Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
I recently acquired a new Macro Lens. It’s a 90mm F/2.8 Di III MACRO VXD. So of course, I had to try it. I’d notice a small red wild strawberry growing in my lawn. I started there and then went on to take pictures of anything that caught my interest.
Taken with a Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro
Name: Sparta Cemetery
Other Name(s): Sparta Burying Ground
Location: South Highland Avenue and Revolutionary Road
Date of Establishment/Historic Era: 1764
Characteristics: Two acres in size; surrounded by a low fieldstone wall; contains over 100 gravestones.
Significance: Historic and Cultural
Sparta Cemetery is National Register-listed as part of the Scarborough Historic District. It is historically and culturally significant for its association with early Sparta and Sing Sing Village and the Sing Sing Presbyterian Congregation (today known as the First Presbyterian
Congregation).
Narrative: Sparta Cemetery, established in 1764, was created on land deeded to the Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant by the State of New York for use as a church and cemetery. The property had formerly been part of the Philipsburg Manor estate until its seizure by the State after the Revolutionary War. The cemetery was built on the Old Albany Post Road, today known as Highland Avenue and Route 9. The church, erected on the site around 1768, was heavily damaged during the American Revolution but was later repaired and remained in service until 1800, the year in which the congregation moved into the Village and became the First Presbyterian Congregation. Accounts of the church’s fate vary; some sources indicate that the building was demolished and sold for scrap, while others state that it was moved across Highland Avenue and used first as a tavern and later as a school for a time until it was taken down later in the 19th century. In 1939, the newly formed Ossining Historical Society, with financial support from the First Presbyterian Congregation, took on the responsibility of maintaining the cemetery grounds and began the process of restoring the property, which had become thick with undergrowth due to neglect.
The Cemetery contains over 100 gravestones, many of which are for settlers who were among the first arrivals to Sing Sing and Sparta.
The Cemetery is also the final resting place of the renowned Leatherman.
Many other gravestones belong to soldiers killed in the Revolutionary War, American Civil War, and World War I, as well as other individuals who played a role in the civic, business, and institutional life of Sparta and Sing Sing (later Ossining) Village.
Village of Ossining Significant Sites and Structures Guide, Page 13.
Taken with a Sony A7IV and Tamron 28-300mm f/4-7.1 Di III VC VXD lens.
A few days ago, I was sitting on my balcony when I noticed a number of tiny spotted bugs. I found them not unattractive. Not surprisingly I wanted a picture. However, by the time I found the right camera they’d all disappeared.
I went out on the balcony to read today, and this time I took the right camera/lens combination. But there were no bugs. After some time, the one in the picture turned up. In fact, it jumped onto my knee (you can see it there in fith picture – included to give a sense of scale).
I didn’t know what it was, so I did some research. It’s actually the juvenile stage of something we’ve become familiar with the dreaded spotted lanternfly (see last picture).
Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5.
By now I was ready to take an Uber home. I figured that my best option to find one was to go to nearby Kendal-on-Hudson and call from there. I was tired and wanted to sit while I waited and I figured that there would be somewhere to sit by the entrance. I was correct.
While waiting I noticed this woman with her spectacular red hair.
Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5.
In the previous post I wrote that “all that remains [of Rockwood Hall] are a number of walking trails, some beautiful old trees, spectacular views of the Hudson River, and the impressive, but somehow sad stone foundations.” When I came across this sign, I immediately remembered that there was something else: goats! I remembered immediately because I’d seen them during one of my earlier visits.
So why are they there? The sign below explains.
Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5.