It's links week here on Mel's Rockpile! I've gotten a batch of fresh attention (and let's face it, stale attention is not the kind we want) for this rambling mess of a blog and website, so it's time to show the love with shout outs and linkbacks (so 2005 and 2002, in that order).
First, big thanks to one of my few real local internet addictions, All Over Albany. Varied, funny, and perfectly willing to point people to my half-edited tale of Kay Sage, the Albany girl who wed a prince of Spain. Oh yeah, and became an excellent surrealist painter. And married Yves Tanguy. And barely looked back after leaving the family manse in Menands.Thanks also to Nichelle at DanceAdvantage, who from time to time has featured my ballet photographs on her website, which is a wonderful resource for dancers, dance parents and dance schools – something we're involved in on all three levels. This week she featured one of my artsier efforts as her Sunday Snapshot, which brought a flurry of attention.
In the cycling world, Belgium Knee Warmers is back, and I'm also enjoying the back and forth at Red Kite Prayer, whose forum members sure do click through to sites! I promise more bike geekery for you folks. And as a result of one of my rants there, I got a note from Share The Damn Road, which makes, among other things, jerseys that say "Share The Damn Road". Since my only-thinking-of-my-safety spouse won't allow me a South Park jersey that says "You Guys Suck," and since I haven't yet found my dream jersey that says "Hang Up And Drive!", these offerings go to the top of the wish list. (But guys, seriously: "Hang Up and Drive!")
And locally, I've run across a couple of sites that are as interested in local history as I am: Paula's Albany Daily Photo and her Albany History blog. If you're the kind of person who sees what used to be there instead of what's there now, give them a look. And keep coming back here, there will be more local history in the near future.
And for your current amusement, don't miss my new feature, Torn From Yesterday's Headlines!
HEY, me! Your comment got lost in the transition, so I'm pasting it here:
Any idea if Glenotia is same as "Dolly Park"? (Variation in spelling is possible...)
My g-grandfather used to tell us about playing ball with a local league at Dolly Park, and I always understood it to be on an island in the Mohawk. Now, I wonder if I assumed it was one of the islands btwn Scotia/Schenectady, not understanding that his world was somewhat bigger than mine. He was born in Watervliet, so maybe it was a Hudson River island.
Dolly's Park, also Dolle's Park, was a later name for what had been Luna Park in Rexford -- more on that here. However, there were other islands hosting baseball, so these may have become confused. Before I knew of baseball at Glenotia, I long knew that there had been highly attended baseball games on an island in the Binnekill, which was then accessed by a small footbridge down behind the Hotel Van Curler. All that area is now solid land, part of the Schenectady County Community College parking lot. There were also some Hudson River islands that have become filled in to the mainland, or dredged out, that would have been possible candidates.
There are pictures accompanying a 1961 Larry Hart article available here. And by interesting coincidence, a GE R&D scientist named Dr. George Farrall just died and his obituary noted that he built his home on the site of the old Dolly Park.
It was just left of the north end of the Aqueduct Bridge.