Our wine tasting event is coming up on September 13th, 6-9pm at Ski Sundown. It is our main fundraiser, and helps to pay for the computer upon which I write this. One of the things that struck me, as we were running through the list of vendors and sponsors, is the continuity with the past. Businesses in town are constantly changing, yet there are certain threads that continue for well over a generation.
To name a few, one of our vendors has recently celebrated 65 years as a family business, and that family bought a grocery concern which dated back to the turn of the last century. Another is on its second generation and is housed in an historic building in town; a building which has seen a parade of local businesses from doctors to candy-stores to restaurants. Yet another has a long tradition as the gathering spot in the center of town, despite changing names and owners. There are many which are family run, maybe for several generations. And then there are others, which are just starting out, and yet are already institutions in their own right.
So often we think of history as a distant past, disconnected and foreign to our own lives; yet, history is actually all around, being made constantly. What is today simply a local store will tomorrow be, perhaps, remembered with fondness by someone somewhere, or featured in an article in a magazine, or lost and anonymous in a file. Who is to say, but us and our future?
What will be remembered? What will be forgotten? That is for us to decide.
New Hartford Historical Society 