‘Legendary Ladies': Goshen Library to host women's history program

GOSHEN — Goshen Public Library and Historical Society will host “Legendary Ladies,” a free program to commemorate Women’s History Month, on Wednesday, March 5 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Storyteller Eileen Stelljes of “It’s Time for a Story” will present vignettes of some legendary ladies with New York connections, including: • Sybil Ludington (1761—1839), the daughter of a commander of a local militia during the American Revolution, was born and raised in Dutchess County. On April 26, 1777, she was putting her siblings to bed when her family received word that British troops had begun burning Danbury. Ludington convinced her father to let her ride to warn his troops, which were scattered over a large area around the house. • Sarah Wells was 16 when she became the Wawayanda Patent’s first female settler in 1712. She met William Bull, a stonemason, and they married in 1718. She and her husband built the Stone Bull House, now a historic site. The county government renamed Orange County Route 8, near the house, to Sarah Wells Trail, in her honor. The local Girl Scout council is also named for her. • Jane Colden (1724-1766), the first female botanist in America, catalogued New York’s flora, compiling specimens and information on more than 300 species of plants from the lower Hudson River Valley. She was also a skilled illustrator. A plant sanctuary in her honor was established at Knox’s Headquarters State Historic Site in New Windsor, near where she lived and worked. • Grandma Moses (1860-1961) was an American folk artist. She began painting when she was in her 70s after abandoning a career in embroidery because of arthritis. Her work was discovered by a collector in a Hoosick Falls drugstore window in 1938. She continued her output of paintings, the demand for which never diminished during her lifetime, and died at the age of 101 in 1961. Register online at goshenpubliclibrary.org, or call 294-6606.