I just got a great point-and-shoot camera for Christmas (Canon PowerShot SD800) and I did a photo tour of my hometown (well, lived there from age 8 to 21) for the first time ever. It's quite interesting to see such a familiar environment captured in self-taken still images.
My town is Kinderhook, Duch for "children's corner." It's very old, and was formed on the route of the old Postal Road, connecting NYC to Albany, now known as Route 9. Between this and the natural power available in the Kinderhook Creek, the town flourished, and mill workers, politicians and lawyers alike all resided here. Martin Van Buren, 8th US President, has his house and grave here, and many other important figures from the early days of our country had ties to Old Kinderhook, commonly known as OK and (arguably) considered the birthplace of the oh-so-common expression "OK." Also, Washington Irving wrote "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" here, complete with the characters Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. However, by 1850 this town's importance had dried up.
What's left for us today is a village historically protected that showcases all sorts of fine examples of 18th and early 19th century architecture that I never appreciated until recently..
Columbia County Historical Society museum:
Moving out of "downtown" now
town library:
and since you've all been dying to know, this is where governor-defeat John Faso lives:
Currently a district elementary school, originally the village high school:
This house is a fraternal twin to the above: same original plans, but this one was heavily modified during the height of the French Second Empire fashion. I was fortunate enough to see the interior a couple years ago and it's just as grand as the exterior
The house where all the youngins go for a field trip at least a couple of times:
back in ye "OK" towne square
Railroad depot turned apartment complex:
My town's skyline: two 75 ft.- water towers
Martin Van Buren's resting place
The Luykas Van Alan house dating from 1737: traditional dutch architecture transplanted into the Hudson River Valley
An old theatre awaiting its fate
(Valatie is the village next door to the village of K'hook, but still a part of the "Town of Kinderhook")
And the random ones that only I have an emotional attachment to:
My house where I lived for 13 years, to the right:
Apple orchards surrounded my home
My high school
And to end things on a happy note, the newly completed shopping plaza our town was so blessed to be honored with: