If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 643

 

 

 

 

 

Old Stone Houses, Hurley, New York

 

This unused Natural Color Reproduction – Curteichcolor Art Creation, has a picture of the old stone houses found in Hurley, New York.  The card was distributed by Kingston Candy Co., of Kingston, New York and has the identifying code:  K19 along the left border on the reverse.  There is a blurb at the top left side on the reverse:  “Old Stone Houses, Hurley, New York.  Erected in the early 1700s.  Capital of the New York State was temporarily moved here in 1777, when British burned Kingston, which was the capital at that time.”  The photographer is not credited.  This would have been a souvenir card for tourists.

 

 Located in Ulster County, New York, Hurley is a small town or village with a population of about 6,000.  Much of the town is inside the Catskill Park.  Established as the site of a village by Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland, in 1662, it was destroyed a year later by members of the native population who had had a settlement of their own there.  The village was abandoned until 1669 when it was resettled by the British and renamed Hurley.  The area around Hurley is mostly agricultural.  In 1830 a fine quality of shale called bluestone was discovered and resulted in a quarry industry.  Bluestone is used in “road construction, curbing, sidewalks, and building facades.”

 

Old Hurley’s Main Street is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of the well-preserved stone houses shown on the card.  These houses have served as residences for more than 300 years.  Some of them are open to the public once a year on Stone House Day.  The Hurley Heritage Society Museum is located in one of the houses. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurley,_New_York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston,_New_York