Copake Theater

Thank you Lost Memory for the info and thank you Ken Mc for the NY Times link. I am not a TimesSelect member, but I may upgrade. I’m hoping that someone out there has some links to some pictures, especially near the end of the theater’s time. Right now, there is an empty lot where it used to be. It is next to a landromat and across the road from a restaurant called The Hub that does most of its business at its ice cream windows. (The Hub is currently for sale and has not opened for the season yet in 2006).
The next time I am in the area, I may try to visit the Roeliff Jansen Historical Society (which covers the area) to see if they have any info. In the meantime, it would be good to hear more about this theater.

This book contains information on the theater and the people that built it.
Scandal in the Courtroom, Found Guiltyu without Trial

America the Beautiful, God shed his grace on thee. I remember singing these words while my teacher played on the piano in our old two room school. I remember climbing the hill on our farm after school. Below me was our little hamlet of Copake, New York. I remember viewing the mountains across our little valley that was filled with lush crops. God did indeed shed his grace on America and she is indeed beautiful. That was how it was when I was growing up. America was at war. In far off Germany an evil man had come to power and had diverted the power of the German people to his own evil intent. He was defeated in the end and America was in its glory. I believed America could do no wrong.
A lot has happened since then. The Vietnam War is one such thing and perhaps the war in Iraq is another. Somehow our presidents led us into wars that were not our wars.
But on personal bases I have another story to tell of America going wrong. It is my story about our American court system and how I, a hard working farmer in Copake became involved. The story is called Scandal in the Courtroom, Found Guilty without Trial. There is much in the book about what it was like growing up in small town America with the stories I heard while growing up. Then there are the things that go wrong in Copake like the arsons. Copake truly had a very big problem. After the arsonist burned my third barn I found my son and myself very much involved in Copake’s problem. Because of what happened it seemed the problem was our problem and ours alone.
The reader can follow in my own words what I saw going on in our courts and can weight for them selves the actions taken against the action that should have been taken. Scandal in the Courtroom is about how our courts work, and not how we learned they work in school. Did I make mistakes? Yes I did, but the reader can read what others did too and judge their actions. Readers in Columbia County will remember many of the places and people. They will recall such events as when the Copake Theater burned. I believe it is a book you will enjoy for the humor, the mystery, the drama and the story.

Thanks for the link to the article. They never did rebuild. The former theater is now a grass field. I am pretty sure that there will not be a theater there again.

There was a concession stand outside to the right of the Theatre,, Candy and popcorn…Nothing like going out in the rain to get your girl some popcorn…… Is there a way to add pictures? I live diaganoly across the street from the old Theatre.and took pictures the morning after the arsonist burned it down..