Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Time: 2:00PM
Location: The Willows at Brandow Point (Inside)
Cost: $10+fees
Register for tickets here: Eventbrite
Join Robert and Johanna Titus, retired professors of Geology and Biology, for a presentation on the ice age history that inspired all the arts of the Hudson Valley.
Presentation description:
During the 19th century there was something of a cultural Renaissance right here in the Hudson Valley region. America’s first world-class literature appeared. We also saw the birth of American landscape architecture. Most importantly, led by Thomas Cole, we saw the appearance of the Hudson River School of Art. In short, our region became the center of a truly important cultural movement. None of this, we argue, would ever have happened if the Hudson Valley and Catskills had not been so heavily glaciated. We take our readers to see how the glaciers created the landscapes that so inspired the great artists of those times.
Then we look down into the greater Hudson Valley region. First it is filled with ice but later it is filled with the glacial meltwaters of something called Lake Albany and other glacial lakes throughout the region. Those waters drained away and platforms composed of lake sediment emerged. When the Livingston family came along, on the east bank of the Hudson, they built their mansions upon those platforms. Their architects designed the grounds so that scenic views were opened up. These are called planned views, and they became central to landscape architecture as it developed all across America.
Knowing the ice age history that inspired all the arts of the Hudson Valley will help you appreciate them so much more. That is our goal.
Bios:
Robert and Johanna Titus are, respectively, retired professors of Geology and Biology. They are best known in the Catskills as popular science writers. Over the years they have written for several regional magazines, including Kaatskill Life and Tri-County Historical Reviews. They currently write for local newspapers as well: the Mountain Eagle and the Columbia Paper. They are the authors of five books on Catskills and Hudson Valley geology. The Titus’s are frequently invited to present PowerPoint lectures on their research and have been seen on television and heard on radio. They have a Facebook page (“The Catskill Geologist”), a blog site (“thecatskillgeologist.com”) and can be contacted at randjtitus@prodigy.net.
