Sybil Ludington Statue, Carmel, NY

The statue, erected in 1961, is by Anna Hyatt Huntington.

Sybil Ludington was 16 years old on the night of April 26, 1777, when she rode 40 miles — more than twice the distance ridden by Paul Revere — from Danbury, Connecticut, to Carmel, New York, warning everyone that the British were planning to attack Danbury.

Her bronze statue depicts Sybil on horseback, screaming, and waving the stick that she used to knock on doors and whack highwaymen who got in her way. It was sculpted by Anna Hyatt Huntington, and dedicated on June 3, 1961.

A slightly smaller version of the statue stands in Danbury, which, despite Sybil’s heroic efforts, was still attacked by the British. (Roadside America.com)

Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.

A corner of Gilead cemetery

I liked the dappled light, and the old gravestones and in the background the old, weathered building with vines growing over it.

Some of the earliest settlers of the region were buried here, when it was attached to a since-demolished Baptist meeting house built in the mid-18th century. Among those buried here later include Enoch Crosby, a Revolutionary War spy believed to be the model for the title character of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Spy, and Joel Frost, a local politician who later served in the New York State Legislature and for a single term in the House of Representatives.

The headstones themselves also display an unusual range of funerary art from the first graves through the last historically significant ones, in 1929. The earliest illustrate changing Protestant notions of the role of death in the later years of the 18th century. For these reasons it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 (entry #88002684). (Wikipedia)

Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.

Cigar Store Indian

This wooden figure stands outside Smalley’s Inn in Carmel, NY.

According to Wikipedia:

The cigar store Indian or wooden Indian is an advertisement figure, in the likeness of a Native American, used to represent tobacconists. The figures are often three-dimensional wooden sculptures several feet tall – up to life-sized. They are still occasionally used for their original advertising purpose, but are more often seen as decorations or advertising collectibles, with some pieces selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. People within the Native American community often view such likenesses as a caricature or as depictions that perpetuate stereotypes, drawing an analogy to the African-American lawn jockey.

Because of the general illiteracy of the populace, early store owners used descriptive emblems or figures to advertise their shops’ wares; for example, barber poles advertise barber shops, show globes advertised apothecaries and the three gold balls represent pawn shops. American Indians and tobacco had always been associated because American Indians introduced tobacco to Europeans, and the depiction of native people on smoke-shop signs was almost inevitable. As early as the 17th century, European tobacconists used figures of American Indians to advertise their shops.

Because European carvers had never seen a Native American, these early cigar-store “Indians” looked more like black slaves with feathered headdresses and other fanciful, exotic features. These carvings were called “Black Boys” or “Virginians” in the trade. Eventually, the European cigar-store figure began to take on a more “authentic” yet highly stylized native visage, and by the time the smoke-shop figure arrived in the Americas in the late 18th century, it had become thoroughly “Indian.”

Taken with a Pentax ZX-L, SMC Pentax-F 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 and Tri-X 400.

A Woodland Path

Not far from our lake house, Roaring Brook flows down into the lake. A short path follows the brook and passes over a small bridge just before the brook enters the lake. Here I’m standing with my back to the lake, looking back over the bridge.

Taken with an Olympus IS-3/3000 and Fujicolor Superia X-TRA400.