From Hillsdale to Hong Kong: A Year in Review

Recently the Historians of Hillsdale were invited to give a talk about town history and the role of a town historian. Collecting statistics for that presentation took us back to 2017, the year we began writing this (mostly) monthly blog, and we were amazed to see not only how how readership has grown over time, but also how far our Hillsdale history posts have traveled during those five years. Here are just a few readership statistics that knocked us out:

Total visitors to the Historians of Hillsdale website since 2017: 25,785

Total views since 2017 (by visitors who viewed more than one post): 41,456

Readers in 25 countries:

 Australia
 Canada
 Caribbean Netherlands
 Croatia
 Ecuador
 Denmark
 Finland
 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Guernsey
 Hong Kong (275!)
 India
 Ireland
 Israel
 Italy
 Lebanon
 Netherlands
 New Zealand
 Philippines
 Spain
 Sweden
 Tanzania
 United Kingdom
 United States

We’re pretty sure that some of those readers in far-off places were Hillsdale residents on vacation (we know for a fact that the readers in Tanzania were our friends Bart and Jim, who were there on safari). Still, we can’t account for the 275 log-ins from Hong Kong. Does someone who grew up Hillsdale live there now? If it’s you, please let us know. And thanks for reading.

More importantly, this geographic diversity of readership tells us that while Hillsdale may be a small town, its history tells a big story. We believe that the role of the town historian is to practice the art of studying large questions in small places, and we’ve tried to write about how great world events resonated down the centuries in Hillsdale. From the Revolutionary War, where men from the area fought and died to bring a new nation into being, to the 19th century when Hillsdale — bustling with turnpikes and railroads — became a key agricultural supplier to NYC, to the Civil War, where Columbia County’s only monument to the area’s soldiers and sailors stands in the Hamlet, to the Granger Movement, which guided and mentored late 19th/early 20th century farmers and interceded on their behalf in the fight against railroad monopolies, up through WWI and WWII, and to the present day, what happened in Hillsdale mirrored much of what happened on the world stage. Fifty years from now, a future Hillsdale Historian may examine how COVID-19 accelerated relocation to the town, and how civic institutions like the Roe Jan Library heroically stepped up to meet the challenge. Or how the availability of broadband brought remote knowledge workers to Hillsdale. History isn’t static; things are always changing. We hope our posts put some of this in perspective.

Not all of our posts attract the same number of views when first published, but people who stumble across the blog typically will click through to other posts. This can give older stories a surprising boost in readership over time.  Of the 52 posts we’ve written since 2017, here are the Top Ten by readership:

10. What’s In a Name?
9. What’s Scary About Old Cemeteries? Not What You Think
8. Post Office Pentimento
7. Don’t Have a Cow!
6. The Book Lover: A Visit with Maureen Rodgers
5. Close to Home: Slavery in Columbia County
4. Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Pill Hill
3. The Parla Foster House: A Brief History
2. In Search of Nobletown

And the most viewed post of all time is (drum roll):

New Owners Kathy and Steve Bluestone

1. New Life for “The Old Agway” 

 

We can never predict what topics will appeal to readers. Most popular in 2022 was this post about Hillsdale Grange #933, this post about Lillian “Pete” Campbell who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and this post about the Hillsdale family that put a man on the moon.

For the past several years we’ve worked with the Historians of Columbia County, a collective of 23 municipal historians and 15 historic associations collaborating on county-wide projects. The group has launched an educational website promoting public interest and participation in preserving Columbia County’s rich cultural heritage, and has created a map of county historic sites, which is still being populated. Next up: planning for the 2026 U.S. Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence).

We enjoy writing this blog, and we hope you enjoy reading it. One of the best parts of being town historians over the past five years has been meeting so many wonderful Hillsdale residents who’ve helped us with our research. We’d especially like to thank Sally Hopkins and her late husband Bob, Jim and Lynn Colclough, and the indispensable Sally Laing. For 2023, there are a few topics we’re already investigating, but we’re curious: what would you like us to write about? What town building, bit of folklore, or incident has piqued your interest?  There’s a world of history waiting to be discovered in our town, and some of our best ideas come from reader suggestions, so please leave yours in the comments below.

Thank you for reading and for caring about the history of this town.

Happy New Year from your friendly neighborhood Hillsdale Historians.

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Interested in more history about Columbia County?  Click this link to visit the Historians of Columbia County website.

© 2022 Chris Atkins and Lauren Letellier