Historic Tales of the Harlem Valley

New York's Harlem Valley, with the last stops on the Metro-North train line from Manhattan, has an incredibly eclectic history for a predominantly agricultural region. A Victorian utopian community claiming to see fairies settled in Wassaic, attracting Japanese samurai and remaking the townscape of Amenia. An early version of the "Borscht Belt" began on the shores of Lake Amenia, where a once-thriving resort community vanished along with the lake itself. Amidst a crisis of dwindling membership, the NAACP was brought together at major conferences held at Amenia's Troutbeck estate, owned by Joel Spingarn, the organization's first Jewish president. Young graduates from the Rhode Island School of design and other art schools launched the Wassaic Project, a festival and art residency using a converted agricultural grain elevator as their venue. Author Tonia Shoumatoff presents these and other fascinating stories from Life at the End of the Line in the Harlem Valley.