- GRANT ROGERS PROJECTTALES, BALLADS AND TUNES FROM THE WESTERN CATSKILLS
Film Screening:
Indian Summer (2022) and
The Fall of Cannonsville (2023)
Thursday, June 29th, 2023
6:30pm
Walton Theatre
30 Gardiner St., Walton, NY
Indian Summer (2022 remastered)
The film documents the destruction of Cannonsville, NY as its residents are forced out in order to make way for a reservoir that will supply New York City with additional drinking water. The film speaks to many social and political issues that remain highly debated topics throughout American history: environmental justice, eminent domain and property rights, and rural vs urban interests.
The Fall of Cannonsville (2023):
In the mid-1960s the remaining residents of Cannonsville, NY departed their homes for the last time. What was once an idyllic valley had now been made unrecognizable as homes and businesses were demolished and burned. The New York City Board of Water Supply, with more than a decade of planning, successfully flooded the valley and a number of nearby villages, displacing nearly one thousand people and permanently altering the course of the lives of the former residents who said goodbye to the place they called home. To date, this was the last in a series of nineteen reservoirs that were constructed, spanning more than a century, each displacing numerous communities and adding to the complex network of interconnected water infrastructure to supply New York City with necessary drinking water from upstate. Amidst political turmoil the families of the valley vacated, but in the sixty years following these events the trauma, animosity and anger has not subsided. Run time 21 minutes.
At the close of the films, the audience will be invited to a question and answer time with the film maker and producer, Charles Cadkin. Learn more about each film and the film maker at https://www.cadkin.net/.
This event is sponsored by the Grant Rogers Project, a collaboration between the
Mission Statement
The Western Catskills of New York State is a region with a rich cultural history as shown in its music, dancing and storytelling. The life and work of Grant Rogers along with other musicians from the early and mid-twentieth century exemplify this history, much of which is in danger of being lost. Two organizations, Music on the Delaware and the William B. Ogden Free Library, are sponsoring an effort to preserve this cultural history with this website through interviews, music, and photography and to support activities that carry on the spirit of this evolving cultural legacy.
