action.&#8221 Those laudatory comments still suit the original novel just as well, but for those with an interest in the history of the Mohawk Valley, there’s more than just a good story.

Edmonds was born in 1903 in Boonville (Oneida County) and died in 1998. Edmonds was troubled by the presentation of the history of the American Revolution and used local primary sources to create life on the Revolution’s frontier. &#8220Edmonds turned to &#8216-Working with the sources’,&#8221 Frank Bergman wrote when Syracuse University Press took over publication of the novel in 1997. &#8220His knowledge of the facts enabled Edmonds to dye his narrative in the wool- his history is color-fast and guaranteed not to fade&#8230- His goal was not to establish &#8216-how it actually was,’ but to allow his readers to experience the past as if it were the present.&#8221

&#8220To those readers who may have felt some curiosity about the actual occurrences in the Mohawk Valley during the Revolution,&#8221 Edmonds wrote in the book’s &#8220Author’s Note&#8221, I should like to say here that I have been as faithful to the scene and time and place as study and affection could help me to be.&#8221 Edmond’s sources were varied, but he himself points to the importance of the Minute Book of the Committee of Safety of Tryon County &#8220to understand what valley life was really like&#8221.

This summer readers will have a taste of that life at an outdoor drama based on Drums Along the Mohawk that coincides with the British Brigade and Continental Line’s national Revolutionary War encampment at Gelston Castle Estate in Mohawk, NY. About 1,000 reenactors are expected to take part in honor of the 235th anniversary of the Battle of Oriskany.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

Exec Dir David Setford to Leave Hyde Collection

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The Hyde Collection has announced that David F. Setford has informed the Board of Trustees that he intends to leave his post as Executive Director in August. A nationwide search will be conducted to identify a successor.

Setford, who has led the Hyde for four and a half years, spearheaded high-profile exhibitions including Degas and Music in 2009 and Andrew Wyeth: An American Legend in 2010 and oversaw a successful $3 million capital campaign. He has accepted a position with International Fine Art Expositions in Florida, as Managing Executive directing international art fairs in Palm Beach and Miami.

“Leading The Hyde Collection has been one of the greatest professional experiences of my career, and I leave with both deep affection for this spectacular collection and great expectations for its future,” Setford said. “The Hyde is one of the most distinguished regional art museums in the United States, respected both for its profound cultural impact and its economic importance to the Greater Glens Falls and Capital Regions.”

Candace Wait, chair of The Hyde Collection Board of Trustees, said: “We are indebted to David for his steady leadership and vision, especially in helping the Board of Trustees and our staff carefully chart the future of one of the most important cultural institutions in Upstate New York. He has led us through the process of updating The Hyde Collection’s long-term strategic plan and to the near completion of our Facilities Master Plan. David’s leadership, good humor and enthusiasm will be missed.”

“During the next four months, as we prepare for David’s departure, our Board will engage in a careful national search for a successor who shares our commitment to thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhe mission of The Hyde and our passion for bringing The Hyde experience to an even broader audience throughout New York and New England,” Wait added.

The Hyde Collection attracts thousands of visitors annually. Its collection of more than 3,000 objects of European and American art includes works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Picasso, Renoir, and Hassam. Its holdings are regularly in high demand by art museums around the world. Its “Christ with Folded Arms” by Rembrandt was loaned to the Louvre last year.

The museum is located at 161 Warren Street in Glens Falls, where it was founded in 1963 in the historic American Renaissance mansion of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde and Louis Fiske Hyde. Mrs. Hyde was the daughter of the co-founder of the Finch Paper mill in Glens Falls. Hyde House, as the residence is known, is on the National Register of Historic Places. More information is available at www.hydecollection.org.