My great-grandfather was 12 in 1906, and lived in Kingston. He could be one of the children in this picture.

Kingston Point Park was not designed by Calvert Vaux but by his son, Downing Vaux. You can read more about it in my book, "The Street That Built a City - James McEntee's Chestnut Street, Kingston, and the Rise of New York." Downing Vaux designed the park for Samuel Coykendall as a gateway to the Catskills using his Ulster and Delaware Railroad.

I had the privilege of being able to visit this park just recently. While it is nothing today like it was in its heyday, it remains quite beautiful and a fine reminder of how talented Calvert Vaux (the designer) was.

I'll like to hear some of what consisted of conversation back in the day. Local news and gossip most likely, with very little international talk. The world was much larger back then.

Perhaps the town band was cranking out some J.P. Sousa tunes to liven things up.

No funnel cakes, no deal.

The photo has a Seurat like quality to it.

Born near here 30 years after this picture was taken, and 30 miles south of Kingston. My great-granddad was a riverman, piloting a brick barge up and down the Hudson back in those days. Sadly, those days are gone forever for towns like Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. So they are for my great-grandfather, who died in 1913.

Magical! Looks to be about early to Mid-June

Fantastic image and new screen saver. Keep them coming!

Yelling "BUNTING!" is the recreational variant of shouting "BOLLARDS!" in the city.

That Ferris Wheel looks a bit ... flimsy. I think I'll pass and go have some clam chowder (or is that "chowdah?") instead.

I want to take every adorable young person in this photo home with me. I think I like the teenage boys best, in their natty suits and straw hats. I also note that it appears to be possible to tell a girl's exact age by the length of her skirt. If I ever form a fundamentalist religious cult, this is how my minions will be required to dress. Men as well as women, none of that "women in prairie dresses, men in polo shirts and shorts" nonsense.

No one eat the clam chowder and then go on the Ferris wheel, ok?

we can see an impromptu meeting of the Sour Persimmons Ladies Auxiliary.

Today's Rotary Park was a stop for the Hudson River Day Liners, so many of these folks might be up from the city for an outing.

Kingston sideshow barker screaming, "Hurry, hurry, step right up to the terrifying "Decagon!"

I see two ladies without the requisite hat.

Would that dressing in the clothes of the time and starring intently at this wonderful photo allow me entrance for a day into this scene and time as Jack Finny projected in his 1970 novel, "Time and Again."

Reminds me of that Twilight Zone episode. "Willoughby ... next stop, Willoughby!"

This looks like an idyllic movie set for a Technicolor musical about the early 20th century. Sometimes we must ask ourselves "Are we really evolving or are we regressing?" I'm just sayin', picture this same setting in New York today.

This looks like a scene right out of the movie. Since my 3 year old insists that we ALL watch it at least every other day, it all looks very familiar. Seems like good, clean wholesome fun for your whole family. (I bet you could find some good eatin' too.)