Barrytown Explorer

The Barrytown Explorer was a local monthly newspaper published by Chanler Armstrong Chapman of Barrytown, a hamlet in the Town of Red Hook. Chapman (1901-1982) was a Livingston/Astor/Chanler family scion, a dairy farmer, a Red Hook School board member, and a witty, eccentric raconteur who delighted in flouting convention. He launched the newspaper in June 1958 during the age of the Space Race, soon after the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, and the U.S. had successfully countered with “Explorer,” from Cape Canaveral, in Florida. The Explorer’s inaugural issue claimed “This paper is interested in four subjects. First, the Neighbors and their families; second, good schools in good Communities; third, a fair price for milk at the barn door for Dairy Farmers; Fourth, the Truth, always the truth.” The newspaper offered lively coverage of local people and events until ceasing publication in April 1982, a month after Chapman died.