Kingston Area

Kingston Area. Historic New York. , Dutch Settlers at Esopus were troubled by hostile Algonquin (Esopus) Indians, who were finally pacified by Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1658. In 1661 Wiltwyck, later Kingston, was settled and remained strongly Dutch after the English conquest in 1664., While New York City was in British hands during the Revolution, the Constitution of New York State was proclaimed at Kingston, April 20, 1777. Later that year Kingston was burned by the British., In the nineteenth century river traffic by sloop and steamboat brought commerce and industry to Saugerties and Kingston. Boat building, brick making and the quarrying of bluestone proved profitable. By 1900 cement manufacture was extensive. Transportation to the interior was improved by turnpikes, the Delaware and Hudson Canal and the West Shore Railroad., Westward the Catskill Mountains provide natural resources and recreation. Early lumber mills and tanneries used timber and bark from the forests. Later construction of the Ashokan Reservoir supplied water for New York City. Scenic beauty and romantic associations have been celebrated by artists of the “Hudson River School” and by writers, like Washington Irving. Forests and wild life are protected by the Catskill Forest Preserve created in 1904. Resort hotels and boarding houses have popularized the area for vacationers.