Herkimer

"Uh, but we're not gonna, we're not gonna sell.

You can, uh, you can just, uh, toddle along now and enjoy the soda bread." And so he contented himself with buying 6,000 acres in Herkimer just to make himself feel better.

But he did come to Saratoga, he did try to buy the place, and he did get shut down.

So twice Saratoga got in, in the way of his life, and he was really angry about that.

I often walked through it.

I found the markers a kind of history book, nearly all bearing the names of ordinary people whose lives were quietly lived in a small town away from the shouting and tumult of the great world The Mohawk Cemetery had only one distinguished occupant, Francis Elias Spinner, who had been Herkimer County Sheriff, a militia general, a three-term U.S. representative, once Democrat, twice a Republican, and Treasurer of the United States under Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant.

He was also the first federal executive to hire women for clerical work on the same basis as men.

He was renowned for his flamboyantly elaborate signature which appeared on millions of United States notes.

He had developed it consciously to discourage counterfeiting.

The signature appears on his grave marker in the Mohawk Cemetery.

It also appears on the plinth of his monument across the Mohawk River in Herkimer, New York, which also bears this quotation, "The fact that I was instrumental in introducing women to employment in the offices of the government gives me more real satisfaction than all the other deeds of my life." Coming back to my summer's day in the North Branch Cemetery, I paused for a few moments to look north across the valley of the North Branch River toward Campbell Mountain in Hillsboro.

Then I went down the rows of stones, noting several fellows who cantered off with the New Hampshire Dragoons during the Civil War and a quantity who had served in World Wars I and II.

Sure.

So I grew up in Herkimer, New York, which is more central, a little bit out west of where the Troy area is.

But I went to SUNY Albany for college, so I moved to that area in 2012, and I've been in the capital region ever since, and I've had thoughts of going different places, especially during different life transitions, ending college, switching jobs.

But I've just built such a community in this area, especially in the last few years living in Troy, that it-- I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

And for the most part, it's negative.

[singing] Live from Herkimer, New York.

Herkimer.

This is Wisdom of the Sages.

Herkimer.

A Bhakti Yoga podcast with your host Raghunath and co-host and senior educator at the Bhakti Center New York City, Kostu Bidas.

Welcome to the show everybody.

Good morning, beautiful people.

about beautiful.

I think Richfield Springs and Herkimer and Oneonta, Cooperstown, New York.

I thought it was breathtaking.

It's an hour from Albany, about an hour and a half from Syracuse.

but the group sessions I think I benefited from more than my one-on-one.

And I went to the Beacon Center in Herkimer, New York.

They, they really helped me.

Like, my counselor, I remember one time I had my little booklet home- homework that they gave me, and we were going through it, and I was telling her about my friends, my c- so-called friends that I would party with.

I can't believe this happened with me and my dog."

dog."Well, I, I, there is one operation where I, I w- [laughs] you know, they always say, "Trust your dog." There was an operation, um, it was up in Upstate New York in a little town called Herkimer.

Uh, and they, uh, one of the locals had kind of gone crazy.

He went into a barber shop, shot some people in the barber shop, went into a store, shot some people in a store.

Uh, had to land a couple of times to refuel.

It was the middle of a snowstorm.

Uh, we end up landing in Herkimer, and the next morning, early morning, we, uh, uh, hit the, the tavern because there was no contact.

Robots couldn't find him.

And also underneath 1891, you can see that he's erased and rewritten the date.

The date once read February, 1892, and then he replaced it with December, 1891, which is extremely important to those people who are from Herkimer, New York.

Almost a Herkimer diamond.

Yes.

What did you

It's so good.

It's just like full of these.

Well, Herkimer in New York is known for Herkimer diamonds, which are these fake diamonds that you can go get yourself from a cave.