In search of cave where The Leatherman died

June 6, 2023 by Howard Dale Posted in Buildings/Structures, Landscapes, People Leave a comment

The Leatherman (c. 1839–1889 (aged 49–50)) was a vagabond famous for his handmade leather suit of clothes who traveled through the northeastern United States on a regular circuit between the Connecticut River and the Hudson River from roughly 1857 to 1889. Of unknown origin, his identity remains unknown, and controversial. He walked a repeating 365-mile (587 km) route year after year, which took him through certain towns in western Connecticut and eastern New York, returning to each town every 34–36 days

On May 18, 2023, staff of the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society set out in search of the cave/rock shelter where The Leatherman died. And we think we may have found it. Although information is sketchy at best, the cave was reputed to have been beside an old road on the former Dell Farm. See below some pictures of what we found.

The woods road to the cave

A large rock outcropping. Looks promising

A sense of scale

The road continues onward

Another view of the rocks

The pond across the road

Looking down towards the cave

Inside the cave. I didn’t have a wide enough lens to do it justice

Looking back from inside the cave

Indiana Dale inside the cave

For more on the Leatherman see The Leather Man – Notebook Vol. 2018-4

Taken with a Sony RX100 M3

Rocks

May 17, 2023 by Howard Dale Posted in Black & White, Landscapes, Rocks, Things Leave a comment

I really liked the look of this rocky outcrop with its white-blossomed tree. To me it really cried out for a black and white treatment.

Taken with a Fuji X-E3 and Fuji XF 10-24mm f4

Another black and white

May 9, 2023 by Howard Dale Posted in Around the Neighborhood, Black & White, Landscapes Leave a comment

A while back I went mad over black and white conversions. This was partly because I seem to see in black and white and partly because at that time I didn’t really understand color photography that well. Sometimes the conversion was appropriate, other times it wasn’t. Since then after immersing myself in William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz, Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter, Alex Webb, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth at al. I’ve become a little more comfortable with color and consequently I’ve largely moved away from black and white conversions. However, the Native American Chief in my last post seemed to call for a black and white treatment.

A short time after I took that picture I took this one of the Pocantico River as it passes through Briarcliff Manor, and decided to convert it to black and white too. I’m not entirely sure that it works. Maybe I was mistakenly just trying to make a not terribly inspiring color photograph look a bit better.

Taken in mid April 2023 with an iPhone SE II.

Croton Aqueduct in Art

May 7, 2023 by Howard Dale Posted in Events, Landscapes, People, Places Leave a comment

In an earlier post I mentioned Cornela Cotton and her book store/gallery (See: Cornelia). I also mentioned that she was going to give a presentation organized by the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society on “The Croton Aqueduct in Art”.

She gave the presentation to an almost full house at Briarcliff Manor’s Vescio Community Center. It was very well received.

Note that I don’t have a copy of her presentation, or the exact images she used so the pictures below, although similar are for illustrative purposes only.

For a really good overview of images of the Old Croton Aqueduct see The Project Gutenberg eBook of Illustrations of the Croton Aqueduct, by F. B. Tower.