USA > New York > Dutchess County > General history of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive > Part 11
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Joshua Burch House, ( Restored.)
and pulling the trigger. The piece contained a charge which had been in from time immemorial. It. however, had long been used by the children in their play. so long that it was deemed impracticable to make it "shoot." But, on that day, one of the boys, nicknamed " Lud," we believe, caught up the gun, and, aiming at one of the little darkies, cried out "see me shoot a black crow." and pulled the trigger. By some means the gun went off. and the little fellow was blown to atoms.
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Another relic, which some of our older readers may remem- ber, was the house occupied by Joshua Burch, which stood west of the road, nearly opposite the residence of Thomas Brill, Esq. It was built after the old Dutch style, with long rafters, steep roof, with eaves nearly reaching the ground, and stone chimney at one end, with a fire-place of sufficient capacity to hold a saw log of moderate size. Burch, it will be remem- bered, was an early settler and large land-holder. from whom some of the finest farm lands of Beekman have been handed down.
The old Poughquag Tavern, (now the residence of Daniel Thomas, Esq .. ) though of not so ancient origin as those just mentioned. yet may well claim mention here. It was built
about the year 1800. by Henry Brill. It was afterwards con- siderably remodeled, Old Poughquag Tavern. but the front appear- ance is much the same as it was originally. This was the " half- way house" for the line of stages, running between New Milford and Poughkeepsie, and was well patronized by travelers and drovers. Its upper room has often resounded to the tread of the "light fantastic toe," and the loungers of the bar-room as often regaled with travelers' stories, for which the hardy adventurous life of those early times afforded abundant material. The Noxon house, built about the same time. possesses litttle historical interest. It was erected by Benjamin Noxon ; and a portion of the brick of which it is constructed was manufactured on the farm on which it stands. It Noxon House. is rapidly falling into decay. and will soon be numbered among the things that were.
The Beekman Cemetery is pleasantly located on the
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southern and western slope of a gentle eminence, north of the village of Poughquag. It is tastefully laid out, and decorated with evergreens, which mingling with the pure white marble of the numerous monuments and headstones, produce a pleasing effect.
Th Centennary M. E. church of Poughquag stands on the east side and within the enclosure.
Mines of hematite iron ore are being extensively worked near Sylvan Lake. and at Beekmanville. Two blast furnaces are located a short distance northeast of the latter place. only one of which is now in operation.
CLINTON.
POPULATION, 1,793 .- SQUARE ACRES, 24.064.
LINTON was organized March 13, 1786. It was formed from Charlotte and Rhinebeck Precincts, and derives its name from Hon. George Clinton, who was then Gov- ernor of the State. It originally embraced territory much larger than at present, Hyde Park and Pleasant Valley having been taken off in 1821.
Its surface is a rolling upland, considerably broken by hills in the north and west. Shultz Mountains in the north part, and Sippe Barrack in the west, are the highest points. The principal stream is the Salt Point Creek, which flows south, near the centre. Crom Elbow Creek forms a portion of the west boundary. In the north are several small lakes, the largest of which are Long Pond and Round Pond. The soil is a slaty loam in the centre and south part; in the north it is a sandy loam. The principal post-offices and villages are Clinton Corners, Clinton Hollow. Bull's Head, Hibernia. Pleasant Plains and Shultzville.
Two Irishmen named Everson came into the southeast part of the town over one hundred years ago, where they put up a
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grist mill, and erected a substantial stone dwelling, both of which are still standing. They named the place Hibernia,- probably by way of keeping alive the memory of the land of their nativity. A cut of the mill is here shown, representing it as it was originally built, since which time considera. ble changes have been made. Stephen Sweet. grandfather of John Ferris. Esq., of Washington. * was the builder of the mill. Benja- Old Mill at Hibernia. min Sherow, who died some years since, at an advanced age, used to tell about being here at the time the mill was raised, which they were three days in accomplishing. Many of the beams are fourteen inches square, ofsolid oak, and are still in a perfect state of preserva- tion. \ fulling mill was established here at an early date. The Parks, the Porters, the Hutchinsons and Coopers located at or near Hibernia.
At Clinton Corners stands the old Hicksite Church called the "Creek Quaker Church." erected, according to the date on the roof, in the year 1777, the second of the War of American Independence, and therefore wants but one year of being a century old. It is one of the few relics left. It is built substantially of stone, and has recently been furnished with a slate roof. and considerably remodeled in its interior. The house had originally two porches, one for each door : they were afterward joined. and extended across the whole front of the build- Crock Quaker Cherel .. " ing. An orthodox Church stands a mile or so north of the Hicksite building. built after the separation.
* He was ansat Ge of Mrs. Benson J. Lossing.
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Before the first house was erected. the people would throw up a pile of stones, and gather around to conduct their wor- ship when permitted to do so by the scoffers and enemies of their faith, who frequently molested them in their services. When the church was in process of construction, which was during the Revolution, the builders on several occasions ran away to avoid being pressed into the ranks of the army. Thus in the midst of toils and dangers was the church nourished and built up; and in the church yard lie the church fathers, calmly resting from all their trials and persecutions. The walls of the building are as firm as when first built. and with a little care will stand the storms of another century. Within its sacred enclosure the fervent prayers of godly men and women have been offered up to the Giver of all Good for a century. Men have stood up in all the pride and glory of manhood, and passed away, and their places have been filled by others, until three generations have gone by, and yet the old house stands. a beacon on the ocean of time. May it long continue to stand, to light the lonely traveler journeying on to eternity.
At Clinton Hollow is a quaint-looking grist mill, built over a century ago, by the Halsteds, who were early settlers in this neighborhood. Some of the timber used in it is nearly two feet square, of solid oak. A fulling mill was likewise located in the vicinity. Grist mills and fulling mills seem to have been necessities of the people in those primitive days, and their location was the nucleus around which the hamlets and larger villages clustered. Then an available mill-site did more towards determining the location of a settlement than fertility of soil or eligible building plots. The Knickerbackers settled near Clinton Hollow at an early date.
At Shultzville is another mill, probably not as ancient as the others mentioned, around which a village has sprung up. Here is located a Christian Church edifice, built in 1864, and also the Masonic Hall. At Pleasant Plains is a Presbyterian Church, a branch of the Pleasant Valley church of that denomination. The society was formed in 1837. of twelve
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members regularly dismissed from the mother church for the purpose, and the house of worship built about that time. At LeRoy's Corners is another old mill, a store, and a few dwellings.
At the upper end of the Shultz Mountains, in the north part of the town, a slate quarry was formerly worked by the Hudson River Slate Company, but it is now abandoned.
The LeRoys and Cookinghams were early settlers near Pleasant Plains. The Van Vliets located in this town about the year 1755 ; quite a number of that name still reside here.
Near Clinton Corners stands the mansion built about the year 1792, by Abel Peters, now owned by B. Hicks, Esq. Peters was an inn-keeper and merchant, and appears to have accumulated wealth in the business ; and was withal, a repre- sentative man of that class who did all the public business required by the people of those primitive times. It is said that Peters kept his tavern and store in the mansion spoken of; but this is denied by a grand-daughter of his, who visited here several years ago, and who said the hotel and store stood opposite, and have since been removed. The Peters mansion was built when she was a little girl; the brick was manufactur- ed just in the rear of the house, the materials for which were thrown together in a mass, and mixed by means of cattle treading in it; and she remembered driving the oxen for the purpose.
Standing near the road leading from Clinton Hollow to Rhinebeck is an old log cabin, built by the Sleight family, in which two maiden sisters of that name formerly lived, and both of whom recently died in one day. The house is now unoccu- pied, and is probably one of the first dwellings ever put up in the town.
Agriculture was the chief business of the early settlers, as it has continued to be of their successors. Most of the tillable land was easily prepared for cultivation ; there was plenty of timber for their log cabins and dwellings ; the country abounded in clear springs and brooks, and it may be supposed the pioneers had no trouble in gaining a subsistence.
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The proximity of grist mills made it easy for them, from the first, to get their grain converted into flour or meal, and after- wards furnished a ready market for their wheat. the first pro- duct that brought any considerable income.
Their sugar and molasses were furnished by the towering sugar maples that graced the native forest about their lonely cabins. Their plain but substantial homespun woolen and linen cloth furnished the family with comfortable clothing. Their leather was in proportion to their beef and mutton. and the bark for tanning was near at hand. The skins were carried to the tanner, marked with the owner's initials, and returned to him after several months. Then the shoemaker would make his yearly rounds, when he would make all the shoes for the family for a year.
Almost every article of food required by their simple habits could be raised off their farms; their appetites were unpam- pered, and their active life and vigorous health caused their plain food to be relished ; and when anything was required out of the usual line the considerable towns of Poughkeepsie and Rhinebeck were near at hand to supply them.
One distinguishing feature of the town of Clinton is that there is no hotel kept within its limits-at least such is the assertion of those who profess to know. The lakes, of which there are several, afford fine opportunity for angling ; and we may readily suppose were a favorite resort of the Indian. The wooded hills which spring up in the picturesque landscape have the same appearance as when looked upon by the primi- tive owners of the soil. Removed from the hurry and bustle of commercial life, as well as from the din and smoke of the manufactory, Clinton affords a fine retreat to one to whom the absence of excitement, and the free enjoyment of rural sports and occupations are congenial.
The following statistics may be of interest :- the price of wheat in 1776 was five shillings a bushel-just the price of a day's work in harvesting. Butter was ten pence per pound. The wages of a woman to do housework was five shillings a week.
DOVER.
POPULATION. 2,279 .- SQUARE ACRES. 26.669.
OVER was formed from Pawling, Feb. 20, 1807. The east and west borders are occupied by hills and moun- tains, and the center by a deep, wide valley. The valley is about 400 feet above tide, and the summits of the hills are 300 to 500 feet higher. Ten Mile River enters the north part of the town, flows to near the south boundary. thence turns east and discharges its waters into the Housatonic. From the south it receives Swamp River, a stream that is bordered by swamps the greater part of its course.
A ridge of limestone extends north and south through the principal valley. The principal quarries are between South Dover and Dover Plains. Iron ore is also found in abundance. The Foss Ore Bed has been extensively worked. The Dover Iron Works formerly did an extensive business, but have been closed several years.
The small streams flowing from the western hills have worn deep ravines, and in several places have formed beautiful cas- cades. About a mile southwest of the village of Dover Plains, a small stream flows down the mountain in a succession of
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rapids three to twelve feet in height ; and at the foot of each fall, smooth, rounded holes, called The Wells, have been worn in the rocks to a considerable depth. The holes occupy the whole width of the bottom of the ravine, and the rocks on each side are shelving and slippery, rendering a near approach both difficult and dangerous. One or two fatal accidents are men- tioned as having occurred here. Above these is situated the
DOVER STONE CHURCH.
A small stream of clear water,* after leaving a pond at the foot of the southwestern slope of Plymouth Hill, glides in mur- muring rapids nearly every foot of the way, until it reaches a point in the mountains west of Dover Plains village, whence it descends in sparkling cascades to the level fields below. This small stream, in its passage down this declivity for ages, has worn for itself a remarkable channel through the rocks ; and at a point toward the foot of the mountain it has wrought a considerable cavern, the entrance to it at the outlet of the stream being in the form of a Gothic arch. This cavern, from the form of its entrance, like that of some old cathedral, bears the name of The Stone Church-" Dover Stone Church." It is a very interesting natural curiosity, with romantic and picturesque surroundings, and has attracted thousands of visi- tors, and will attract thousands more.
The " Church" is in a wooded gorge of the mountain and is reached from the main street of the village by a pleasant lane that crosses the stream and expands into a grassy acre or two, well shaded, especially in the afternoon, and affording an admirable place for pic-nics. From this plat a short and easy pathway, cut at the foot of a rocky declivity and along the margin of the brook, leads to the door of the Church. At a little distance the interior of the Church appears black, but is found to be illuminated by a sky-light formed by a fissure in
* A portion of this sketch of the Stone Church is from the pen of Mr. Lossing, and was published in the Amenia Times. The views are from sketches, also by Mr. Lossing. and have been kindly furnished for this work by Messrs. DeLacey & Walsh, proprietors of the Times.
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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 151
the rocks above. This light is pleasantly reflected upon the rocky sides of the Church from a pool formed by the brook on the floor, and reveals a fallen mass of rock which the imagina- tive observer calls the "pulpit." Out of the arched door that brook-the patient architect of the church-flows gently, and then leaps in cascades and rapids to the plains below. The sketches were made many years ago, when the rocks which formed the roof approached so near each other that the branches of shrubbery on each side entertwined. From the apex of this roof, many feet above the floor, the cavern gradually widens, until at the base the span of the arch is about twenty-five feet. The narrow opening at the top admitted sufficient light to show the form of the interior and give it the appearance of rays passing through a glass dome.
The Church has two apartments : the inner one was the larger, being about seventy feet in length. The mass of rock called the "pulpit," which seems to have fallen from the roof, separated them. At the farther extremity of the inner apart- ment was a beautiful waterfall, over which a stair-case led to extensive ledges of rocks at a height of thirty feet, forming commodious galleries overlooking the body of the Church. The floods and frosts have somewhat modified the aspects of this structure.
" The Great Preacher continues the same old service within its shadowed recesses that was commenced ages ago, and which proceed with the same solemn stateliness whether men hear or forbear. Day and night. without ceasing, vespers, midnight mass and matins proceed. The deep-toned organ peals as if it were the wind, and the chant of the choir mingles its silvery tones as musical as the falling of water-trumpet and cymbal and harp peal and fade and echo, and through them tremble tones like the far-off voices of young men and maidens singing. At sunrise, through all the long Summer day, at twilight. at evening, and louder as the night deepens, the eternal service proceeds, unwearied and unbroken by the watches of the day, by the changes of season, by the lapse of
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the years, or by the procession of centuries. Individuals. families, generations, and races come and go,-the Church and its solemn monotonies stand ; and within its dark portals the same sweep of that awful and mysterious monody is still there. The Indian hushed, and heard it ; the white frontiers- man heard it; and it mingles just the same with silence, or with the shriek of the locomotive as it passes the door. There it will be when these have finished their work and passed away.'
Dover Stone Church-from the outside looking in.
The Dover Stone Church, like many other wierd places in our country, has its traditionary legend. History tells us that Sassacus, the haughty sachem of the Pequods and emperor over so many tribes between the Thames and Housatonic Rivers, when, more than two hundred years ago that nation made war upon the whites and dusky people of Connecticut (the latter. the Mohegans, who had rebelled against his author- ity), was compelled, by the destruction of his army, to fly for his life. Captain Mason, with New England soldiers and
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allies from Rhode Island and its vicinity, had suddenly invaded the dominions of Sassacus. At early dawn in June they fell upon a Pequod fort and village, and before sunrise more than six hundred men, women and children of the Indians perished by fire and sword. The proud Sassacus was seated upon a hill overlooking the site of New London, when news of the terrible disaster reached him. He and the warriors surrounding him, seeing no chance for success in a battle with the invaders, fled
Dover Stone Church-from the inside looking out.
across the Thames and westward, hotly pursued by the Eng- lish and their allies, and took refuge in Sasco Swamp, near Fairfield. The beautiful Pequod country stretching along the shores of Long Island Sound, was desolated. Wigwams and gardens disappeared before the despoiling English, and women and children were not spared. Sassacus made a stand at the swamp, but at the close of a sharp battle nearly all of his fol- lowers became captive. He escaped with less than a dozen
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followers, and continued his flight westward. His nation had perished in a day. Only the small captive remnant survived to transmit to their posterity the traditions of their national woes. Sassacus and his handful of followers fled over the mountains into the beautiful valley of the Housatonic, to Kent Plains, from which they were speedily driven by pursuers. and climbing the great hills westward of that region, descended into the lovely valley of the Weebutook,* or Ten Mile River. There, on the site of Dover Plains village, tradition tells us, they encountered a strong band of Mohegan hunters, who were also trained warriors, from whom Sassacus and his men barely escaped destruction after a fierce conflict, and took refuge in the watery cavern now known as the Dover Stone Church, a cool and safe retreat at that mid-summer time, when the stream was low and the cavern was mostly dry. The Mohegan hunters did not discover their retreat ; and a week afterwards when the latter had left the valley, Sassacus and his young braves, who had been joined by a few other fugitives, followed the Weebutook northward, subsisting on the fish with which it abounded, and the berries that grew on the plains. They made their way to the land of the Mohawks, near Albany, craving the hospitality of that nation. That hospitality was denied. The sequel is told by Governor Winthrop in his "Journal," in which, under the date of August 5th, 1637 (two months after the destruction of the army of Sassacus) he wrote :- " Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Pincheon and about twelve more, came by land from Connecticut, and brought with them a part of the skin and lock of hair of Sassacus and his brother, and five other Pequod sachems who, having fled to the Mohawks for shelter, with their wampum (being to the value of £500) were by them surprised and slain, with twenty of their best men."
Beside the Wells, and the Stone Church, there is a roomy cave in the mountain side, the roof of which is formed by a
* Weebutook signified " beautitul hunting ground." Such was the interpretation given by Euniee Mauwee.
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large rock jutting out a long distance. To this is attached a historic interest. In Revolutionary times there were about twenty-five Tories living in and about the village. They were · obliged suddenly to leave ; but instead of fleeing to distant parts, they took to the mountain west of the village, and con- · cealed themselves in this cave. Here they were to live by pillage ; but their camp fire was discovered by the sharp eye of an old hunter, who was ascending another mountain on the east side of the valley. The villagers were aroused, a large party started on the war-path, and the offenders were banished for good.
There is good evidence for the belief that the Schaghticoke tribe of Indians, a remnant of which is now living on the banks of the Housatonic River, in the town of Kent, Conn., once lived near the Ten Mile River, in Dover. Some forty years since, Indian graves were visible on the flat by the high- way north of "Apple Sauce Hill,"* which would make it appear to be the place where this tribe deposited their dead. They were mostly Pequods, who, after King Philips's war, were driven by the Connecticut troops out of that State, and who took refuge from their pursuers in the thickets of an island, near the Swamp River in the town of Dover. Tradition asserts that they imigrated by way of Danbury ; thence westerly until they crossed the swamp lands through which the Harlem Railroad passes ; from thence directing their course along the west side of the lands, through the present towns of Patterson and Pawling. Their chief was Gideon Mauwee .*
" About a century and a half since, there stood on an emi- nence overlooking the Housatonic, an Indian, solitary and alone, with his eyes fixed on the scenes below. Far beneath him rolled the river ; before him were spread natural meadows, in which the wild deer were quietly feeding ; heavily wooded mountains on either side promised an abundance of animals of
* A family were moving, and when passing over this hill the wagon upset. In it was a barrel of apple-sauce. which rolled down the hill, and its contents were lost ; and it - ever after was known as Apple-Sauce Hill. Molasses Hill. a little further to the north, . was the scene of a similar mishap to a hogshead of molasses.
t See page 19.
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the chase, and the sparkling streams bespoke multitudes of fish,-in short, it was almost a foretaste of the happy hunting grounds which constitute the idea of the Indian's heaven. Long he stood upon the crag, and blessed the Good Spirit which had led him hither. Then shaking the spell from him he sprang nimbly into the depths of the forest." That Indian was Gideon Mauwee, that eminence Preston Mountain, and the lovely meadows were in the Housatonic Valley, into which Gideon and his followers afterward migrated. Still they were wont to frequent the vicinity of their former home. They visited the swamps to get material for their baskets, and the streams and ponds for fish. An old resident mentions seeing them about Allis' Pond, where they were catching frogs and turtles and cooking them. The small speckled turtles, so nu- merous about the swamp in early spring, basking in the sun. were held by them in great esteem. Though, with one or two exceptions, the Indians were entirely harmless, yet the children of the early residents used to hold them in mortal fear-the appearance of an Indian causing them to scamper for dear life.
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