Local Students Narrate Revolutionary Era Videos

Lucy Richer of Hastings and Piya Karthikeyan of Ardsley have narrated two of the three new videos that tell a few of the stories associated with Westchester County’s significant role in the American Revolution. The videos are produced for Revolutionary Westchester 250, the nonprofit corporation created to build awareness and appreciation for the county’s revolutionary era history.

The videos in the educational and entertaining “Revolutionary People: Patriots & Loyalists” series capture—with a bit of whimsical humor—the historic contributions of an entrepreneurial woman loyalist (Mollie Dobbs Sneden), a patriot soldier of African descent (John “Jack” Peterson) and a young patriot officer (Captain George Hurlbut). The videos were produced locally by Nader Sadre and Skylar Apter. Sadre is on the Board of Trustees of the Irvington Historical Society and has professional experience with informational videos.

Sadre and Apter suggested that local young people should tell the historical stories, and each video then was narrated by a teen or pre-teen associated with the Broadway Training Center in Hastings-on-Hudson. The historical integrity of the stories was supervised by Dr. Erik Weiselberg, Irvington’s village historian and the principal historian of RW250 as well as a social studies teacher at Irvington High School. During 2020, he was named New York State Daughters of the American Revolution Outstanding Teacher of American History.

Video Synopsis

Richer, 15, explains the actions of Captain George Hurlbut of New London, Connecticut, who was serving in the Continental Army at Dobbs Ferry during 1781. He became engaged in a military action against the British near and on the Hudson River at Tarrytown alongside French soldiers who were allies of the patriots. Watch Hurlbut video.

Piya Karthikeyan, 11, narrates the story about Mollie Dobbs Sneden, who operated a family-run ferry service prior to, and following, the American Revolution across the Hudson River from Dobbs Ferry to what became known as Sneden’s Landing in Rockland County. Watch Sneden video.

Omar Mansouri, also 11, of Edgemont narrates the third video that tells the story of John “Jack” Peterson. He lived along the Old Albany Post Road north of the Old Dutch Church now in the Village of Sleepy Hollow. On the shores of the Hudson River, near Croton Point, his quick action played a part in the dramatic events that foiled the traitorous plan of General Benedict Arnold to turn over West Point to the British. Watch Peterson video.

“One of our goals is to reach the many diverse groups that live in the county by presenting these amazing stories in short, upbeat videos narrated by engaging young people,” said Constance Kehoe, president, RW250. “We hope to pique the interest of students, families, history enthusiasts, veterans and others with each video. They can be used in the classroom, at home, in libraries and in other settings. I’m hopeful they will engender discussion about the roles of women in history—often ignored—and those of people from many diverse backgrounds. While freedom and dignity for all was not fully achieved during this era, the founding of the United States has given rise to many subsequent movements such as those for civil rights, racial justice and women’s rights."

Funding From Greenway Heritage Conservancy

The videos are RW250’s second funded video project. The first project that produced five videos to promote Revolutionary War era sites in Westchester received 2020 and 2021 funding from the County of Westchester. All these videos, as well as the new series, are free and available to the public on the RW250 YouTube channel.

The series was funded in part by the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson Valley National Heritage Area. RW250 received a competitive grant of $5,000 for the new video series from Greenway Heritage Conservancy HRV, Inc., a nonprofit managed by Executive Director Scott Keller and established by New York State during 1981 to serve as the management entity for the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.