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white settlers. From this and other causes much ill feeling arose between the natives and the settlers, and in June, 1663, the Indians made a descent upon the settlement, and killed and carried captive sixty-five persons.

Circumstances rendered it probable that a conspiracy had been formed by the Indians to extirpate the Dutch colonists. Governor Stuyvesant summoned the magistrates of the different towns, to consult with him relative to measures of defence. Their views not coinciding with his own, he repaired to Esopus, and took the field in person against the savages, who, on the approach of Martin Creigier, one of his captains, had fled to the mountains.

Sending out parties of wary and experienced soldiers, Gov. Stuyvesant not only kept them in check, but destroyed most of their mountain fastnesses, and so far subdued them that they asked for a truce, and, on the 15th of May following, a treaty of peace was concluded with them.

Wawarsing and some of the adjacent towns were settled by the Huguenots, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, or the beginning of the eighteenth.

The convention, which formed the first constitution of the state, met at Kingston, in a chamber of the house of Mr. James W. Baldwin.

In October, 1777, during Sir Henry Clinton's expedition up the Hudson, for the relief of General Burgoyne, he despatched General Vaughan to Kingston. He landed and burned the village, at that time the third in the state for wealth, population, and elegance. Only one house escaped the flames. Several tories were executed at Kingston during the Revolution.

In 1778, two men, Anderson and Osterhout, were taken captives by the Indians, and carried toward Binghamton. On their way they succeeded in killing their captors, and, after almost incredible hardships, returned to their houses in the town of Wawarsing.

In May, 1779, a party of Indians descended upon a small settlement of the Huguenots, on the Fantine kill in Wawarsing, and killed eleven of the inhabitants and burned several dwellings. They were pursued by Colonel Cortlandt with his regiment, but without effect. Soon after, another family were killed in the same vicinity.

In August, 1781, a large force of Indians and tories, some 400 or 500 in number, made an attack upon the village of Wawarsing, and burned and plundered it. The inhabitants had had timely warning and were in the fort. The Indians in this expedition took but one scalp, while several of their own number were killed, and but for the tardiness of Colonel Cantine, they might have been signally routed. Other similar occurrences took place in some of the other towns of the county.

VILLAGES. KINGSTON, the county seat, is pleasantly situated on a plain, three miles west of the landing on the Hudson. The Esopus creek flows through the village. It was anciently called Esopus, and, as has been already noticed, was early settled by the Dutch.

It was burnt by the British in 1777, but soon re-built. It has considerable trade with New York, and some manufactures. Its business is not concentrated upon one street, but scattered over the whole village plat. It has a flourishing academy, and a female seminary. Population 2500.

Rondout, also in the township of Kingston, is situated on the Rondout creek. It is the place of deposit and shipment of the coal and lumber, brought to the Hudson, by the Delaware and Hudson canal. Nearly 200,000 tons of coal, and several millions of feet of lumber, as well as large quantities of hydraulic cement, and quick lime, are annually exported from this port. A steam ferryboat plies between this place and Rhinebeck, in Dutchess county, and also one to Eddyville, in this county. The United States Government have erected a light house here. Population about 1800.

Eddyville, in the same town, is a small but thriving manufacturing village.

Ulsterville, in the town of Saugerties, is a village of recent growth, being founded in 1826, and incorporated in 1831. Its immense water power, derived from the falls on Esopus creek, has rendered it one of the most flourishing manufacturing villages in the state.

There is an extensive rolling and slitting mill here, employing 250 workmen. Axes, paper, white lead, starch, and bricks are also manufactured in large quantities. A beautiful bridge, with one arch of 260 feet span, crosses the Esopus creek in this village. A steamboat, and several sloops, ply between the village and New York. Population, 2500.

New Paltz, is a small but thriving agricultural hamlet. It has a flourishing academy. New Paltz landing, now included in the town of Lloyd, is a pleasant village, nine miles from the village of New Paltz.

Wawarsing and Naponoch, in the town of Wawarsing, are places of some historic interest.

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Rivers, Creeks, &c. C. Hudson river. a. Ten Mile creek. b. Fishkill. c. Wappinger's.

Lakes, &c. g. Stissing's Pond. h. Whaley's.

Villages. POUGHKEEPSIE, Fishkill, Matteawan, Fishkill Landing, Pleasant Valley, Hyde Park, Rhinebeck.

BOUNDARIES. North by Columbia county; East by the state of Connecticut; South by Putnam county; and west by Hudson river.

SURFACE. The surface is diversified, but generally mountainous, or hilly. Two great valleys intersect the county; the eastern bounded by the Taghkanic and the Matteawan, or Fishkill mountains; the western, lying between the latter and the high banks of the Hudson river. Beside these, there are numerous rolling ridges of less elevation, running through the valleys parallel to the mountain ranges.

The mountains rise in some places to the height of about 1700 feet. The river range presents some of the highest peaks of the Highlands. The Old Beacon, near the Fishkill landing, is 1471 feet, and the New Beacon,* or Grand Sachem, half a mile farther south, 1685 feet, above tide water. The prospect from the top oft latter is very extensive and beautiful.

RIVERS, &C. The principal streams are, Ten Mile, Fishkill, Wappinger's, and Crom Elbow creeks, with their tributaries ; several of the smaller str ams also possess valuable mill sites. The Fishkill is about twenty miles in length. Wappinger's creek is about thirty-five miles long.

CLIMATE. The climate is agreeable and healthful, though, from the elevations of some portions of the county, it is colder than some of the adjacent counties.

GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. The eastern part of the county is primitive. Granite and gneiss are the prevailing constituents. West of these, the country belongs to the Taconic system; slate and limestone being the principal underlying rocks, and frequently cropping out upon the surface.

* These mountains received their names from the signal fires lit upon their tops during the Revolution.

The county abounds in minerals. Iron ore, of rare purity and in extraordinary abundance, exists on the western slopes of the mountains; both the hematitic and magnetic ores occur in the county. Lead and zinc are also found in considerable quantities. Graphite, or black lead, is obtained in great abundance from a mine in Fishkill. Marble, peat, and marl, are found in almost every part of the county. Garnet, green actinolite, talc, anthophyllite, granular epidote, and Gibbsite are the other principal minerals.

In Dover is a cavern which, from its almost perfect Gothic arch, has received the name of "the Stone Church."

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil in general, is very fertile, though portions of the mountainous districts are somewhat sterile.

Gypsum is too much relied upon as a fertilizing agent, while the equally valuable lime and marl upon, and beneath the soil are neglected; a beneficial change is however taking place in this respect. The timber is principally oak and chestnut with some hickory. The county is well adapted to the rearing of cattle and sheep, and the culture of grain.

PURSUITS. Agriculture is the pursuit of a majority of the inhabitants of this county. In the production of corn and oats, it stands first in the state, and maintains a respectable rank in the production of other grains. In the growth of wool and the production of butter, it occupies a high rank; in the number of its swine too it exceeds any other county in the state. Flax and potatoes are also raised in great abundance.

Manufactures. Dutchess county is extensively engaged in manufactures. The most important articles are cotton and woollen goods, including prints, iron ware, flour, malt liquors, cordage, leather, oil, paper, &c. The entire value of manufactured products in 1845, exceeded two and half millions of dollars.

Commerce. The whale fishery is prosecuted from Poughkeepsie, and employs several large ships. Some eight or ten steamboats, and a considerable number of sloops, schooners and barges, are employed in the coasting trade.

Mines, &c. In Beekman, Dover, Fishkill, and Pawling, are extensive iron mines; in Fishkill a large mine of Plumbago; in Dover extensive quarries of white and black marble; and in Poughkeepsie numerous and extensive lime-kilns.

STAPLES. Corn, oats, butter, wool, beef, and pork.

SCHOOLS. In the county are 210 district school-houses, in which, in 1846, schools were maintained an average period of nine months. 12,854 children received instruction at an expense for tuition of about $27,962. The district libraries contained about 28,000 volumes.

There were also in the county, eighty-three private schools, with 1155 scholars; four academies, and two female seminaries, with 298 pupils, and one collegiate school, with about 120 pupils.

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