Program Description
Event Details
Some of us can still remember back to a time when certain road signs left us bewildered — signs marking Fishkill, Indian Kill, Otter Kill, the Normans Kill, the Bozenkill and the Switzkill — and we had to turn to our elders to ask what they could possibly mean. The answer calmed our fears and perhaps satisfied our curiosity somewhat, but the fullest explanation is yet to come, when Dr. Charles Gehring, Director of the New Netherland Research Center, addresses this and other related place names from our area.
His presentation, "Where a Kil is not a Kill and a Fly is not a Fly,” discusses not only our creeks and how they were named, but also words of Dutch origin that surround us on a daily basis, in our place names (like Watervleit, East Greenbush, Beverwyck, Catskill, Kinderhook, Claverack, Feura Bush, Stone Arabia), in the surnames of our friends and ancestors (Van Vechten, Van Slyke, Van Alstein, etc.) and in the numerous terms in common currency among us, like coleslaw, caboose, the porch stoop, and playing hooky. Dr. Gehring will open for us a fascinating vista on this literal and lexical landscape of ours, at a time when the first Europeans made their way across our hills and valleys. It is an expanded version of the talk he gave in March at the New Scotland Historical Association to a standing-room only audience. We're truly delighted that Dr. Gehring will now come to Guilderland to interpret the names that shape the rich history of our Town and of the entire region. All are welcome to attend!
Presented in conjunction with Guilderland Historical Society. Free and open to the public.