History program: ‘Jacob Parish, Who?’

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Speaker John Bonafide

RAVENA — On Sunday, Sept. 17, at 2 p.m., the Ravena Coeymans Historical Society will present its first program of the fall season.

In keeping with the programs themed around the 350th anniversary of Coeymans, John Bonafide will focus on Jacob Parish (1762-1841), a Quaker from Long Island, and the Parish family, including the once-prominent cemetery they established in Coeymans.

A local historian and preservationist, John Bonafide retired in 2021 from the NYS Division for Historic Preservation where he served for more than three decades as a program director and architectural historian.

During his tenure, he researched and wrote more than 500 nomination documents for properties and historic districts now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. He served as the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Historic Preservation Officer and oversaw the state’s historic building conservation and archaeological programs. Also, Bonafide worked with multiple government agencies to develop and implement state and federal historic preservation legislation and programs.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art and a Master’s degree in Public History from the University at Albany, where he has taught a graduate course in historic Ppreservation for 20 years. 

Since 2013, Bonafide has been a trustee with the Ravena Coeymans Historical Society.

 Join in for this program about a remarkable family unknown by many, a forgotten and dilapidated cemetery in the woods, and a mystery that literally surrounds it.

The meeting is open to the public and held in the museum at 15 Mountain Road in Ravena.

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