Digitized Newsletters Series Each Friday this summer, the Putnam History Museum is excited to share an assortment of articles from our collection of newly digitized newsletters. These newsletters are a fantastic local history resource, assembled by dedicated museum volunteers, local historians, and community members. These articles are not only useful historic narratives, but also provide us with a glimpse of the important historic talking points of the era in which they were written, commemorating anniversaries, important dates and people, and community events.   A special thank you to our team of PHM Summer Interns for transcribing these articles!

Square Piano, late 18th Century, American. Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection. Likely similar to the piano mentioned in this article.

“Reviving a 200-Year-Old Piano from Cold Spring,” Foundry Castings, Fall 1992.

Reprinted in the Foundry Castings (1992) from the Fishkill Standard, 1880s. It is over 100 years old, and for many years was in a Cold Spring hostelry, where then-Cadet Ulysses Grant and his fellow West Pointers danced to its strains.

It is a piano believed to have been made about the year 1785 and it is now in the possession of August Dondero, the relic hunter of Matteawan. He brought it recently from James S. McEllrany, of Cold Spring. It is in fairly good order and Mr. Dondero proposes to polish it and so what repairing is necessary. The case is of solid black walnut and has brass trimmings and there are drawers in which sheet music can be stored away. The tone of the piano is very much different from the modern instruments. On the front, above the keyboard, is a metal plate, upon which is an inscription, probably the name of the firm who made it and the location of their factory. The inscription is somewhat obliterated but as near as can be deciphered it is as follows:  NEW HAVEN J.H. & LEIB NEW YORK

General Ulysses S. Grant, 1864. Library of Congress.

Years ago, the leading hotel at Cold Spring was the Longfield House, kept by a man of that name. We understand the building has long since been torn down. It stood near the river at the foot of Main Street, it was a famous hostelry and was frequently visited by prominent men of the country. The piano mentioned above was owned by the proprietor of the hotel and on many occasions it was the leading instrument at public and private dances held there. It was said that General Grant, when he was a cadet at West Point, often visited the Longfield House with others from the Point and danced to the melodias strains of the old piano.

A modern replaying of Mountain Belle Schottische, the sheet music which was found in one of the piano drawers.

In searching through the drawers of the piano, Mr. Dondero came across a photograph of an old gentleman, on the back of which was written: Mr. Longfield of the Longfield House. Also found was the first page of a sheet of music entitled Mountain Bell Schottische by C. Kinkel, dated 1819. Could this ancient musical instrument tell of the many merry scenes it has formed a part; make known the players who have drawn sweet melody from its keys; of the wedding marches played upon it and per-chance of the solemn funeral times? It would make a history that would concern and interest very many persons at the present day.

Mr. Dondero has a rare treasure which he had been trying to obtain possession of for a long time. It cost him a goodly sum of money to get it, but he has a rich prize. It is said to be very much older than the piano at Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh. For more information and sound clips of historic square fortepianos, visit: www.squarepianos.com.

Save the Dates: Details & Registration Information Available in September Saturday, Sept. 26th: PHM's Annual Lawn Party featuring Cold Spring's Historic Kemble House (Virtual with Live Q&A). Saturday Oct. 10th & Sunday Oct. 11th: PHM presents a Socially Distant Cold Spring History Crawl. This program is made possible with a Creativity Incubator Grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. Saturday, November 7th: PHM's Annual Gala (Virtual): Program and registration details to follow in September. **We will be reaching out to all previous donors and ticket-holders in early September with further options! Thank you for your patience as we redeveloped this annual program!

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