GRAHAMSVILLE – The Virtual Program, Taverns in the Early United States by Author Kirsten Wood will be held on Sunday, January 18 at 2 p.m.

People have gathered in taverns to drink, relax, socialize, and do business for hundreds of years.  For just as long, critics have described taverns as sources of individual ruin and public disorder. Dr. Wood argues that men integrated taverns into the nation’s growing transportation network and used them to raise capital, promote businesses, practice genteel sociability, and rally support for favored causes—often while drinking staggering amounts of alcohol! 

Admission to this VIRTUAL ONLY program is FREE for Museum Members and $5 for non-members. To join the program, please register by email at info@timeandthevalleysmuseum.org and put Tavern Talk in the subject line or call 845-985-7700. A link will be sent to you.  Non-members are asked to please first make a donation on the Museum’s website:  www.timeandthevalleysmuseum. org/support/donate. 

Kirsten E. Wood is a specialist in the social and political histories of the early United States.  In addition to exploring taverns, she has written about Peggy Eaton and Andrew Jackson’s presidential sex scandal, enslaving widows’ social and economic power, the harmonic ideal in patriotic music, and the opportunities for joy and pleasure in the young nation's public places.  She is a professor of history at Florida International University and earned her PhD and MA from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA from Princeton University.  

Connecting Water People and the Catskills, the Museum is open Memorial Day through September, Saturday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., and other times by appointment. Located at 332 Main Street in Grahamsville (St. Rt. 55), Sullivan County, admission for adults is $10, children under 16 $2, and children under six are free.  

Museum exhibitions are interactive and both fun and educational for all ages:  

• Water and the Valleys, an exhibit on the history of the Rondout and Neversink watershed area from early geological times to the 20th century. This exhibition includes interactives such as a Native American artifact guessing game, grinding corn with a mortar and pestle, videos and more.  
• Tunnels, Toil and Trouble: New York City’s Quest for Water and the Rondout-Neversink Story, an interactive exhibit on NYC water supply system and the towns that were removed to build the system, which includes computer interactives, games, puzzles, videos and building a dam and tunnel. 
• 1930s Lost Catskill Farm, a farmhouse, outhouse, barn, electric plant, milk house, working waterwheel and many other buildings help visitors experience life in the 1930s through displays, videos, games and hands on activities.

The Time and the Valleys Museum is proud to be a Blue Star Museum, providing free admission to active duty military members (with ID) and up to five family members.  This free admission for members of the military and their families runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  For more information call 845-985-7700, e-mail info@timeandthevalleysmuseum.org or visit www.timeandthevalleysmuseum.org. To schedule a field trip for schools, or group tour for children or adults, please call 845-985-7700.