Welcome!
Our museum at the Cedar Hill Schoolhouse is open for the season!
Regular hours are Sunday afternoons from 2 to 4 p.m.
The museum is located at 1003 River Road, Selkirk.
Bethlehem Historical Association Speaker Series
Tuesday, October 21, 7:00 PM
Bethlehem Public Library
Songs and Sounds of the Anti-Rent Movement in Upstate New York
Please join us and learn about New York’s Anti-Rent Movement that is considered the last struggle over feudalism in the United States.
Space is limited — please register here: Register Now
About The Program
Tenant farmers in the Hudson-Mohawk region engaged in organized protest throughout the 1840s to contest monopoly ownership of the land they worked. Arguing their cause in newspapers, on broadsides, and at rallies, their aspirations also took shape in poetry and song. More than twenty sets of lyrics (and one instrumental composition) were written at various stages of the conflict. Some of their musical sources, such as “Old Dan Tucker” and “Bruce’s Address,” are still well known. Each fully contextualized song offers insight into the role vernacular music played in one of the nineteenth century’s major social reform movements.
About the Speaker
Nancy Newman is Associate Professor of Music at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She is the author of Good Music for a Free People: The Germania Musical Society in Nineteenth-Century America.
Now Live!
The Bethlehem Oral History Project website is online
A great opportunity to explore our town’s rich history and learn more about the neighbors who helped shape Bethlehem. This project is a joint effort between the Historian’s office, the BHA and the Bethlehem Public Library.
New for 2025
Fun and Frolic: Sport, Recreation, Competition and Community
Be sure to visit the museum to take in our new Fun and Frolic exhibit. Over the years Bethlehem
residents have enjoyed all kinds of sport and recreational activities. The exhibit highlights just a
few including sledding, skating, golf, baseball and bowling.
