The Kiosk Frieze "Shad Nets" Painting

The Kiosk Frieze "Shad Nets" Painting. . , A view of Hyde Park Landing from the Professions and Industries in Hyde Park murals in the Hyde Park, New York Post Office painted in 1941 by Olin Dows (1904-1981). Dows, a Rhinebeck native and Vassar-trained artist, became head of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Treasury Relief Art Project. These murals were funded by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts, which aimed to make art accessible to all people by placing it in public buildings., According to a pamphlet produced by the Hyde Park Historical Society, this view is circa 1795 - Richard DeCantillon (1), son-in-law of original Hyde Park settler Tobias Stoutenburgh, supervises workmen unloading rum, sugar, and molasses from one of his West India trading packet ships (2). His Landing, site of the train station, was a most active and prosperous enterprise. A woman men[d]s shad nets (3). Logs are poled to shore (4) for the saw mill (see 6 in the "Sturgeon" painting for sawmill location). A hay boat is loaded (5)., This view is from a point on shore near the gray house at the corner of Dock Street and River Road looking southwest toward the present railroad bridge. There was no railroad at the time. The kiosk today would have been in the background behind the woman at '3'., IT'S SPRING AT THE LANDING! Why is it so? , The shad nets are only around when the shad are making their spawning run up the River, in late April and into late May. , But that's not all.., The Sycamore trees are starting to leaf out (6). , A man uses a scap net to fish for herring(7). , An osprey perches on a piling, also fishing for herring to feed its young (8). They still do today. , A kingfisher sits on a net-drying pole protecting its territory (9). It still does today. , A muskrat and pup linger on the bank of the creek (10). , A robin with her brood perch on a net-drying pole (11). , The woman (3) has her head, ears, and neck wrapped in a kerchief to protect her from the voraceous bites of gnats called 'shad flies' because they hatch at the time of the shad run., The ring weights that hold the lower end of the drift net down in the water column are '12' (see Sturgeon painting for float arrangement).