This past Friday, the Downing Park Planning Committee of Newburgh held a spring tree planting and dedication ceremony to honor David Schuyler, a Newburgh native and Andrew Jackson Downing’s biographer.

The two-hour event, held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Schuyler’s birthday, welcomed residents and guests to Downing Park for the special event. Orange County Historian Johanna Yaun, her mother Joan Porr and colleagues of Schuyler, Dr. Gretchen Sorin, Director of Cooperstown Graduate Program and Wint Aldrich, former New York State Deputy Commissioner of Historic Preservation, among others, made remarks and spoke on Schuyler’s achievements.

Many members of the Schulyer family were also in attendance, including Barry Schuyler who spoke in remembrance of his brother.

Schuyler passed away last July and was a professor of American Studies at Franklin Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Additionally, he “edited, authored and co-authored many additional works on architecture and historic preservation.” He was the author of three books (“Apostle of Taste,” “Sanctified Landscape,” and the most recent, published in 2018 “Embattled River”) surrounding the history and importance of the Hudson Valley.

“The significance of planting this tree in David’s honor, in a public space named for Andrew Jackson Downing, will not be lost on anyone who is familiar with David’s scholarly work,” said Yaun. “In 1966, he published the first comprehensive biography written about Downing, and in doing so he rescued Downing’s reputation for security.”

Shuyler’s brother Barry described Shuyler as a “dedicated” and “brilliant” man who “had a successful career.”

“We are totally awed by the outpouring of love, respect, feeling of loss and appreciation for him,” said Barry. “He worked very hard to educate himself. Upon reflection, it’s hard to imagine how he did this, how he managed to do what he did, entirely on his own.”

He grew up on Grand Street, just half a city block from “the footprint of the property on which was once Downing’s home and orchards.” Both Schuyler and Downing are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Middlehope. Schuyler’s wife, who passed away of cancer around 18 years ago, also has a tree planted in her name at Downing Park. Barry shared that while Shuyler had a number of hardships during his life, including the passing of his wife along with his own medical problems of a bout with prostate cancer, open heart surgery and a vascular problem in his legs, Schuyler “continued his academic and scholarship activities successfully through all these trials.”

“I realized he was an exceptionally bright man who would make an enviable mark on the profession,” said Barry. “To all of us there is no doubt he left his mark. This tree and the plaque offered by you all today, along with his books and other tributes, will help him remain in our memory for as long as we are here and maybe beyond.”

The event concluded with refreshments, cake and a visitation to the already planted tree and plaque in Schuyler’s honor.