Highlands Current Audio Stories

The process is costly and complicated

It's unlikely that people think about money or history when they turn the tap. But in Cold Spring, drinking water is about both.

Village water comes from two 19th-century reservoirs on Lake Surprise Road in North Highlands. They were built to power the West Point Foundry, and the village purchased them in 1922 after the foundry closed. The bond notes, now in frames, hang in Village Hall.

As they aged, the reservoir's two dams were repaired in the 1920s, 1960 and 1980. Most recently, a 2010 assessment by Tectonic Engineering found that the Upper Dam needs significant work that could cost up to $9 million.

The repairs are not optional. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has classified Cold Spring's dams as "high hazard," meaning their failure could cause deaths, widespread damage to homes, buildings and infrastructure, and substantial economic loss.

Preparing for the repairs has been complicated and has included the need to acquire land so heavy construction equipment can reach the Upper Dam. Late last year, Harriet and George Hustis, who for years had informally allowed village staff access to the reservoirs via their property, donated the 17-acre parcel on the western side of the upper reservoir to the village.

In June, the village purchased parcels at 260 and 262 Lake Surprise Road, which straddle the former Hustis property. The owner of those lots allowed the village water department to park vehicles on the property but wouldn't consider granting an easement to permit heavy equipment to cross.

The purchase of the 1.3-acre property at 260 Lake Surprise Road, which includes a 1,400-square-foot cottage and outbuildings, prompted a resident to place ads in The Current which, although satirical, made it clear he felt the village paid too much.

Real estate websites estimate the value of 260 Lake Surprise Road as $563,100; the village paid $1 million for that property and 3.3 wooded acres at 262 Lake Surprise Road. The village says it purchased the latter to protect the last open lot in the reservoir's riparian buffer. The former Hustis property is also heavily wooded and provides an environmental buffer.

Mayor Kathleen Foley said an appraisal of the two Lake Surprise Road properties by Michael DeWan Appraisal & Associates valued them at $831,000. After the owner proposed $1.1 million and the village countered with $960,000, she said the parties agreed to $1 million. The cottage and other buildings at 260 will be demolished.

The cottage would not be permitted today because the lot includes riparian areas, and state and local codes would prevent constructing and operating a septic system so close to a source of drinking water. A subdivision was also developed at the southeast side of the lower reservoir in the 1990s.

The village will soon learn if the Lake Surprise Road purchase will be covered by a $1 million land-acquisition grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation. Otherwise, the village will convert a five-year bond anticipation note created for the two-lot acquisition into a bond and pay it down over 30 years.

"The purchase of the two lots gives the village control over the site," Foley said, adding that Tectonic Engineering has begun detailed engineering and designs for the dam repairs. The village received $2.5 million from New York State toward the cost; Foley said construction is scheduled to begin by fall 2029, with completion the following spring.

After water levels in both reservoirs are lowered for construction, the village will draw from the Catskill Aqueduct, a major water source for New York City. In 2022, the village restored its emergency connection to the aqueduct, which passes through the east end of Nelsonville and Philipstown.

"Purchasing water from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection is very expensive, into the thousands [of dollars] per day," Foley said. When the village reconnected to the aqueduct, it negotiated f...

Says lawmaker pressed for husband's reinstatement

Putnam Sheriff Brian Hess has accused county Legislator Erin Crowley of pressuring him ahead of a disciplinary hearing for her husband, a deputy suspended since February, according to a letter obtained by Hudson Valley Digger.

Kevin Osika, 43, has been suspended without pay while the Putnam Sheriff's Office conducts an internal investigation following his arrest related to a domestic incident in Mahopac. The Dutchess County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted a criminal case against Osika on misdemeanor assault and harassment charges after the Putnam County D.A. recused himself, said the case has been resolved, but a judge sealed the results.

Hess has said he plans to file an ethics complaint against Crowley, but the Putnam County Board of Ethics is inactive. A vote by the Legislature on Sept. 1 changed who appoints its five members. The new law, which went into effect on Monday (Sept. 28) over the objections of County Executive Kevin Byrne, who refused to sign it, retains two nominations for the county executive and allots one each to the full Legislature, its chair and its minority leader.

The Current filed a FOIL request with the county on Sept. 25 to receive a copy of the letter. According to Hudson Valley Digger, a Substack published by former Journal News reporter David McKay Wilson, the sheriff sent it on Sept. 21 to Putnam's legislators.

The legislative counsel denied the request on Monday, writing that the memorandum contains "information concerning pending and unresolved personnel, disciplinary and ethics matters" and that "disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

She added: "The Legislature is aware that the memorandum, or information contained in it, was previously disclosed to the press without authorization. That disclosure was not made pursuant to FOIL, was not authorized by the Legislature or other county official empowered to approve its release and does not constitute an official determination that the memorandum is publicly available." The Current appealed the ruling to the county executive and also filed a FOIL request with the Sheriff's Office.

According to the Hudson Valley Digger, the letter says Hess has been pressured by Crowley because she has "a personal and household financial interest" in seeing her husband reinstated. Both Hess and Crowley, whose district includes Mahopac and Mahopac Falls in the Town of Carmel, were elected as Republicans.

According to Hudson Valley Digger, the sheriff accuses Crowley, a deputy district director for Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, of seeking his assurance that Osika will keep his job as a deputy. Hess said he "could not agree to that outcome" but would consider a "non-sworn alternative." (The Sheriff's Office has positions other than sworn deputies.)

"She rejected the alternative and stated that she would seek assistance from Dan Scavino of the White House," Hess wrote, according to Hudson Valley Digger. Scavino, a deputy chief of staff in the Trump administration, is a Yorktown native who once taught at Mahopac High School.

In the letter, Hess said he has encountered delays in getting spending requests approved by the Legislature's Audit and Administration Committee, which Crowley chairs. When he asked her about the delays, she said "there was no problem and that I just needed to call her and she would approve purchases for me," Hess wrote. "I did not consider that an appropriate basis for processing the Office's transactions."

The sheriff also claimed, according to Hudson Valley Digger, that there have been "false rumors concerning my hiring and promotion of female employees" and a report of "plans by Osika and/or Crowley to sue the Office and 'drop a bomb' concerning an alleged 'sex scandal.'" Hess wrote that he also "received a report that Ms. Crowley contacted an associate who had assisted in my sheriff campaign and asked him to intervene with me on the disciplinary...

Putnam County Press dates to 1858, Times to 1949

The Whipple Foundation for the Preservation of Putnam County purchased The Putnam County Press and the Putnam County Times earlier this year, their editor wrote in the newspapers' Wednesday (Sept. 30) issues.

Editor Holly Crocco has run the Mahopac-based weeklies since 2011. The Press is mailed to subscribers, while The Times is distributed free, including in Cold Spring and Garrison.

When longtime owner Don Hall died in January 2022 at age 91, Crocco said she and a coworker kept the papers running for his estate until the Whipple Foundation, led by George Whipple, purchased them for an undisclosed amount. Whipple is a lawyer, TV journalist and preservationist who lives in Garrison and is one of three directors of the foundation.

In her column, Crocco wrote that "whether I've been under Don's thumb, acting as my own boss or getting acquainted with new leadership, I am confident my reporting style and coverage hasn't wavered. I pride myself on being fair and balanced, and — most importantly — humble."

In a front-page story in the same issue about a lawsuit claiming that the campaign of incumbent Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne accepted more than allowed under state law from 10 contributors, the paper included a disclosure noting it was owned by Putnam County Press & Times LLC, a subsidiary of the Whipple Foundation, because Whipple was one of the contributors.

The legal limit for the election cycle, which began in 2022, is $3,639, and Whipple donated $7,805. (In a filing on Tuesday, the treasurer for Byrnes' campaign said Whipple and the other nine contributors received refunds.)

According to its most recent tax filing, as of December 2024, the Whipple Foundation had $1.57 million in assets. The papers are soliciting donations through a newly created Putnam County Press & Times Fund at the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley. (The Current, published since 2010, is also owned by a nonprofit, Highlands Current Inc.)

Hall purchased The Press and The Times, plus two other papers that no longer exist, in 1959 from D. Mallory Stephens, a former Republican member of the state Assembly. The Press was founded in 1858 and The Times in 1949.

The Press is the official paper for public notices for Putnam County, Nelsonville, Putnam Valley, Philipstown and five other municipalities, as well as the school districts in Garrison, Putnam Valley, Brewster and Carmel.

Plans to protect rails from flooding, mudslides

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Sept. 23 that it awarded a $19.7 million contract for the first phase of a project to protect portions of the Metro-North Hudson Line from flooding and mudslides.

The MTA said the work will protect the line from stormwater runoff and tidal flooding between Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx and Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County.

The spending is part of an $800 million resiliency effort in the MTA's 2025-29 capital plan for the Hudson Line. The work will include fortifying retaining walls and slopes, expanding culverts and drainage along slopes and track, rehabilitating shoreline structures and improving flood protection. Construction is expected to begin in 2029. About 25,000 Metro-North riders use the Hudson Line each weekday, along with Amtrak and freight rail trains, the MTA said in a statement.

After Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, the MTA spent $400 million to improve power, communications and signal systems between the Bronx and Croton-Harmon. The MTA said it is also stabilizing slopes and improving stormwater infrastructure between Glenwood in Yonkers and the Greystone station south of Hastings-on-Hudson with $20 million allocated in the 2025 state budget.

Cold Spring prepares for riverfront flooding

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday (Sept. 25) declared a state of emergency for Westchester County, New York City and Long Island ahead of a nor'easter expected to hit over the weekend, although the forecast is less severe for the Highlands.

The state cautioned residents, especially in shoreline and low-lying coastal communities, to take precautions because of expected high winds, dangerous surf and flooding. The worst impacts are expected overnight Friday through Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory on Friday for Putnam County that will continue through 2 p.m. Sunday. It expects the worst local flooding at high tide on Saturday morning.

The local forecast for Saturday is mostly cloudy with a steady temperature of about 56 degrees. It will be breezy, with a north wind of 18 to 20 mph and gusts up to 34 mph. The chance of precipitation is 70 percent, mostly after 8 a.m. in Philipstown and after 11 a.m. in Beacon.

On Sunday, the chance of precipitation is 90 percent, with a northeast wind of 17 to 22 mph. The chance of precipitation for Monday is also 90 percent.

Cold Spring officials said their chief concern is along the riverfront, as a full moon increases the likelihood that the Hudson will breach its banks. The village restricted parking on Market Street throughout the weekend to provide an alternate evacuation route if West Street floods and said residents should be prepared for road closures in the lower village.

Sandbagging material is available for village residents at the rear of the Fair Street municipal lot, next to the Riverview Restaurant. In the upper village, pumps are set up on Main Street and the tightest pinch points have been cleared along Back Brook, it said.

Hudson Valley Shakespeare canceled its Saturday shows of Les Misérables and said it would announce the fate of the 5 p.m. Sunday show by noon that day. The two performances are the final ones scheduled for the 2026 season at the Philipstown venue.

The annual Spirit of Beacon Day, scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed to Oct. 4. The Kids' Fishing Derby scheduled for Saturday morning at the Garrison Fish & Game Club has been postponed. Organizers of other events that have been canceled or delayed can email [email protected] to have updates placed on The Current's digital calendar.

The state said coastal flooding is its primary concern; the worst flooding is expected during high tide along the south shore of Long Island, as well as parts of lower New York Harbor and coastal areas of the Bronx, Westchester and northern Nassau County along the Long Island Sound. Waves could reach 22 feet along eastern Long Island, with up to 60 mph wind gusts.

The state said 5,675 workers are ready statewide to respond, including 175 overhead contractors hired by Con Edison and "cut-and-toss" crews to clear debris.

Annual urban design festival begins Oct. 2

With over 50 free events, including lectures, workshops, tours and parties, taking place in Newburgh during the city's fourth annual Archtober urban design festival, it can be difficult to keep track of it all.

To make sure I wouldn't miss anything, I asked Naomi Hersson-Ringskog and Wendy Smith, two members of its organizing team, to walk me around.

First, they pointed out a site on Chambers Street that will become a "co-housing," or cooperative, neighborhood and the subject of a talk on Oct. 24. Down the street was the site of the future Newburgh Tool Library, an idea hatched from an earlier Archtober lecture. It's being built out of invasive reeds and other natural materials, and it'll be open for tours on Oct. 4.

A few blocks south is the city's defunct American Legion, YMCA and Masonic Temple, a complex that is being converted into a suite of restaurants and a hotel — something this city of nearly 30,000 people has lacked for 50 years. Its developer, the Catskills-based Foster Supply Hospitality, will offer a hard-hat tour on Oct. 3.

The Grand Street project, as it's known, brings cautious optimism: It will provide local jobs and draw tourist money — Hersson-Ringskog said she hopes the project can absorb overflow from Cold Spring — but it's also moving ahead, something other ambitious projects over the past decades failed to do.

"Good machine day today," Hersson-Ringskog said as we walked past the Masonic Temple while a dark orange forklift carried two workers to the engravings near the roof. "I love it when they get the forklift out," Smith said.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the downtown projects. In the past decade, the city has sold 600 of 700 vacant buildings, putting them back on the tax rolls. It seemed like Hersson-Ringskog and Smith knew something about every one of them — as well as every person in Newburgh.

A man working on an orange pickup truck on Washington Street called out: "Hey Wendy, I've got something up in Open Studios this weekend!" Smith replied: "I know! I'm already coming!" A woman walking a tiny dog on Liberty Street shouted: "I've got a great idea for the parade route!" Hersson-Ringskog shouted back that she would call her later. That drew Ricardo Fuente out of his Fabhaus Warehouse. "You guys want to see something cool?" he asked. Inside the fabrication studio, he showed off a zoetrope his team built that was about to be shipped to England for a film.

Fuente will be part of a panel on Oct. 24 about building Newburgh's design economy. Like many makers and designers, he moved his business from Beacon for more space and cheaper rent. (Later we passed Jessica Wickham's relocated woodworking studio and the Newburgh outposts of One Nature Studios and Big Mouth Coffee.) They've joined an ecosystem of established studios in Newburgh such as Atlas and Thornwillow Press.

As Hersson-Ringskog and Smith explained while we wound through a block of houses rebuilt by Habitat for Humanity, Newburgh has the second-largest historical district in New York and the nation's first publicly owned historic site: George Washington's Headquarters on Liberty Street. Guides will lead a twilight lantern walk around the site on Oct. 25.

The Archtober organizers hope to make the case that Newburgh should be considered the state's historic preservation capital, which requires a new generation of craftspeople. To that end, on Oct. 4, Archtober will host a talk on the state's new Parks Trades Corps program. Inspired by AmeriCorps, the pilot is training a crew to restore Camp Baker in Harriman State Park. "These are highly skilled, good-paying, specialized jobs that AI can't do," said Hersson-Ringskog.

An Oct. 4 workshop will show off The Newburgh Project, an initiative within the Minecraft video game to reconstruct what Newburgh looked like before the Urban Renewal movement in the 1960s and 1970s demolished 1,300 buildings and displaced 800 families.

Archtober is also hosting work...

District attorney, sheriff respond after public forum

The Dutchess County district attorney and sheriff announced on Friday (Sept. 25) that, following a public forum in Pleasant Valley, they no longer support the county's use of Flock license-plate readers.

At the same time, the county executive said the $500,000 budgeted next year for the cameras would be diverted to other resources and Democrats in the county Legislature called for the county to immediately suspend data collection and to cover the cameras until they can be removed. They said a resolution to enact the changes will be introduced at the Legislature's committee meetings next month.

The flurry of announcements came after about 30 speakers uniformly opposed the technology during the Wednesday (Sept. 23) forum in Pleasant Valley. It was organized by Eric Alexander, a Democrat who represents municipalities in central Dutchess and chairs the Legislature's Public Safety Committee.

At the forum, District Attorney Anthony Parisi said he wanted to see 20 "non-negotiable" changes to the next contract with Flock Safety, including disclosing what the company does with the data collected in Dutchess, or he would oppose a new agreement, reporting by The Daily Catch. The current contract, which includes 65 LPR cameras, expired on Aug. 28, but the cameras remain active during renewal negotiations.

In a statement released on Sept. 25, County Executive Sue Serino said she would not renew the Flock contract. "If the district attorney and the sheriff no longer believe that Flock Safety technology is a tool that they need, I stand by them in that decision," she said. "As the sheriff and the district attorney begin the process of rescinding the Flock contracts and dismantling the network, I commend them for being responsive to community concerns and being willing to change course."

Serino said that she would recommend diverting the $500,000 allocated in the district attorney's 2027 budget for LPRs "to help protect many other critical programs and services that our neighbors depend on, including EMS services, veterans, seniors and youth programming." Had she included the funding in her 2027 budget proposal, the Legislature could have removed it, Alexander said.

The county had six contracts with Flock spanning October 2022 to Aug. 28, according to the Dutchess Comptroller's Office, which posted them at dub.sh/DC-flock-contracts. They ranged from $63,000 to $199,950.

Using artificial intelligence, the Flock system analyzes photos of passing vehicles, records their plate numbers and categorizes them by make and model, color and any damage. The system's database is searchable by law-enforcement agencies seeking stolen vehicles, criminal suspects and missing persons. Overall, the network includes 437 cameras in Dutchess, including those on private land and on roads controlled by the state and townships.

Dutchess officials said that the contract with Flock stipulates that only the county owns the local data and that it cannot be sold to third parties, but Parisi told The Daily Catch this week that the county has limited control over what the company does.

"The reality is, we talk about the security, we talk about the information, [but] it's not sitting on a Dutchess County server, so the control that we have is limited," Parisi said. "Once we contract with private companies, we're relying on what they're telling us to be true. … I can't go in and see everything that Flock personnel are [doing]."

In their Friday statement, Parisi, elected as a Democrat, and Sheriff Kirk Imperati, a Republican, said they "spent considerable time discussing what we heard from residents." Parisi said: "We agreed that the appropriate response is to listen to our community and change course."

According to Imperati, "The district attorney and I supported this technology because we believed it could help law enforcement protect people and investigate serious crimes. We still care deeply about giving our officer...

Residents argue license-plate readers violate privacy

Two things happen when a vehicle passes one of Beacon's license-plate readers, according to Police Chief Tom Figlia, who spoke to the City Council on Monday (Sept. 21).

If the plate is on a "hotlist" for stolen vehicles or criminal suspects, the camera generates an alert that a police officer must confirm before taking action. Second, the plate is automatically added to a database, where it is retained for 30 days unless it's part of an active investigation.

The database cannot be searched using physical descriptions, such as a driver's gender or race, and it has no facial-recognition capabilities, Figlia said.

It was the second time in two weeks that a law-enforcement official in the Highlands had defended his department's use of license-plate readers, a technology that has come under intense scrutiny as allegations of misuse and privacy breaches have spread nationwide. On Sept. 9, Putnam County Sheriff Brian Hess told members of the Legislature in Carmel that its 48 cameras are used only to solve crimes and that guardrails keep officers from using the data for anything else.

In Beacon on Monday, Figlia showed council members and a full house of spectators a screenshot from the Flock system that the department uses. "You can search license plates and vehicle descriptions, and that's it," he said. He shared a 2023 article from The Current as evidence of the city's transparency on the issue.

Data recorded by LPRs belongs to the Beacon police, which does not sell it, Figlia said. Flock Safety, the Atlanta-based company that provides 120,000 cameras to law-enforcement agencies in 49 states, has also said it does not sell consumer or camera data. Figlia suggested afterward that a doorbell camera could be more invasive than an LPR.

Beacon's agreement with Flock was approved by the City Council in January 2023. Initially a two-year contract for $21,400, it was extended later that year and runs through 2028. Two of the cameras are stationed on Route 9D, with others on Route 52, Washington Avenue and Main Street. Another is mobile. Officers can search camera photos if they are looking for a stolen car or a person suspected of a crime. The cameras are not used to enforce speed limits, Figlia said.

The Beacon Police Department withdrew from Flock's nationwide database earlier this year, citing an overload of searches unrelated to the city and the potential for outside agencies to access the information. On Monday, Figlia scrolled through screenshots showing the cameras' views of public roadways, not "people's backyards" or "what's on their phones," as he said has been alleged.

Finally, the chief listed more than two dozen incidents where Flock images had helped the department solve crimes or arrest suspects, including a sexual assault, domestic and aggravated assaults, a shooting, two hit-and-runs involving bicyclists and multiple auto hit-and-runs. In several cases, he said, Flock data helped the department locate suicidal individuals who were taken to mental health facilities.

While some of the national debate over Flock has accused agencies of colluding with federal immigration officers, Monday's meeting was mostly about privacy.

Before Figlia's presentation, a dozen residents commented; all said they oppose the city's use of Flock LPRs.

"A majority of Americans think they have the right to exist and move about freely without being spied upon and having their movements tracked by the state," said Danny Noest. "They're correct and I agree with them."

A Fishkill resident, Scott Norton, argued that "this isn't about cameras, it's about government power." He asked for information on the city's contract with Flock. "Government officials work for the people," he said. "They don't get to spend our money, build surveillance infrastructures and then tell us that the decision is already made."

More than one speaker called the devices tools of a "surveillance state." Lisette Cheresson ci...

The Beacon City Council will continue a public hearing on Oct. 5 on amending the zoning code to allow hotels in the district bordering Fishkill Creek.

The proposal arose this summer after the owner of the former Tioronda Hat Works Factory at 555 South Ave. said he plans to construct a hotel.

Council members said on Monday (Sept. 21) that they are amenable to hotels in the district, which already permits bed-and-breakfasts and inns (defined as a hotel with 10 or fewer rooms). If the council adopts the zoning amendments, it must still approve a concept plan for any proposal in the district, including at the Hat Works site, before the Planning Board reviews construction details.

The discussion veered into affordable housing after Gorton accused city officials of pushing hotels "down our throats because a developer wants to develop there now." She asked for a moratorium on building until the council decides whether to increase the percentage of below-market-rate units required of new developments.

"Let's be honest about what we need," Gorton said. "We're saying we want affordable housing; we're saying we are about community. These hotels are not about community."

The issue will be on an agenda in the coming months, Swanson said. Other council members did not voice support for a moratorium.

The council talked Monday about whether a hotel should be part of a mixed-use development, including potentially requiring a residential component, but there was no consensus. The Fishkill Creek zoning allows single- and mixed-use development with at least 25 percent required to be commercial.

The council continued its examination of short-term rental regulations on Monday, aiming to better enforce the requirement that hosts register their sites with the city. Changes being considered include (1) grandfathering previously registered accessory dwelling units but allowing no new ADUs to be used as STRs; (2) giving the building inspector enforcement flexibility in unusual situations, such as when a family member on active military duty had occupied an STR; and (3) increasing fines for noncompliant hosts.

Instead of capping the number of STRs that can be registered, Building Inspector Bryan Murphy would be asked to report periodically on enforcement.

Kyriacou said he has asked Airbnb to eliminate non-registered listings from its site but has not received a response. "I don't think we should do more than post a list of the registered ones and expect the rest to occur automatically," he said, adding that he wants the regulations to include a mechanism to "chase down a website that doesn't do it."

The idea of requiring a waiting period before a new property owner could list an STR came up again, but City Attorney Christian Gates said that would likely be challenged in court. Sergei Krasikov noted that "we do allow people to represent our community at this table without an imposed amount of time they have to live in the community," referring to Kyriacou, who was elected to the City Council in 1993, a year after moving to Beacon.

A public hearing will be held on Oct. 19.

A public hearing on proposed parking restrictions on Tioronda Avenue will continue on Oct. 5.

The changes would ban parking on the west side of Tioronda for 20 feet in both directions from its intersection with Van Nydeck Avenue and 25 feet north of its intersection with Vine Street. Parking would also be eliminated on the west side of Tioronda from Vine Street to Wolcott Avenue. On the east side of the street, there would be no parking from 140 feet from Main Street to Wolcott.

The council tabled changes proposed on West Main Street until a mixed-use development there is occupied.

Two other public hearings scheduled for Monday were postponed to Oct. 5. The first would increase penalties for violations of the city's zoning, fire prevention and building codes, including for noncompliant short-term rentals. The other is a proposal to allow mid-year salary increases for appointed employe...

Historian will discuss early American music

"Yankee Doodle" is the oldest patriotic song that many Americans still know. And, unlike "The Star-Spangled Banner," it's associated with the Revolutionary War, the country's crucible.

During the War of 1812, when the British evacuated after launching a failed land strike on Baltimore and bombarding Fort McHenry for almost 24 hours, the rampart's defenders hoisted a giant flag and played "Yankee Doodle" in defiance.

Few people nowadays take the ditty seriously, but it helped spread news and boost morale during the fight for independence, says Manley Roberts, who is presenting a three-pronged program, Music of the American Revolution, at 7 p.m. on Thursday (Oct. 1) at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon. The event is being organized by the Beacon Historical Society and Mayor Lee Kyriacou.

Roberts, who volunteers at Cowpens National Battlefield in South Carolina, provides cultural context for the sounds of the conflict. A friend of Kyriacou since they met at Yale Law School, he's in town to attend his daughter's wedding at The Yard. She lives in New York City and is enamored with Beacon.

Roberts plays piano and performs with the Charlotte Master Chorale, which occasionally augments the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

"Music is a great way to teach history because it gets people involved and they feel like they're part of it," says Roberts, who will project song lyrics and encourage a singalong.

After covering musical life in the colonies, he will play popular selections from both sides during the war, including the laudatory "British Grenadiers" contrasted with the patriot version, "Free America."

Melodies remained recognizable, but words shifted around like folk tunes, he says. With copyrights nonexistent, "they all freely borrowed from each other."

"Yankee Doodle," known as the song with 100 verses, began as a British diss toward Americans during the French and Indian War (1756-63), "but we turned it into a badge of honor" and used the tune to pass messages and propaganda, says Roberts. In one version, a purported visitor to a Continental Army camp reported: "There we saw the men and boys as thick as hasty pudding."

One aspect of the program that often surprises people, Roberts says, is the military use of fifes, drums and bugles in the field to drill and conduct battles.

"You couldn't hear the human voice above the muskets and cannons, so they developed a communications system; when bands played a particular drum pattern, everyone turned to the right. Even in camp, they had signals for doing chores."

Though "Yankee Doodle" remains part of the country's cultural lexicon, Roberts contends that "Chester," written by the first American composer of note, William Billings (1746-1800), served as the war's de facto anthem.

"It was an important song that helped support the cause," Roberts says. "Musicians played it all the time, and the army marched to it."

Like many repetitive tunes from the era, "Chester" is written for four-part harmony in a stilted religious style that hindered its legacy.

"A lot of the music from the period is church-like, militant or arranged for chamber voicing and instrumentation," says Roberts. "It's telling that 'Yankee Doodle' is the most enduring song from the Revolution."