History lecture to focus on wealth and power in the Hudson Valley’s Gilded Age

Author, Musician, and Historian Alex Prizgintas will be the featured lecturer at the Tuxedo Historical Society on Sunday December 29 at 2 p.m. for part one of the “Riverside Moguls: Wealth and Power in the Hudson Valley’s Gilded Age” lecture series.

The “Titans of Industry,” lecture will focus on the arenas of the Gilded Age ranging from oil to real estate to railroads. From Rockefeller’s Kykuit Estate in Westchester County to the elaborate estates of Tuxedo Park, the Ogden-Mills Staatsburgh Estate, the Colonel Oliver Hazard Payne Mansion now operated by Marist College, and Orange County’s two Spanish-Italianate Estates owned by Charles E. Rushmore and Robert Goelet. Prizgintas combines rich information with photographs, imbedded videos, and audio quotes from noted biographies to trace together this extravagant and fascinating era of Hudson Valley history.

A graduate of Marist College with degrees in Hudson River Valley history and public administration, Prizgintas has been published in the Hudson River Valley Review, New York Archives Magazine, and Orange County Historical Society Journal on topics including Hudson River railroad history, Orange County’s dairy farming history, and the region’s early settlers. He serves as president of the Woodbury Historical Society.

The lecture will be held at the Tuxedo Historical Society’s Historic Bank Building, 241 Route 17 in Tuxedo, across from the train station. Seating will be limited. Call 845-351-2926 to reserve a seat.