The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Greeley House

The Great Holiday Train Show is BACK!

by

It’s all aboard for the New Castle Historical Society’s The Great Holiday Train Show! Back for its third year of what is now becoming a New Castle family tradition, show dates are running from November 18 2023, to January 17 2024. Experience the joy of the Holiday in the historic Horace Greeley House, decorated for the season. New additions to the show are a LEGO Harry Potter Village with all you would expect from Hogwarts and … a never before seen, custom made, Holiday Tree Train – six feet tall with six running trains on six levels!


The New Castle Historical Society Holiday Gift Shop will again be stocked with special gifts for the Trainiac in your life, young and old. Don’t miss The Great Holiday Train Show! For shopping info, dates and tickets, please visit newcastlehs.org

All Aboard the Great Holiday Train Show at the New Castle Historical Society 

by

“Every Train Tells a Story”

Chappaqua, NY–Have you purchased yours and your family’s tickets yet to the quintessentially adorable train show that’s the talk of the town in New Castle?  The Great Holiday Train Show at the New Castle Historical Society in progress through January 9th was an idea initially brought to the NCHS by Chappaqua’s Richard Diefenbach, a New Castle Historical Society trustee and a trained collector, as is his son, Michael, a senior at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains; the family immediately offered their classic, turn of the century cars of the New York Central Railroad Company–all in all, fine trains with which to kick start a train show. 

In between multiple tours: Georgia Frasch, vice president, New Castle Historical Society tending to NCHS trustee Rich Diefenbach’s trains, a set which initially set the stage for the Great Holiday Train Show at the New Castle Historical Society. The show, with each train set and assorted memoribilia (and related gift items too!) housed in the individual rooms of the Greeley House, grew to include over a dozen exhibits from local residents and beyond. The show continues on Saturdays and Sundays through January 9, 2022. 

 

“Rich had suggested that we do a train show,” shared Georgia Frasch–yes, that Georgia Frasch of Chappaqua Moms’ fame, but also the current vice president of the board at NCHS, who gave the Inside Press the lowdown of how the show was brought to New Castle, along with a tour of the train show.  Initially, because of Covid, the idea got tabled, she explained. 

 

“In September, however, we started talking about it again as things were loosening up with Westchester becoming more and more vaccinated,” said Georgia. “I said to Rich, ‘You know, let’s consider maybe we can finally do this train show.” 

 

Added Rich: “The idea for the train show came from my son 10 years ago when we would visit the Nauset Model Train Show in Orleans, MA on Cape Cod.” As a new trustee, he told the NCHS board a train show would draw the community and its families together.

 

“My son Michael was instrumental in helping me set up the tables along with Frank Shiner, and Tom Childs. It was great to work with Georgia Frasch who listened and helped me brainstorm ideas for the show and used her social media to get donations for trees, and loaner trains. It was a collaborative effort,” he said.

“The result speaks volumes – smiling faces of children and parents! People who never knew what the Greeley House have begun to enter its doors. It has been pure joy for the first time in my more than 26 years in this town. My hope is we will continue the tradition moving forward.”

Initially, there was Rich’s beautiful train set. Next stop, while at (Chappaqua resident) Frank Shiner’s house picking apples from his orchard for Intergenerate–community gardens that feed 50 households for Neighbor’s Link–Georgia told Frank about the show. He quickly hopped on board! 

 

“Frank said: “I have a 100-year-old train set in my attic, do you need it?” I said: ‘yes!’” 

 

“And then I put something out on Chappaqua Moms: ‘Anybody have trains?’ and the flood gates opened! We had more trains than we could possibly use!” 

 

And voi la, or perhaps, Toot, Toot–as resident train collectors/proud owners caught the news and considered the grand possibilities, the show grew, and grew, with more than a dozen fascinating exhibits now in place to enjoy and stir young and old imaginations alike. 

 

On the tour, you will receive a cool booklet about the show with colorful details about each train exhibit, with a tip of the conductor’s hat to those residents who graciously contributed to the holiday train show, each adding to its GREAT-ness. 

 

There is significant involvement from ‘beyond New Castle,’ too, including that of “a wonderful train store in Ardsley called Tom’s Trains,” said Georgia. “In fact, we did a little poster for him. He’s a lovely gentleman and during Hurricane Ida, he got wiped out–over $50,000 worth of one-of-a kind merchandise was lost. We reached out to him… he has been a great, great partner… he was a big help! As was Chris Fresiello, who works with Tom a lot, and who contributed one of the exhibits, too.”

 

There are group tours, non-gratis, happening, as well.  

 

“The Chappaqua Library’s Cathy Paulsen works with a group of disabled adults at Ability Beyond, for example, and we are offering them a day here. Another private tour is taking place for a young boy who is going through chemotherapy, and for his family.”

 

The show kicked off November 20 for 14 weekends and runs through January 9, every Saturday and Sunday with four, one-hour tours: 11, 12:30, 2 and 3:30. 

 

We discussed Georgia’s motivation for the show. “I was really inspired by the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival and Community Day–seeing parents at both with their children because it felt as if things were returning to a semblance of normalcy.” 

 

And beyond that… “For me, this train show was experiential: it was family, it was community, it was nostalgia, it was children; we have so many new families with young children. I wanted a way for new families to make memories and feel like this is something of value and, in fact, that is exactly the response we’ve gotten… Every train tells a story, and when you look inside the booklet, you’ll see all the people who have lent us trains.” 

 

For more info, please also visit https://newcastlehs.org/event/the-great-holiday-train-show/ which has this ticket link, too: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-great-holiday-train-show-tickets-199269178477 

 

 

 

 

Spring Programs at the New Castle Historical Society

by

Women’s History, History of Millwood Lecture, Antiques Appraisal Day, and House Tour

Chappaqua, New York — This spring, the New Castle Historical Society, located in the Horace Greeley House museum in downtown Chappaqua, will host several programs that encourage Hudson Valley residents and visitors alike to actively engage with and experience local history and heritage.

The NCHS kicks off their spring calendar with Curator-led Talk & Tours of the exhibition, New Castle’s Carrie Chapman Catt & the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The exhibition features contemporary historic photographs from Westchester County Historical Society, the New York State Museum, and the Library of Congress; a 1917 petition in support of women’s suffrage, including over 800 signatures from local Westchester County women (on loan to the NCHS from the Ossining Historical Society); an Evelyn Rumsey Cary “Woman Suffrage” Poster; and several replica artifacts related to women’s suffrage, including “Votes for Women” sashes, pennants, buttons, and plates. The first Curator-led Talk & Tour will take place on Thursday, March 15th at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Visitors may also schedule private led tours of the exhibition through the end of May 2018.

On April 22nd, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the NCHS invites its members and the public to its 52nd Annual Meeting.  This year’s meeting will be held at the new Millwood Fire House. At the meeting, Town Historian Gray Williams will present a brief history of Millwood, New York, with special focus on the Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in April, the NCHS teams up with the Rago Arts & Auction Center to offer an Antiques Roadshow-style Appraisal Day at the Greeley House. On Saturday, April 28th, visitors are invited to have their family heirlooms or garage sale treasures appraised at the Horace Greeley House. The appraisals will be conducted by four special guest experts (fine art, jewelry, silver, and general).

In May, the NCHS’s popular “Castles of New Castle” House Tour returns on May 17th. This event, one of the society’s main annual fundraisers, provides ticketholders with the opportunity to explore five exquisite homes in the Town of New Castle. All proceeds from this event benefit the New Castle Historical Society. Tickets for the event will be available beginning mid-April.

If you would like more information regarding these programs, or to register for an event, please visit www.newcastlehs.org or contact NCHS Executive Director Cassie Ward at director@newcastlehs.org or 914-238-4666.

 

 

Because All of Us Should Vote

by

chappaqua-summer-writing-program-for-girls-photo-three

By Alina

According to The American Presidency Project, only 54.87% of eligible voters placed a vote in the 2012 presidential campaign. Many Americans today are not voting, but here’s why each of us should.

The United States is a democracy, which means that each and every citizen who is age 18 or older has the right to vote for the candidate they want as their President. However, if enough of us aren’t voting, then can this truly be called a democracy?

As an American citizen, it is your duty to vote for the leader you want to represent your views and goals. By not voting, you are throwing away your right as a citizen. Because many are under the impression that “their vote doesn’t matter so what’s the point,” plenty of Americans tend to lay back and let others do the voting.

However, if every person who believed that their vote didn’t matter stood up and decided to vote after all, we’d have close to 100% participation in the upcoming election, which is much more than having “no impact” as many tend to believe.

Voting is especially vital to us here in Chappaqua because one of the presidential candidates happens to live in our town.

Yes, Hillary Clinton is our neighbor, and, as Chappaqua is primarily a Democratic town, it is important for us to vote for her, the Democratic candidate, in this election. Many people in Chappaqua support Hillary’s ideals, and what better way to show our support for our neighbor than to place a vote in the elections? It is really unwise to rely on everyone else to vote for Hillary because, as much as it may seem so, she will not simply become president “no matter what.”

If each individual person does not get out and vote, no one will make any progress, and this country would certainly no longer be called a “democracy.” Addressing the situation of getting more people to vote can be simple: Explain to others that their vote matters and that casting their vote helps benefit Hillary greatly. She, in turn, helps us by supporting our views and making them a reality. Help support our next door neighbor by voting in the next election.

Alina is a junior at Horace Greeley High School whose political knowledge extends to conversations (which sometimes turn to heated debates) with her friends. She moved to Chappaqua fairly recently, but has already seen Hillary.

Editor’s Note: One of Seven Girls’ Essays featured in the November “If Our Neighbor Becomes President” Cover Story.  The girls were directed by Keri Walsh, Ph.D., who heads the Chappaqua Summer Writing Program for Girls at the Greeley House.