Hurley, New York

Continuing on my road trip, the next stop was to a small town by the name of Hurley, NY. It’s a sweet little town. It was once a Dutch colonial village first settled in 1661. Every year it holds the Stone House Day on the second Saturday of July. A day where some of America’s oldest stone houses (200-300 years old) are open to the public. Unfortunately, I just missed it. Bummer! I somehow miscalculated my dates.

I did get a chance to tour the Hurley Historical Society Museum! It’s one of the old colonial homes refitted into a small museum of local artifacts from wood working tools and local everyday life during the colonial era to items from the Revolutionary War including a Revolutionary New York Militia uniform. I personally loved the tale of the old hallowed out musket ball. Though, I would not want to be the spy who was caught with it, which he was.

I also paid my respects to the residents buried in the old cemetery. It’s a quiet little place. As you walk through, reading the many headstones that have not been washed away by time, you begin to ponder what life like was for each individual. What did they do for a living? Did they have a family? And, most importantly, were they happy in life? The earliest death I could find as I wondered was someone who died in 1747. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read much else since it was written in Dutch.

Hurley is a wonderful place to visit and someday I will catch the Stone House Day Event!