· Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.

· Other types of trees such as cherry and hawthorns were used as Christmas trees in the past.

Highlights from Recent Meetings

Officers & Trustees

 The Focus On.... Christmas Trees 

How many of you actually know where the custom of Christmas trees and Christmas greens originated?

Germany.... Egypt..... England?

Here's how it all got started.

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness.

In the Northern hemisphere, the shortest day and longest night of the year falls on December 21 or December 22 and is called the winter solstice. Many ancient people believed that the sun was a god and that winter came every year because the sun god had become sick and weak. They celebrated the solstice because it meant that at last the sun god would begin to get well. Evergreen boughs reminded them of all the green plants that would grow again when the sun god was strong and summer would return.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped a god called Ra, who had the head of a hawk and wore the sun as a blazing disk in his crown. At the solstice, when Ra began to recover from the illness, the Egyptians filled their homes with green palm rushes which symbolized for them the triumph of life over death.

Early Romans marked the solstice with a feast called the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The Romans knew that the solstice meant that soon farms and orchards would be green and fruitful. To mark the occasion, they decorated their homes and temples with evergreen boughs. In Northern Europe the mysterious Druids, the priests of the ancient Celts, also decorated their temples with evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life. The fierce Vikings in Scandinavia thought that evergreens were the special plant of the sun god, Balder.

Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles, if wood was scarce. It is a widely held belief that Martin Luther, the 16th-century Protestant reformer, first added lighted candles to a tree. Walking toward his home one winter evening, composing a sermon, he was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To recapture the scene for his family, he erected a tree in the main room and wired its branches with lighted candles.

Most 19th-century Americans found Christmas trees an oddity. The first record of one being on display was in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, although trees had been a tradition in many German homes much earlier. The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But, as late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.

It is not surprising that, like many other festive Christmas customs, the tree was adopted so late in America. To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrim's second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out "pagan mockery" of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event." In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations. That stern solemnity continued until the 19th century, when the influx of German and Irish immigrants undermined the Puritan legacy.

In 1846, the popular royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were sketched in the Illustrated London News standing with their children around a Christmas tree. Unlike the previous royal family, Victoria was very popular with her subjects, and what was done at court immediately became fashionable-not only in Britain, but with fashion-conscious East Coast American Society. The Christmas tree had arrived.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

Article written by the History Channel... History of Christmas Trees

Throughout history, bodies of water around a society have determined the success of that society. Ancient Egypt would never have existed without the Nile River. Britain was always protected from the rest of Europe with the English Channel. Even the United States has flourished from the Mississippi river and the trade route that it provided. These are all large scale examples with large scale results. When you look at a much smaller scale example you can see that similar concepts exist. What does our small town of Grafton have in terms of bodies of water? Other than the Grafton Lakes State Park we have a large portion of Dyken Pond and South Long Pond. Analyzing how Dyken Pond influenced our town can give us a better understanding of our history and the community we live in today.

Geologically, Dyken Pond is thought to have been formed by two glacial kettle holes that were formed by a melting glacier during the last ice age. This theory is largely accepted since glaciers were responsible for many geological formations in our area in the northeast according to Pierce Hoyt who has a geological background and is familiar with the area. Dyken Pond is significant in that it is the largest lake on the Rensselaer plateau. Dyken Pond wasn't always the largest lake however. According to early maps in the 1800's Dyken Pond and South Long Pond were just two small ponds. The reason these two small ponds developed into the largest lake on the Rensselaer plateau is the dam on its south end of course. An early form of the dam was built in 1846 but it burned down in 1863, during the civil war. A more permanent dam was then built in 1894; the foundation of this stone dam can still be seen today on the modern day dam. These dams were built to control the water supply from Dyken Pond to the Hudson River. The Poestenkill brought water from Dyken Pond all the way to the Hudson River and many manufacturers took advantage of the water power. In 1901 an entrepreneur named Andrew Ruff, who owned a flour mill on the Poestenkill, bought all the land around Dyken Pond for $300 (about $7700 adjusted for inflation). Ruff joined with the Manning and Peckham Paper Company to form the Poestenkill Hydraulic Power Company (PHPC). This company would decide at what level the lakes water would be at and how much water would go into the Poestenkill.

In 1925 Manning Paper built three "camps" on the west side of Dyken Pond for employees of the mill and their families. Throughout the 1900's the land surrounding Dyken Pond became more residentially populated. In 1962 Manning paper moved to another area and in 1973 they donated their remaining land and water rights to Rensselaer County. This land became the Environmental Management Council Interpretive Center. Today it is known as the Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center. The three Camps that were built on the west side of the lake are still in use today. The use of Dyken Pond continued the transition from industry to recreation and now today it would not be a surprise if you saw a plethora of different watercraft on the lake. People frequently swim in the lake. The fishing is known to be good as well. Along with all of that, The Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center has its summer camp every year bringing in kids from all over the county to our town of Grafton.

It is clear that without Dyken Pond our surrounding area would be very different. Our town of Grafton should be very proud to have had the privilege of owning a great piece of land and water known as Dyken Pond. The development of Dyken Pond was a very important part of our history and I enjoyed learning about it.

Submitted by: Connor Hoyt

 Nativity pageants were popular in Grafton early in the twentieth century. In this picture Harvey Claus, Leighton Corbin, Dorothy Smith (Roquet) James Smith, Everett Wagar, Marie Covey (Barnhardt), Anseles Claus, Irma Wagar, Merritt Wagar and Sherman Barnhart, Jr. gather around the crèche.

Christmas 1910 was celebrated at the Grafton Methodist Church with this nativity pageant. Acting in the pageant were Ivan Synder, Jesse Burdick, Mabel Ricknal Stowell, Lillian Weber Simons, Roland Sweet, Willie Wood and Edgar Barthelmes

The scenery in the background was painted by Alice Corbin Hidley.

Alice was quite an accomplished painter. She also painted other backgrounds for church pageants. In addition she painted a scene of cows by a pond. This theme painting echoed works painted by English landscape painter William Sidney Cooper. His cattle paintings inspired a genre of this type. This painting is owned by the Grafton Historical Society and is on display at town hall.

Alice Hidley was married to Sam Hidley who operated a bus service between Grafton and Troy.   In the early twentieth century they lived on Steve Odell Road at the intersection of Cranberry Pond Road.   A frequent visitor to their house was Mina Hydorn and her mother, according to Mina's diaries.

Christmas in Grafton Now and Then ....

 Now: December 2012:

The Grafton Historical Society participated in the first annual Festival of Trees at the Everett Wagar Senior Center from December 1 to 21. The tree's "ornaments" were photographs from Grafton parades and celebrations over the past 100 years. Helping decorate were Pat Niebuhr, Betsey Mowry, Joe Ferrannini, Tom and Anne Kiely.

Christmas Then: 1896As seen through the eyes of Mina Hydorn , age 16-

Mina writes in her diaries about Christmas preparations and celebrations.

Saturday, December 12, 1896, "Alice (Corbin) and others went to Troy after Christmas presents." On Sunday Mina says, "Ellie, Lillie and I went out to Adds before church to see Ada Jones about a piece for Christmas." On the Sunday before Christmas,

December 20, Mina states "Mr. Love preached his Christmas service to-day. His text this morning was St. Luke 2.10 and to-night St. Matt 22,42... The choir and the (male) quartet (r)endered us some new pieces. They were very nice."

The next day Mina entered, "I found a piece for Christmas up to George's to-night." On the 23rd Mina recounts "stringing up popcorn for our Christmas tree tomorrow" with her friend Ebb.

 December 24th was the big day. She describes the celebration at the (Methodist) church. "Our Christmas entertainment was real nice we had two trees and Santa Claus. Adelbert Jacobs was Santa Claus ... We had a concert and I spoke" Then she describes the exchange of gifts among her friends. Articles of clothing such as aprons and black silk mufflers were some of the gifts received.   Hand made gifts of pincushions, quilts and towels were also mentioned. Mina wore her new wine collared dress on Christmas Eve for the first time. "The Baptist has their concert to-night too," she says.

Christmas day finds Mina feeling a little let down. She stayed home all day and they had several guests during the day. She says it was pleasant but "it hasn't seemed like Christmas to me though." Her friend Ella Wilcox who was visiting added this to Mina's diary, "We were at the church last night to the Christmas tree. Of course we received many presents."

January 19, 2013;  11:00 AM - 4:00 PM; Winter Fest

Grafton Lakes State Park

January             No Meeting