Cornwallis Headquarters (In Person)

The historic Kearney House in the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey is the last of its kind, the sole survivor of dozens of similar homesteads that once hugged the shore beneath the Palisades. Today it helps bring to life the stories of more than two centuries of families who depended on the Hudson for their lives and livelihoods. Yet the little house was saved not for that purpose, but by a myth, a bit of local folklore that has long since been discredited. How it became known as the “headquarters” of a British general in 1776 (even ghosts got involved!), the fight to reclaim its “true” identity (which brought at least one more misnaming in the process), and some of the forgotten people who have been brought out of the shadows along the way are the subjects of this lively illustrated talk by interpreters at the house Eric Nelsen and Francesca Costa.