Milestone Heritage Consulting
156 Western Avenue
Marlboro, NY 12542
Office (845) 236-3480
Cell (845) 234-9497
matt@milestoneheritage.com
Milestone Heritage Consulting
156 Western Avenue
Marlboro, NY 12542
Office (845) 236-3480
Cell (845) 234-9497
matt@milestoneheritage.com
Milestone Heritage Consulting and its design and research associates provide professional public history interpretation and cultural resource management (CRM) services with special focus on historic engineering, industrial, and transportation sites, structures, and landscapes. We serve clients including public and private owners, management and stewardship groups, government agencies, developers, and the heritage tourism industry. We look forward to hearing from you about your project needs and ideas.
Public History
Education and Interpretation:
Signage, publications, and exhibits for trails, parks, historic sites, and museums
Cultural Resource Management
Historical Resource Services: Research, survey, identification, evaluation, and mitigation
Documentation/Mitigation: HABS/HAER & state-level, written and photographic
Preservation: Federal and state Historic Preservation Tax Credit applications
Photography: Digital and film including large-format view camera and archival
Presentation on Hudson Valley Railroad Artist John Fleming Gould
Milestone Heritage's Matt Kierstead will present an illustrated lecture, "Getting it Right:" The Railroad Art of John Gould, Illustrator" at the Cornwall Public Library on Thursday, July 25 at 6:00 p.m. Cornwall, New York artist John Fleming Gould (1906-1996) was a prolific mid-twentieth-century commercial artist and was General Electric's chief technical illustrator for twenty-five years. Gould was known for his dedication to technical detail, which will be shown through a selection of Gould's railroad-themed works spanning his commercial and fine art careers.
At Left: John F. Gould's 1954 New York Central Railroad calendar painting of New York central passenger trains in a Hudson River scene with the Catskill Mountains in the background.
Milestone Lecture:
Albany Hudson Electric Trail Interpretation Project Lecture at Sand Lake Historical Society
Milestone's Matt Kierstead presented an illustrated lecture about Milestone's public history interpretation signage project for the Empire State Trail's Albany-Hudson Electric Trail in Columbia and Rensselaer counties for the Sand Lake Historical Society on April 9 at the Sand Lake Town Hall. Kierstead's talk focused on the history of the "AHET" interurban trolley line, the development of the Empire and AHET trails, and how the interpretation project was undertaken.
For more information about Sand Lake, visit the Sand Lake Historical Society website at: https://sandlakehistory.org.
Hudson Valley Rail Trail Interpretive Signage Featured in Southern Ulster Times
Milestone Heritage Consulting's recently-installed public history interpretive signs along the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, a segment of the Empire State Trail, were featured in a recent article in the Southern Ulster Times. To read the article, click here or on the image at left. For more information about this project, scroll down to the Hudson Valley Rail Trail item in this "What's New" section.
To learn more about the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, visit: https://www.hudsonvalleyrailtrails.org
Hudson, New York Historic Preservation Tax Credit Project
Milestone Heritage Consulting has been retained by RobinsOak Management of Union City, New Jersey to prepare Federal and New York State Historic Tax Credit applications for the historic Doctor John Coertland DuBois house located within the Hudson National Register Historic District in Hudson, New York. RobinsOak plans to restore this Second Empire-style mid-nineteenth century dwelling for use as a residential rental property. Milestone will prepare the HPCA Application Parts 1, 2 and 3, which will enable the developer to receive historic preservation tax credits for the qualifying rehabilitation expenditures.
For more information about the Federal historic preservation tax incentives programs, visit: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/taxincentives/index.htm
For more information about the New York State historic preservation tax incentives programs, visit: https://parks.ny.gov/shpo/tax-credit-programs/
Milestone Completes Newburgh Historic Preservation Tax Credit Project
CLICK IMAGES (below) to enlarge
Milestone recently assisted RipRap LLC of Brooklyn, New York with a successful Federal and State Historic Preservation Tax Credit application for rehabilitation of a historic residence at 326 Liberty Street in Newburgh, NY. The building is an example of a small mid-nineteenth century dwelling type that became common in Hudson River mercantile and industrial cities after 1840. Milestone completed the initial application Part 1 certifying that the building, a contributing element in the Montgomery-Grand-Liberty Streets National Register Historic District, was eligible for preservation tax credits.
Milestone completed the application Part 2, which thoroughly documented original exterior and interior historic features and materials and presented proposed rehabilitation work in narrative, drawings, and photographs. The building was in extremely poor condition, making this a challenging rehabilitation requiring filing multiple Part 2 Amendments to address treatment changes.
Upon completion of the project, Milestone assembled the application Part 3 certifying that the work followed the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, allowing the owner to receive historic preservation tax credits for the qualifying rehabilitation expenditures.
History Night at the Valatie Community Theater
On October 22, 2023 the Valatie Community Theater hosted Milestone's Matt Kierstead who gave an illustrated presentation, "Interpreting the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail" to seventy-five attendees. Milestone created the panels installed on the "AHET" highlighting the rich history of the Albany-Hudson electric interurban railway, and the Styuvesant Falls hydroelectric power plant which generated electricity for the railway and the communities it served on its 37-mile route in Columbia and Rensselaer counties. This former railway line is now part of the Empire State Trail. The event was sponsored by the Columbia Friends of the Electric Trail (CFET).
For more information visit the Valatie Community Theater
For more information about the Columbia Friends of the Electric Trail, visit: https://cfetny.org
Milestone Completes Hudson Valley Rail Trail Interpretive Signage Project
Milestone Heritage Consulting recently completed a series of interpretive panels for the Hudson Valley Rail Trail in Lloyd, New York, a segment of New York’s Empire State Trail. The Hudson Valley Rail Trail Association partially funded the project through a Hudson River Valley Greenway Conservancy Trail Grant for Trail Education and Interpretation. The panels present the history of the New Haven Railroad’s “Maybrook Line,” the Highland train station, and the cabooses displayed along the trail. A “Trains, Trolleys and Trails” panel presents the story of historic transportation routes and the relocation of the railroad line across the Black Creek swamp in words, construction photos, and a color-keyed route map. To view and download the panels, click on the adjacent panel image or this link: Milestone Hudson Valley Rail Trail Panels
To learn more about the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, visit: https://www.hudsonvalleyrailtrails.org
To learn more about the Hudson River Valley Greenway’s Conservancy Trail Grant program, visit: https://hudsongreenway.ny.gov/grants-funding
Milestone Completes Hopewell Junction Depot Museum Outdoor Interpretive Signage Project
Milestone Heritage Consulting recently completed a series of four outdoor interpretive panels for the Hopewell Depot Museum at Hopewell Junction in East Fishkill, New York. The panels interpret the impact of railroads on Hopewell Junction's development, the history of the 1873 depot, and the functions and technology of the Museum's replica switch and signal tower and Delaware & Hudson Railway caboose. This new Hopewell Junction project builds on Milestone's earlier interpretive panels project inside the Depot Museum (see below), bringing the story outdoors for a new, larger audience now passing by on the adjacent Dutchess County Rail Trail and Maybrook Trailway segments of the Empire State Trail. Hudson River Valley Greenway awarded HDM a Conservancy Trail Grant for Trail Education and Interpretation to help fund the project. The interpretive panels graphic design was done by Toelke Associates: https://www.toelkeassociates.com/.
To learn more about the Hopewell Depot Museum, visit: https://www.hopewelldepotmuseum.org/
To learn more about the Hudson River Valley Greenway's Conservancy Trail Grant program, visit: https://hudsongreenway.ny.gov/grants-funding.
Milestone Completes Elizabeth Mine Interpretation
Milestone Heritage Consulting recently completed public history interpretation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Environmental Protection Agency Elizabeth Copper Mine Superfund cleanup in Vermont. The Elizabeth Mine was the largest copper mine in New England and one of the region's largest Superfund sites. Milestone created a book and interpretive trail panels presenting the story of the mine and how it was reclaimed by the EPA as part of their obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act. See below for more information and to view the book and panels.
Milestone Added to Parks & Trails New York Vendor List
Parks & Trails New York has added Milestone Heritage Consulting as a vendor providing public history interpretation and signage to PTNY’s Friends Vendors/Contractor and Partner List of consultants that have worked on PTNY Park & Trail Partnership Grant awardee Friends group-sponsored projects.
For more information about Parks & Trails New York, New York State’s leading public non-profit advocate for parks and trails, visit: https://www.ptny.org/.
A Tale of Two Bridges: An Anniversary Celebration of the Rosendale Viaduct
Milestone Heritage Consulting’s Matt Kierstead led a walking tour of the Rosendale Viaduct in Rosendale, New York for the Wallkill Valley Land Trust in June, 2022. That year marked the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Wallkill Valley Railroad and their first railroad bridge at Rosendale. The original viaduct, completed in 1872 by the Watson Manufacturing Co., was replaced with the present viaduct built by the King Bridge Co. in 1896. The Rosendale Viaduct, popularly called the Rosendale “Trestle,” is now a vital link in the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail between Gardiner and Kingston, and is a segment of New York’s Empire State Trail. Matt Kierstead led a narrated and illustrated tour of the history and engineering of the Wallkill Valley Railroad and Rosendale’s two railroad viaducts as part of WVLT’s “Walks & Talks” outdoor lecture series. The tour included a walk across and a visit under the bridge to discuss its significance and structure.
For more information, visit the Wallkill Valley Land Trust at: https://wallkillvalleylt.org/.
Milestone Heritage Tours: Mohegan Granite Quarry
Milestone Heritage Consulting's Matt Kierstead led an interpretive hike to the historic Mohegan Granite Quarry in Yorktown, New York for the Roebling Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology in November 2022. Matt's tour was organized around stops at Milestone's new Mohegan Quarry trail panels which explain the history, geology and technology at the abandoned quarry site. Scroll down to view the Mohegan Quarry interpretive panels.
Golden Spike Rail Trail Conference Presentation
Milestone Heritage Consulting's Matt Kierstead was invited to speak about his rail trail interpretation work at the Mass Central Rail Trail Coalition's "Golden Spike 2022" Conference at Gilbertville, Massachusetts.
Keynote speaker was Peter Harnik, co-founder of the Rails to Trails Conservancy and author of From Rails to Trails: The Making of America's Active Transportation Network.
For more information about the Golden Spike Conference, visit: https://www.gs2022.org
Matt Kierstead Featured in CRPA Railroad Landscape Anthologies
Milestone Heritage Consulting’s Matt Kierstead was invited to contribute to a pair of companion railroad landscape photography and essay anthologies published by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art.
Continuity and Change: The Lure of North American Railroads
Matt Kierstead contributed an image of a crude oil tank car unit train at Fort Montgomery in Highland Falls, New York, an image from his ongoing project “Oil on Water,” capturing images of Hudson River fuel transportation by train, barge and tanker.
To order the book from CRPA visit: https://railphoto-art.org/continuity-change/
The Railroad and the Art of Place: An Anthology
Kierstead’s introductory essay continues his exploration of Michael Flanagan’s unique illustrated novella, Stations: An Imagined Journey and introduces Flanagan’s concept of the “Outlaw Landscape,” a common thread in this anthology. Kierstead also contributed an essay on photographer John Fasulo’s images of the New Haven Railroad’s Maybrook Freight Yard in Orange County, New York.
To order the book from CRPA visit: https://railphoto-art.org/anthology-book/
Amenia, NY Historical Society
Harlem Valley Rail Trail Updated Interpretive Panels
Milestone Heritage Consulting has been hired by the Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association to replace the aging public history interpretation signage on the original Wassaic-to-Millerton and Copake Falls sections of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail in New York’s Dutchess and Columbia counties. This project is partially grant funded through Hudson River Valley Greenway. Milestone’s new interpretive panels will refresh and add to the original sign content. Milestone will update HVRTA’s signature oval panels with a new design using elements of the New York Central Railroad’s historic oval logos. This 2024 HRVT project builds on Milestone’s 2021 two-panel pilot project which interprets “Harlem Line” history and bridges, featured here.
Graphic design by Toelke Associates: https://www.toelkeassociates.com
Portage Viaduct History Touchscreen Kiosk
Milestone collaborated with the New York State Bureau of Parks and Historic Sites to create an interactive touchscreen display about the history of the 1875 Erie Railroad Portage Viaduct spanning the Genesee River Gorge in Letchworth State Park in Castile, New York, and the bridges that preceded and replaced it. Milestone provided the text and image content about the history and engineering of this landmark structure, which set the standard for large US steel railroad viaducts including the Erie's superlative New York bridges at Belfast, Fillmore, and Moodna Viaduct at Salisbury Mills. The touchscreen display is part of the permanent Portage Viaduct history exhibit at the William Pryor Letchworth Museum within Letchworth State Park. This transportation engineering public history interpretation project was an outgrowth of Milestone's Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) demolition mitigation documentation of the structure for the National Park Service and Norfolk Southern Railway (scroll to the bottom of the page to see the HAER documentation).
Elizabeth Mine History Book and Interpretive Panels
Milestone Heritage Consulting completed public education components for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup at the Elizabeth Copper Mine in South Strafford, Vermont. The Elizabeth Mine operated from 1809 to 1958 and was the largest copper mine in New England. Runoff from the abandoned mine contaminated the Connecticut River watershed. The EPA designated the mine one of the largest Superfund sites in New England in 2001, and recently completed site cleanup. Milestone's Matt Kierstead, a recognized authority on New England's historic mining and quarrying industries, has provided EPA with cultural resource services at Vermont's historic copper and asbestos mine sites since 2000. Milestone created a book and interpretive panels about the Elizabeth Mine to help EPA fulfill their obligations to address cleanup impacts on historic resources under the National Historic Preservation Act. From Copperas to Cleanup: The History of Vermont's Elizabeth Copper Mine presents the story of 150 years of industrial activity at the Elizabeth Mine and how the EPA and its project partners documented and reclaimed its legacy on the landscape. The interpretive signage explaining the mine's history is grouped at three locations overlooking dramatic reclaimed mining landscapes.
Graphic design by Toelke Associates: https://www.toelkeassociates.com
Empire State Trail Interpretive Panels
Milestone Heritage Consulting created two dozen public history interpretation panels for the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail and the Maybrook Trailway rail trail segments of New York State’s new 750-mile-long statewide Empire State Trail system for Hudson River Valley Greenway and Alta Planning + Design Inc. Panel topics include rail line history, community growth and development, railroad operations and infrastructure, Native American culture, and natural history features.
Graphic design by Alta Planning + Design: https://altago.com
NEW: As Featured In Railfan & Railroad Magazine
Read Jim Porterfield's column "Doing it Right" about Milestone Heritage Consulting's Empire State Trail interpretation project in the August, 2021 issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine. See Article
Mohegan Granite Quarry Interpretive Panels
Milestone Heritage Consulting developed six hiking trail panels for the historic Mohegan Granite Quarry at Sylvan Glen Preserve in Yorktown, New York, for the Yorktown Trail Committee. The panels interpret the natural and industrial history at the quarry site, from the granite’s formation and characteristics through the technology used to drill, split, move, and finish this stone, which was used in regional buildings including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
Graphic Design by Vox, Inc.: http://voxinc.net
Orange Mills at Algonquin Park History Guide
Milestone Heritage Consulting produced an 11” × 17” folding Site History and Visitor Guide to the Orange Mills gunpowder factory ruins complex at Algonquin Park in the Town of Newburgh, New York, for the Orange County Historian’s Office. The guide explains how the nineteenth-century gunpowder factory worked and includes a park trail map keyed to the mill ruins and waterpower system. The guide is also installed as a poster in park information kiosks.
Graphic design by Toelke Associates: https://www.toelkeassociates.com
Claremont Gas Works Pavilion
Milestone Heritage Consulting collaborated with VHB of Watertown, Massachusetts on content and design for a history interpretation installation at Claremont, New Hampshire’s historic illuminating gas plant site as part of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup mitigation for the contaminated utility site. Milestone provided written and visual content for interpretive panels about the gas works history and technology including its cylindrical brick gasholder house. Milestone provided the design concept for a round brick seating pavilion for the panels incorporating a post-and-cable superstructure echoing components of the demolished historic gasholder structure.
Graphic design and landscape architecture by VHB: https://www.vhb.com/
Technical illustration by Dennis O’Brien Maps and Wayfinding
CLICK IMAGES (below) to enlarge
Robinson Copper Mine Interpretive Panels
Milestone Heritage Consulting created three interpretive panels telling the story of copper mining at the Robinson open-pit mine at Ruth, Nevada for KGHM International, Ltd. Panel topics include the story of copper mining in Nevada’s Robinson Mining District, the development of open-pit mining technology, and the evolution of Ruth’s mining landscape. The panels commemorate the “Keystone Dump,” a landmark Ruth mining landscape feature altered by recent mining activity. The panels, to be installed in fall 2024, will complement the Ruth Memorial Mining Park.
Graphic design by Toelke Associates: https://www.toelkeassociates.com
Hopewell Junction Depot Museum
Milestone Heritage Consulting created a series of four interpretive panels for the Hopewell Depot Restoration Corporation for permanent installation in their public museum in the restored 1873 Hopewell Junction Depot in east Fishkill, New York. Panel topics include regional and local railroad history and significance, the impact of the railroad on Hopewell Junction’s growth, and the story of the powerful steam locomotives based at Hopewell Junction that were used to move freight trains over nearby steep mountain grades on their way to New England.
Graphic design by Emily Moser: https://www.emilymoser.com/
Orange County Historic Tavern Trail
Milestone Heritage Consulting planned and ran a yearlong series of monthly evening events at historic taverns across Orange County, New York, for the Orange County Historian’s Department. Milestone identified the participating venues, researched and wrote their histories, generated publicity, coordinated logistics, and provided event entertainment and lecturers. The event series featured its own logo, engraved drinking glasses and a signature cocktail. The Tavern Trail was recognized by the American Association for State and Local History with a 2017 “Leadership in History” Award.
CLICK IMAGES (below) to enlarge
Portage Viaduct HAER Documentation
Milestone Heritage Consulting conducted Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation of the 1875 Erie Railroad Portage Viaduct over the Genesee River Gorge at Letchworth State Park for the National Park Service and Norfolk Southern Railway as mitigation for the replacement of the National Register of Historic Places-listed bridge. The HAER Photography was conducted by Michael Froio Photography: https://michaelfroio.com.
Touchscreen Display Milestone subsequently collaborated with the New York State Bureau of Historic Sites and Parks on an interactive touchscreen display about the construction and engineering of Portage Viaduct and the bridges that preceded and replaced it for installation in Letchworth State Park's William Pryor Letchworth Museum (see above).
Claremont Gas Works NHDHR Documentation
Milestone Heritage Consulting collaborated with VHB of Watertown, Massachusetts to complete New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources HABS/HAER-level documentation of Claremont, New Hampshire’s historic illuminating gas plant site as part of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup mitigation for the contaminated utility site. Milestone researched and wrote the descriptive and technological components of the documentation narrative and conducted the large-format 4x5 architectural view camera documentation photography.
Interpretive Pavilion Milestone also collaborated with VHB on an interpretive pavilion at the Gas Works site incorporating interpretive panels about the sites’ history and technology located within a round brick seating pavilion structure echoing components of the demolished historic gasholder (see above).
