Storyime by the Lake: Let's Go Fishing

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Saving Morgan Lake

A FULL page article on Joclyn Wallace's Morgan Lake Project was published in Hudson Valley News Vol. 4 Issue 15 July 11-17, 2012. The wonderfully written article by Daniella Di Martino is a must read!

Stop Those Litterbugs!

"Morgan Lake is where I like to fish,
And when I'm here I only have one wish,
That Morgan Lake will stay litter-free,
So that all the critters that call it home can live here happily.

If I do my part and bring my trash with me when I go,
Then everyone who visits Morgan Lake will know,
That this city park is cared for by all,
Young and old, big and small."

The Morgan Lake Anti-Littering Pledge was recited by all - young and old, big and small - yesterday at the first "Storytime by the Lake: Stop Those Litterbugs!" children's book reading at Morgan Lake. This free event is part of a series of four themed children's book readings that will occur once next month in August, September, and October, too. Although children's books are read, the event is open to all ages. Everyone who was at this month's reading enjoyed listening to the stories, singing "The Litterbug" Disney song, playing the toss and catch game called "Catch That Litter!", and hanging red Stop Those Litterbugs! hand cut-outs onto the outside wall of the restroom.

To view photographs of this event visit our Facebook page 

Next month's theme is fishing and the reading is titled "Let's Go Fishing!" Come down to the lake on Saturday August 18 at 11am to enjoy an hour of good old fashioned fun for free.

Storytime by the Lake: Stop Those Litterbugs!

If you follow the Morgan Lake Facebook page you may have seen the status updates about a new event idea I had to start an outdoor, children's story book reading event at Morgan Lake. Well, in few short weeks this idea was turned into set date on the calendar! I pitched the idea first to my mom, family, and friends. They thought it was a great idea and luckily Treasha Lord of the Department of Public Works, City Administrator Mike Long, and Erian Buckley, Administrative Assistant to Mayor Tkazyik, did too! Shortly after contacting Library Trustee Nathaniel Almedia, I was arranging to meet with Poughkeepsie Public Library District Assistant Director Lauren Muffs and Head of Youth Services Beth Zambito to further discuss the event. The prompt responses and support I received from everyone I contacted led me to feel very confident that this event will be a huge success. 

The "Storytime by the Lake" series will run from July through October. Each month's reading will focus on a different topic.

July - "Stop Those Litterbugs!" story books will be read about litterbugs and recycling. The litterbug song from this Donald Duck short will be sung and games related to recycling and throwing out trash will be played.

   

August - "Let's Go Fishing!" story books will be read about family fishing trips.

September - "The Lake is My Home" story books will be read about pond and lake ecology

October - "Fall is Here" story books will be read about animals and trees in the fall 

Flyer designed by Amy Fugere-Wallace, Joclyn Wallace, Don Fugere, and Betty Fugere

A Party in the Park

Memorial Day has become a weekend long holiday of families gathering to remember those who lost their lives while serving in the United States Armed Forces by attending memorials, parades, and picnics. On Satuday May 26th, members of 5 families gathered to start Memorial Day Weekend off in a new way; by participating in the May "Scavenger Hunt for Litter" at Morgan Lake Park. The Wallace's, Shaw's, Bialosuknia's, Anjos's, and Fugere's all arrived in the parking lot at Morgan Lake around 11am. Everyone grabbed gloves, a trash bag, and a litter stick (all provided generously by the City of Poughkeepsie Department of Public Works) and worked together as a group picking up garabage and recyclables in the park. 6 bags were filled in about an hour and a half!

To determine what trash is most commonly left behind, I separated mainly the glass, plastic, aluminum, and styrofoam items from the rest of what we picked up. Due to poor scheduling on my part, my mom and brother weren't able to attend the cleanup (guitar lessons at Alto Music in Wappingers Falls come first!). But my mom is awesome so she came after lessons to count and bag the trash seen in the picture above. We collected 9 coffee cups (6 paper with plastic/wax lining, 3 Styrofoam), 19 plastic bottles (water, soda, and juice), 15 glass bottles (11 beer bottles, 4 coffee/juice), 24 aluminum cans (17 beer, 7 soda), 20 worm containers (18 plastic, 2 Styrofoam).

As soon as we got done tying up the last trash bag, a minivan pulled up filled with birthday party balloons and well dressed party hosts. My mom and I told the party hosts that there had been a park cleanup and they said, "Perfect timing! We're here to celebrate a birthday!" They were so thankful for our hardwork and it made me feel so happy to know that the areas by the picnic tables were clean, safe, and ready for a party in the park. Thinking about how great it would be to let community members, the city of Poughkeepsie Department of Recreation, and Mayor Tkazyik know that Morgan Lake Park is thought of as the perfect spot for a birthday party, my mom encouraged me to ask if I could take a photograph of the party tables being set up. The party hosts said, "Sure!" and invited me to come back when the party started. The prize that all of us won at the 2nd Monthly Scavenger Hunt for Litter was knowing that we achieved our goal of making Morgan Lake a clean, safe park environment for children and families to enjoy.

The Bakers, DeFrietas, Isaacs, and Harvey's celebrate a birthday

25 years of Get Hooked on Fishing

Saturday and Sunday, May 5th and 6th, marked the 25th year for the annual learn-to-fish derby for kids under 16 titled "Get Hooked on Fishing." This hugely successful and popular event held at the City of Poughkeepsie's unique urban fishery on 17 Creek Road was planned and organized all twenty-five years by Ken and Cheryl Rose who live just up the road from Morgan Lake. This husband and wife (in the center of the picture below) make a great team. Their close friends and family members have provided them each year with support in a variety of ways. At this years event, I had a chance to see just how dedicated both the Roses and their friends and family are to making the fishing derby an enjoyable and memorable experience for families.

Ken Rose not only invited me to the 25th Annual Get Hooked on Fishing derby, but provided me with a table under the registration tent. It was truly an honor to be provided with an opportunity to be part of this event. When I arrived on Saturday morning I greeted Ken and quickly set up the table. I then forcibly entered a battle against the wind, which was determined to wipe all of my handouts and business cards off the table. After picking everything up, I set out on what became a 2 hour long tour around the lake. I stopped and talked to every family I passed on Saturday. I carried a clipboard and encouraged people to sign their name and email address, phone number, or mailing address onto a sheet of lined paper so that they could be notified of upcoming clean-up days at Morgan Lake. 95 people signed the clipboard sheet on Saturday. When I made my way back around the lake to the table Ken set up for me, my mouth was dry. I love to talk, but that was the first time I ever spoke to 95 people in a row in 2 hours!

So many of the people I spoke with expressed to me how important both Morgan Lake and this event is to them. One woman said that she and her family came up from Florida one year to visit relatives in the area and by luck they were here while the Get Hooked on Fishing derby was being held. They had such a great time that for years now they have come up from Florida to visit their relatives around the first weekend in May just so that they can attend the derby. This story really shows that this event is a family tradition. I also spoke with one of the volunteers, Matthew Miller, who has been involved with Get Hooked on Fishing for 18 years. Now 23, he was a participant in the event from the age of 5 to 15, and since the age of 16 he has been a volunteer at the event. He said that he loved the event as a child, and now loves to volunteer at the event because he knows that it means so much to the families that participate in it, as well as the people who organize it.  

When I returned to the lake on Sunday, I decided to move the table from the registration tent to the hot dog and snack tent set up near the permanent restroom. An announcement was made by Bill Conners through the speakers to inform people about my project and encourage them to head to the table. Although I didn't speak to as many people on Saturday as I did on Sunday, I found out that who I spoke to was equally important to the number. Among the people that stopped by the table were Michael Minter, a talented local magician, and his wife. They both gave me some great ideas for planning community events at Morgan Lake. I look forward to working with both of them in the future on event planning. I also spoke with Jennifer McGahan President of Office of Community Research who informed me that there are several grants that I could apply for so that events can continue at Morgan Lake. Hopefully I will get a chance to use my research and writing skills in the grant application process in the near future.

While this may have been the last year for Get Hooked on Fishing, Ken and Cheryl plan to maintain an active role in helping spread the word throughout the community that Morgan Lake is a great urban fishery. One way they hope to achieve this is by having fishing clinics at the lake. I believe that if everyone who was at the lake for the derby, as well as anyone else who visits Morgan Lake often is provided an opportunity to get together to brainstorm ways to keep Morgan Lake a lively place throughout the year, Get Hooked on Fishing won't have to be labeled as the most successful event that ended, but the most successful event that turned Morgan Lake into a annual weekend tradition of fun paving the way for it to become a year long tradition of fun through the planning of more community events.                 

George Morgan III and the Morgan Lake Ice Co

Old Gravestones of Dutchess County New York, a publication copyrighted in 1924 by the Dutchess County Historical Society, provided me with information that led me to believe that our protagonist George Morgan only had three sons; all having had a very early end to their lives prior to the 1870s. Reading this, it became clear to me why George Morgan's sister Miss Julia A. Morgan took over the Ice Co. after his passing in 1879. However, when I later came across an article dated 1917 listing George Morgan as the head of the Ice Co.1, I realized I needed to conduct some more genealogy research.

Using http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html to find any Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle articles mentioning members of the Morgan Family and the free version of the Family Tree Builder program available for download on http://www.myheritage.com/, I was able to chart most of the Morgan Family history and find that George Morgan had eleven (if not more) children! He named two of his sons after him. The first passed away at the age of one in 1832 and lies in the family plot at the Pine Plains Cemetery.2 The second, George Morgan III, passed away a century later as a patient at Bowne Memorial Hospital in September 1932.3 This was the George Morgan mentioned in the 1917 article I read. He inherited his father's company from his Aunt Julia around 1910. 

While he was the manager, the Ice Co. entered a rather unfriendly suit against the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for $10,000 in damages in 1928.4 The suit, which I will write about in more detail in another post, ended in 1934 two years after he passed away. George Morgan found himself involved in another crime against his property earlier in 1917 when thieves stole potatoes from his potato patch in the middle of the night.5 In 1929, he had a new patch on his property; this one designated as the official dump for the city of Poughkeepsie.6 George Morgan agreed to this temporary change to his property, as well as a more permanent one. Morgan Lake was once off of Smith Street rather than Creek Road, until part of the Morgan property on Smith Street was sold to build a connection to Salt Point Turnpike (then Salt Point Road).7 Today we still drive on this connection that was paved sometime in 1931.

If you thought I was going to keep you guessing again on who took over the Ice Company after George Morgan's son, George Morgan III, I can understand why, but for once I'm just going to tell you now. His sister Eva Morgan-Niver* was the head of the Ice Company after he passed away. She played a role in the topic of the next blog post. What's the topic you ask? Sorry, but I have to keep you guessing somehow. You will have to wait to find out more next week!      

*Correction made on Saturday 8/25/12 - more research revealed that it was Eva Morgan-Niver, George Morgan III's sister, not his wife, Mrs. Effie Morgan, who became president of the Company after George Morgan III passed away in 1932.

1. "Ice Harvest in Full Swing Here," The Poughkeepsie Eagle News, Wednesday January 17, 1917. 

2. Poucher, J.W. Old Gravestones of Dutchess County New York, (NY: Dutchess County Historical Society, 1924) 194.

3. "George Morgan Dies After Short Illness" The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News, Wednesday August, 31, 1932. 

4. "Brief Bits of County News," The Harlem Valley Times, Thursday November 1, 1928.

5. "Morgan's Potatoes Stolen," The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News, Friday July 20, 1917.  
6. "Crispi to Request Dump Designation," The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News April 25, 1929.
7. "Purchase of Land Voted by Council: Two Contracts are Authorized to Acquire Realty for Development Projects," The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News 1931.