The Eastern Border

The Eastern Border. Historic New York. , Mahican and Wappinger Indians once inhabited the area between the Taconic Mountains and the Hudson Valley. Dutch settlers first occupied the river front, so that later comers settled in these highlands. Palatine Germans came from the ill-fated tar camps on the Hudson. A group of Friends from Westchester formed a settlement named Quaker Hill. , , Yankees and Yorkers disputed the boundary between New York and Connecticut, which was settled in 1731 by creation of The Oblong, a tract two miles wide and fifty-one miles long, from which Connecticut withdrew. Incensed over high rents and evictions from their lands, tenant farmers under the leadership of William Prendergast in 1766 rebelled against their landlords. , , During the Revolution many large landholders were Tories, while their tenants joined forces with the patriots of New England. When in 1777 Col. Henry Ludington's militia company was called to the relief of Danbury, Connecticut, his sixteen-year-old daughter Sibyl. a female Paul Revere, according to tradition, rode through the countryside summoning his men. , , Iron manufacture was an early industry here, but the region remained rural. Drovers once herded cattle to the New York City market, but later dairying prevailed.