Attached is the FY2016 Annual Report of the Town of Durham as a Certified Local Government under the Historic Preservation Law.
The Northriver research website is an excellent source for those who are interested in genealogy, or the history of Durham, NY. It is also useful for other towns in the county, and how they may have relevance to one another. There is a search engine, and a table of contents listing much useful information. Visit the site to appreciate the full range of possibilities. The Durham Historic Preservation Commission is grateful to Sylvia Hasenkopf for granting us permission to provide this link http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nygreen2/ .
- Local Law #1 1989 Historic Preservation Law, establishing the Commission
- Local Law #1 1991 Increase Board Members to Historic Commission
- pdf Minutes of the DHPC of Nov. 5 (792 KB) and pdf Nov. 19, 1989 (169 KB) , establishing the Cornwallville Historic District
- pdf DHPC Statement of Intent (514 KB) and pdf Questions about the Commission (1.17 MB)
- pdf Application for a Certificate of Appropriateness (265 KB) (for properties in the Cornwallville Historic District)
- folder Minutes of meetings of DHPC year-by-year
- pdf Certified Local Government Agreement (950 KB) Between The New York State Historic Preservation Officer and the Town of Durham, 1990
- pdf Yearly reports of CLG (240 KB) (Report for 2016, submitted in April 2017, is under DHPC-documents; others missing)
- Contact:
- How to apply for historic registers at National/State level: https://parks.ny.gov/shpo/national-register/
- How to apply for historic register at the county level: https://www.gchistory.org/historic-register
- How to apply for Historic register at the town level: To be discussed.
- List of historic properties in Durham (from Scenic Byways Corridor Management Plan)
Geography
Much of Durham’s early history was shaped by its geography. Located about twenty-four miles northwest of the village of Catskill and about thirty miles southwest of Albany, the state capitol, the Town is irregular in shape. Its 49 square miles, or 31,000 acres slope to the northeast out of the Catskill mountains to the Catskill Creek basin. There are numerous streams running down into the Catskill Creek in an area once heavily forested with hemlock trees. Hemlock bark was the basic raw material needed by the leather tanning industry which emerged in the area in the early 1800’s and in neighboring communities with names like Tannersville and Gloversville. Leather tanning required only the bark of the hemlock tree, and much surplus wood became available as a by-product. Mills for working wood, grain and iron were located along the stream banks prior to the 20th century and were responsible for much of the Town’s prosperity, especially in the hamlet of Oak Hill.
