Happy Holidays!
My Christmas Wish: Health and Wealth and Joy be thine, prays the Friend of “Auld Lang Syne”. L. Prang & Co., Boston, 1884
This year the Friends continued to work to restore Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters and create an exciting and fabulous museum. We have been very actively researching all the stories the museum can tell and the best way to share them. While the story usually starts with the most famous event—the decision in 1781 between Comte de Rochambeau and General George Washington to attack the British in Virginia, not in New York City—that’s only one part of the history of the house. We want to tell the whole story of the people who lived here before, during, and after the Revolutionary War, into the 20th century. There is much to research, to learn, and to share. Stay tuned!
For now, we’ll look back to this last year and be thankful for all the wonderful things that happened in 2023. With the help of grants given to the Town of Greenburgh by New York State, the house has a new roof and a safe chimney. The restoration continues, with new exterior shingles, restored windows and French doors and permanent stabilization underway. An exciting Cultural Landscape Plan, funded by the Friends, is ready to be shared with everyone. We hosted two fantastic events: Follow the French in May and Colonial Day in September. Our mini museum, which was set up at both events, also helped several social studies classes in local schools studying the Colonial era. We published the article, Enslaved People at the Odell House, which is available on our website here. With the help of a grant from the Scarsdale Historical Society, we created a free audio tour on the app Travel Storys about the sites of the 1781 French encampments in Westchester. You can download it here.
Looking to the future, the Friends and the Town are formalizing an agreement that will allow us to work collaboratively to run the finished museum. The Town and the historic preservation architect are preparing the final phase of restoration, interior finishes, and utilities. The Friends have formed an Academic Advisory Committee of historians expert in the eras the house encompasses, and are interviewing museum planning consultants to define the stories to share in the finished building and how to create exciting exhibits. We are actively seeking grant money for this all-important last step. Next year’s newsletters will let you follow along with this work.
The 18 members of the OHRH Board wish to thank the wonderful partners who are helping us do this work—Town of Greenburgh officials and employees, the Greenburgh Parks Department team, state, county and local elected officials, all the reenactors and historic interpreters, our dedicated volunteers, and the many supporters and donors who made our year and our events so special. Thank you so much! We could not have done it without you!
Make a Year-End Donation!
Help us continue our work by making a tax-deductible contribution before the end of the year. Please click here.
If you want to donate by check, make it payable to Friends of OHRH and mail it to OHRH, c/o Seal, 14 Rochambeau Drive, Hartsdale, NY 10530.
Thank you for your support!
Like the one we shared last year, the holiday card above is one of the exciting finds in the boxes of documents we rescued in the house. It’s part of a collection of Victorian Louis Prang cards that were saved by one of the Odell family members—now safely stored in the archives of the Westchester County Historical Society. Prang was a 19th-century Boston-based printer, considered the father of the American Christmas Card. His cards are prized for their beauty and history, and we are proud that they will be part of a future exhibit when the museum is ready.