Columbia County Past Revealed

People have been drawn to Columbia County, New York, for years. Beyond the region's picturesque streams, lakes and mountains, the county is filled with the magic of history. Famed pirate Captain Kidd and local Lord of the Manor Robert Livingston were once in cahoots regarding the plundering of the seas. A roaring nightclub fashioned as a ship marooned on dry land, named the Show Boat, drew legendary acts like Ella Fitzgerald and Redd Foxx in the 1930s. The hills and caves of Austerlitz feature a pond that appears to have no bottom, there have been sightings of the "Beast of the Berkshires" and the area was home to outlaws, gangs and many wishing to remain remote. Author Allison Marchese reveals the lost people, places and things of Columbia County.

Allison is a graduate of Fordham University in New York City with a degree in communications and creative writing. She spent much of her professional career in public relations in New York and has traveled throughout the world promoting health and fitness resorts. In her work as a writer, Allison has written plays and movie reviews, as well as short fiction, articles and essays on local people, places and history in her adopted home of Columbia County, New York. Allison is the author of Hidden History of Columbia County, New York (The History Press, 2014) and Hudson Valley Curiosities (The History Press, 2017).