My interest in Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates dates back to my childhood. Born in 1947, I remember being fascinated by Clayton Bates’ performances on the Ed Sullivan show.  By the age of 5--being the son of a professional musician who toured with several big bands during the 1930s and 40s, and a mother who was a secretary for several civil rights and early union organizations during the Great Depression who also had an affection for the creative outpouring of the Harlem Renaissance and would read to me at bedtime from the works of Langston Hughes—I was already a student of pre-civil rights era black culture even before I was old enough to know it.  This was further reinforced for me by my mother’s friendship in the 1950s with James Berry, one of the three Berry Brothers, whose dancing career was roughly contemporaneous with Clayton Bates. 

Soon after my wife and I moved to Kingston, New York in 1971, we had the privilege to attend a show that Peg Leg gave at the Rondout Valley High School auditorium to raise money for summer programs for Rondout Valley students.  It was an electrifying performance, but my interest in local history had not yet taken hold, and I was fully immersed in the folk scene at the time playing old-time music, country blues, and ragtime on acoustic guitar, and accompanying a singer/songwriter in coffee houses around the area.

Renaming Route 209 as the Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates Memorial Highway rekindled my interest in Clayton Bates, though that interest would have to wait several more years until I was semi-retired.  By that time I had already become friendly with Elinor Levy, the Folklorist for Arts Mid-Hudson, through several other projects on which we worked together.  I casually mentioned my interest in Peg Leg Bates to Elinor one day and, before I knew it, we were up and running (sometimes I need a little push).

I particularly want to thank Elinor for lighting the fire that got this project off the ground; Dave Winograd, a good friend, and local musician whose group, the Saints of Swing, stars Rene Bailey, the featured vocalist at the Peg Leg Bates Resort for over 20 years; and Dave Davidson, filmmaker, whose documentary, The Dancing Man: Peg Leg Bates, opened my eyes to the many lenses through which to view the life and career of Clayton Bates, a truly exceptional individual.

I am glad that the website we are creating does not signal the end of the project, but is meant as a platform to support continuing research and interest and to invite community involvement.

Geoffrey Miller
Ulster County Historian