Historical Society's Festival of Toys awarded Greater Hudson Heritage award

WARWICK — The Warwick Historical Society's 2015 Festival of Toys has been awarded a Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s 2016 Award for Excellence.
The program recognizes efforts that exemplify creativity and professional vision resulting in a contribution to the preservation and interpretation of the historic scene, material culture and diversity of the region.
The 2016 Award for Excellence will be presented at the Network's Annual Conference on Oct. 28 at the Locust Grove Estate in Poughkeepsie.

Seeking Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets

Planning is well underway for the 2016 exhibit. Festival of Toys Season 2 will include nostalgia toys donated by Warwick residents; increased interactive exhibits and hand-on activities, and additions and improvements to the train display.
This year the UAME Church on Forester Avenue will be transformed into a workshop where children young and old will have the opportunity to make their own wooden train sets and airplanes and handmade dolls.
The society hopes to involve the community by seeking loans and donations of toys such as Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets, as well as any antique toys or dolls residents.
Call 845-986-3236 if you have anything you would like to contribute.

'To preserve and celebrate' history

The Festival of Toys was conceived following the donation of Virginia Cameron Farnsworth Samson's doll house.
The doll house, built in 1916, is a replica of the Wisner Manor House that still stands in what is now known as Wickham Woodlands.
The doll house joined a significant collection of toys, games, dolls and children's furniture at the Warwick Historical Society. Local resident Al Buckbee then approached the Society with a generous offer to build a "S-gauge" model train display, with replicas of Warwick's historic buildings and surrounding orchards and landscapes.
Supporting its mission to "preserve and celebrate the vibrant history of the Town of Warwick and its people, and engage our communities through a variety of programs aimed at developing an understanding and appreciation of our unique historic heritage," Society members, volunteers and local residents set to work to tell the story of Warwick's past by sharing the fond childhood memories of its residents.
Enchanting model trains zipped around the display of Downtown Warwick in the great room at the A.W. Buckbee Center.
Volunteer train conductors told the story of the birth of the railroad in Warwick to the over 1,000 visitors who came through the doors.
Many residents were unaware of the significant role Warwick played, as the hub for shipping milk to New York City.
Visitors marveled at the model locomotives of the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway from more than 50 years ago that hummed along among familiar Warwick sights such as the The 1810 House, The Old School Baptist Meeting House, and The Shingle House on nearly 150 feet of track.
The display featured almost 200 square feet of exhibition space, making room for trains, bridges, and tracks.

Essential information

For more information, or to become a member of the Warwick Historical Society, please call 845.986.3236, ext. 106 or visit www.warwickhistoricalsociety.org.