USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. VIII > Part 14
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It was first settled about the year 1612; and the spot, where it was afterwards built, was visited by the cele- brated English navigator, Henry Hudson, in 1609. It was first called Beverwyck; then fort Orange; then Wil- liamstadt. The name of Albany it received in 1664.
Albany was a Dutch Colony; and, until within a few years, the inhabitants have been, almost without an excep- tion, descendants from the original settlers. From this fact it has derived its whole aspect, and character. The houses are almost all built in the Dutch manner; stand- ing endwise upon the street ; with high, sharp roofs, small windows, and low ceilings. The appearance of these houses is ordinary, dull, and disagreeable. The house, first erected in this town, is now standing; and was built of bricks, brought from Holland. If I were to finish this [ Annals viii.] 17
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
picture according to the custom of poets and painters, and in obedience to the rules of criticism, by grouping with it animated beings, I should subjoin, that the mas- ter of the house, and often one or two of his neighbours, are regularly seen, sitting* in a most phlegmatie com- posure in the porch, and smoking with great deliberation from morning until night.t
The site of Albany is an interval on the Western side of the Hudson, and the brow of an elevated pine plain, rising rapidly at a small distance from the river. The soil of the elevation is clay. Both grounds easily imbibe, and retain, water. The streets therefore, few of which have been paved until very lately, have been usually in- cumbered with mud, so as at times to render travelling scarcely practicable. When I was in this city, in the year 1792, a waggon, passing through the heart of it, was fairly mired in one of the principal streets.
Since that period, an essential change has taken place in Albany. A considerable number of the opulent inhab- itants, whose minds were enlarged by the influence of the Revolutionary war, and the extensive intercourse which it produced among them and their countrymen, and still more by education, and travelling, have resolutely broken through a set of traditionary customs, venerable by age, and strong by universal attachment. These gen- tlemen have built many handsome houses in the modern English style; and in their furniture, manners, and mode of living, have adopted the English customs. To this
*1798.
t That this custom is not new, may be seen in the following passage from the travels of Professor Kalm, June 1749. Speaking of Albany, he says, "The street doors are generally in the middle of the houses, and on both sides are seats, in which, during fair weather, the people sit and spend almost the whole day, especially on those which are in the shadow of their houses. In the evening these seats are covered with people of both sexes; but this is rather trou- blesome, as those who pass by are obliged to greet every body, unless they will shock the politeness of the inhabitants of this town."- Kalm, Vol. 2, p. 92, 2d edition, Lond.
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
important change the strangers, who within a few years have become a numerous body of the inhabitants, have extensively contributed. All these, from whatever coun- try derived, have chosen to build, and live, in the Eng- lish manner.
The preference, given to the customs of the English, must descend with increasing influence to their children. In the English language all accompts, instruments of con- veyance, records and papers employed in legal processes, must be written. The attainment of this language has therefore, now become indispensable to the safety, as well as to the prosperity, of every individual. Urged by this necessity, and influenced by the example of their superiours, the humblest classes of the Dutch must, with- in a short period, adopt the English language, and man- ners. Within two generations there will probably be no distinction between the descendants of the different nations. Intermarriages are also becoming more frequent ; and will hasten this event.
The streets of Albany are, in a loose sense, parallel, and right angled, to the river. The ground admitted, very happily, of a regular location: but, as in other places, this beautiful object was unthought of by the first settlers. Market, Pearl, and State streets, the principal ones, are straight and handsome. The two former are parallel with the river; the latter meets them at right angles.
The public buildings in this town are a State-house; two Dutch, two Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one Ger- man Lutheran, one Methodist, and one Roman Catholic, churches; a building, containing the offices of State, two banks; a prison; an arsenal; a hospital; a City Hall; and a Tontine Coffee House. One of the Dutch churches is new, handsome, and ornamented with two towers crowned with cupolas. None of the other public build- ings claim any particular attention.
Since I visited this city in 1792, it has fortunately, I think, been ravaged by two fires, one of them supposed, the other known to be kindled by incendiaries. The
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
tenants of the houses which were burned have in many instances been sufferers, but the town and the proprietors have gained much. The house lots have commanded à higher price than could have been obtained both for houses and lots antecedently to the fires, and the town has already been improved not a little in its appearance and will probably be much more improved hereafter. There are persons who will imagine this to be a matter of little consequence. I wish them to consider for a moment the following hints.
There is a kind of symmetry in the thoughts, feelings, and efforts of the human mind. Its taste, intelligence, affections, and conduct are so intimately related that no preconcertion can prevent them from being mutually causes and effects. The first thing powerfully operated on, and in its turn proportionally operative is the taste. The perception of beauty and deformity, of refinement and grossness, of decency and vulgarity, of propriety and indecorum is the first thing which influences man to at- tempt an escape from a grovelling, brutish character; a character in which morality is effectually chilled or absolutely frozen. In most persons this perception is awakened by what may be called the exteriour of society, particularly by the mode of building. Uncouth, mean, ragged, dirty houses constituting the body of any town, will regularly be accompanied by coarse grovelling man- ners. The dress, the furniture, the equipage, the mode of living and the manners will all correspond with the appearance of the buildings and will universally be in every such case of a vulgar and debased nature. On the inhabitants of such a town it will be difficult if not impos- sible to work a conviction that intelligence is either ne- cessary or useful. Generally they will regard both learning and science only with contempt. Of morals except in the coarsest form, and that which has the least influence on the heart, they will scarcely have any . 'apprehensions. The rights enforced by municipal law they may be compelled to respect, and the corresponding duties they may be necessitated to perform. But the
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
rights and obligations, which lie beyond the reach of; magistracy, in which the chief duties of morality are; found, and from which the chief enjoyments of society, spring, will scarcely gain even their passing notice. They may pay their debts but will neglect almost every thing of value in the education of their children.
The very fact that men see good houses built around them will more than almost any thing else awaken in them a sense of superiority in those by whom such, . houses are inhabited. The same sense is derived in the same manner from handsomer dress, furniture and equip- age. The sense of beauty is necessarily accompanied by. a perception of the superiority which it possesses over deformity, and is instinctively felt to confer this supe- riority on those who can call it their own over those who can not. This I apprehend is the manner in which coarse society is first started towards improvement ; for, no objects but those which are sensible can make any, considerable impressions on coarse minds. On these grounds I predicted to my friends in this town a speedy. change for the better in its appearance, and in the cha- racter and manners of its inhabitants. I have since seen this prediction extensively fulfilled:
It will perhaps be asked here, whether all that has been said and believed concerning the virtue of cottages, and the purity of humble life, is erronecus; and whether splendour and polish are necessary to sound morals; . whether wealth ceases now to draw luxury, and other vices in its train; and whether the golden mean has, by some strange revolution in human nature, become dan- gerous to piety, while ambition and show have, in consequence of a revolution not less strange, actually assumed the province of its foster parents. To these questions I answer in the negative. There are virtuous cottages still ; though their number is now, and always has - been, less than it has been supposed by the fancy of the poet and the novelist; and sound morals can now be found where there is neither polish nor splendour. But the debate is not between cottages and palaces, nor be-
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
tween poverty and opulence; it lies between taste and the want of it, between grossness and refinement. The mediocrity which has been dignified with the name of golden, and which prevails more extensively in the Northern American states than in any other country, is, in mathematical language, a variable quantity .; rising and falling, as what is called wealth in any country, rises or falls. Its golden nature consists, not in the amount of a man's possession, but in the relative situation in which it places him as it respects the extremes of society ; a posi- tion equally removed from insolence and meanness. The station to which it gives birth, not the degree of property possessed, the station I mean, in which it induces the man to place himself, is that, which principally renders this mean so valuable.
In these letters you may observe, that only a single style of building and living has been particularly com- mended; viz: that which is neat, tidy and convenient. This is a style always within the reach of those who possess the mediocrity in question. Where it prevails, I am assured, if my experience teaches me any thing, virtue in every form is much oftener found than with its opposites, vulgarism, grossness and dirt. Persons sur- rounded by these accompaniments may be sanctified, and therefore may be virtuous : yet, so far as I have observed, they are commonly exuberant sources of vice as well as of wretchedness, and are scarcely less hostile to virtue than to comfort.
I have mentioned that only a single style of building and living has been here recommended. Permit me to add, that I am still willing with Demosthenes to have public buildings assume a style superiour to this, and am not afraid of seeing them even splendid. Yet,
Sit modus in rebus.
At the head of Market-Street stands the mansion of the Hon. Stephen Van Renssellaer, late Lieutenant Govern- our of this State. Mr. Van Rensellaer is the eldest male heir of the first branch of the Rensselaer family, one of the most numerous and respectable in the former
.
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
province of New-York, and among the most distinguished at the present time. The mansion house in which he resides struck my eye as exhibiting an appearance re- markably comporting with the fact, that, for a long period, it had been the residence of an ancient and dis- tinguished family. The situation though not much ele- vated is fine, cheerful and prospective. It is the front of . a noble interval in the township of Watervleit, contain- ing seven hundred acres. East of this interval flows the Hudson; and, beyond it, is seen a handsome acclivity rising from its margin, upon which stands the neat, sprightly village of Bath. The house is large, and vene- rable, and looks as if it was the residence of respecta- bility and worth. The hospitality which reigns here has ever been honourable to the successive proprietors.
At a small distance from this house Westward is the most extensive collection of manufactures which I have seen in the possession of a single man. The proprietor is James Caldwell, Esq. In these works barley is hulled, peas are split, and hair powder, starch, snuff, tobacco, mustard, and chocolate, are manufactured. I visited them in the year 1792; and thought the manner of per- forming the business ingenious and happy. In 1794 they were burnt. The loss was estimated at $37,000. Within eleven months they were rebuilt and ready for their respective operations. In these works forty boys find employment beside other workmen.
The trade of Albany is extensive. It consists in the exchange of foreign commodities for the produce of a large, fertile country; and must, I think, continue to increase through a long period. Heretofore the inhabit- ants pursued a profitable commerce with the Indians, and were for many years still more profitably employed in the lucrative business of supplying successive armies with almost every thing which armies consume. Many of the inhabitants have of course become rich. This has been the fact particularly since the formation of the present American government.
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
I know not that Albany has ever suffered any serious evils from the savages.
I ought not to leave this town without paying a tribute of respect to the Hon. Philip Schuyler, major-general in the American army during the revolutionary war. This gentleman was born at Albany, in the year 1731, of an ancient and respectable family. In very early life he was distinguished for superiour talents, and an energy and activity almost singular. He was an officer in the army in the war which commenced at Lake George, 1755. At an early period of life he became a member of the New- York Legislature; and was soon distinguished for his in- telligence and influence. To him and Governour Clin- ton it was chiefly owing, that this province made an early and decided resistance to those British measures which terminated in the independence of the colonies. When the revolutionary war commenced he was ap- pointed a major-general; and was always an active, use- ful officer wherever he was stationed. After the retreat of St. Clair from Ticonderoga, he contributed largely to the defence of his country by his prudent and vigorous exertions. In the Senate of New-York he contributed probably more than any other man, to the code of laws adopted by this State. Of the Oid Congress he was a ' useful member; of the New he was a Senator from its commencement, and was chosen a second time in 1797. He died at his own seat just below Albany, Nov. 18th, 1804.
In the year 1790, this city contained 3,498 inhabitants, in 1800, 5,387, in 1810, 9,356.
Wednesday, October 11, we rode from Albany to New- Lebanon; and lodged five miles below the spring; the distance being thirty-one miles. We arrived late; being prevented from commencing our journey by some neces- sary hindrances 'till 11 o'clock.
After crossing the ferry, we rode over a charming in- terval at Greenbush, handsomer and more fertile than any other, which I have seen on this river. It extends several miles towards the South; and is divided into
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
beautiful farms, and planted, in a thin dispersion, with houses and out buildings, whose appearance sufficiently indicates the easy circumstances of their proprietors. From the excellent gardens, which I have at times seen in this spot, and the congeniality of the soil to every hor- tulán production of this climate, I should naturally have believed, that the inhabitants, together with the neigh- bours, would have supplied the people of Albany with vegetables. Instead of this, they are principally furnished by the Shakers of New-Lebanon: a strong proof of the extreme reluctance, with which the Dutch farmers quit their ancient customs, even when allured by the prospects of superior gain. The Shakers, I have been informed, obtain by gardening a revenue, not less than from five to seven hundred pounds, New-York currency, per annum.
« From this interval we ascended the elevated grounds, by which it is bordered; and on the acclivity were pre- sented with a very fine view of the city of Albany; the high lands North of it; the handsome seats in the neigh- bourhood; the river; and the pleasant intervals, by which for a great extent it is bordered on both sides. After we had ascended the hill, we found a long succes- sion of gradual swells, resembling those between Still- water and Schenectady: the soil a mixture of sand and clay, replenished everywhere with black, friable slate; and the surface forested with oak, chestnut, pine, &c. This tract is tolerably fertile, and well suited to the growth of wheat. Within five or six miles of the river the country becomes gradually more and more hilly; and the clay begins to be mixed with loam and gravel. Granite and limestone are found in considerable quanti- ties; and the forests become chiefly oak and chestnut. Our road, after leaving Greenbush, passes through Schodac, and Stephentown. The principal part of this County is the property of the Hon. Stephen Van Rensel- laer, from whom it derives its name.
There is a small village in Schodac, containing about thirty houses; and another in Stephentown, of perhaps
-
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Albany as seen by Dr. Dwight.
twenty, standing on the border of Kinderhook creek, at the foot of a sprightly fall. The rest of this region is divided into farms, moderately fertile; and cultivated by tenants. The houses, which they inhabit, are generally indifferent.
Schodac contained in 1790,-, in 1800, 3,788, in 1810, 3,166 inhabitants. Stephentown contained in 1790, 6,795, in 1800, 4,990, in 1810, 2,567 inhabitants.
I suppose Schodac, in the first census, to have been in- cluded in Stephentown.
The face of the country, after we left the vicinity of the Hudson, was nowhere very pleasant; yet from two sources we derived not a little gratification. One of them was a succession of running waters, everywhere limpid and murmuring. These a New-England traveller would in ordinary cases scarcely notice; as being objects so universally met with in his own country. But we had travelled before we came to Schenectady, one hun- dred and seventy miles, without finding more than two or three cheerful streams, beside the Hudson, and the Mohawk: the season having been very dry. To us, therefore, living springs, murmuring brooks, and noisy mill-streams, were delightful; especially after crossing numerous channels, where water had once flowed; but where it then lay in dirty puddles, and disgusted the traveller by its loathsome effluvia. Nature seemed, here, animated anew. The earth, and the atmosphere, were charmingly freshened : and we finally lost the dull, heavy spirits, which we had derived from the melancholy grounds, opposite to Crown Point, and those which lie between that fortress and Sandyhill.
The other source of our gratification was the Catskill Mountains; of which we had several very interesting views.
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ALBANY.
[From Winterbotham's View of the United States of America.].
The city of Albany is situated upon the west side of Hudson's river, one hundred and fifty miles north of the city of New York, in latitude 42 deg. 36 min., and is, by charter granted in 1686, one mile upon the river, and sixteen back. It contains upwards of one thousand houses, built mostly by trading people on the margin of the river. The houses stand chiefly upon Pearl, Market, and Water streets, and six other streets or lanes, which cross them at right angles. They are mostly built in the old Dutch Gothic style, with the gable end to the street, which custom the first settlers brought with them from Holland. The gable end is commonly of brick, with the heavy moulded ornament slanting, with notches like stairs, and an iron horse for a weather-cock at top. The houses are seldom more than one story and a half high, and have but little convenience, and less elegance; but they are kept very neat, being rubbed with a mop almost every day, and scoured every week. Many new houses, however, have lately been built in this city, all in the modern style; the inhabitants are paving the streets in the New York plan, with foot-ways, and making other improvements.
The city of Albany contains about four thousand in- habitants, collected from various parts. As great a variety of languages are spoken in Albany as in any town of the United States, but the English predominates, and the use of every other is constantly lessening. Ad- venturers, in pursuit of wealth, are led here by the advantages for trade which this place affords.
Albany is unrivaled in its situation. It stands on the bank of one of the finest rivers in the world, at the head
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Schenectady.
of a sloop navigation. It enjoys a salubrious air, as is evinced by the longevity of its inhabitants. It is the natural emporium of the increasing trade of a large ex- tent of country west and north; a country of an ex- cellent soil, abounding in every article of the West-India market, plentifully watered with navigable lakes, creeks, and rivers, as yet only partially peopled, but settling with almost unexampled rapidity, and capable of afford- ing subsistence and affluence to millions of inhabitants. No part of America affords a more eligible opening for emigrants than this; and when the contemplated locks and canals are completed, the bridge over the Mohawk river erected, and convenient roads opened into every part of the country, all which will, it is expected, be ac- complished in a few years, Albany will probably increase and flourish beyond almost every other city or town in the United States.
The well-water in this city is extremely bad, scarcely drinkable by those who are not accustomed to it. It oozes through a stiff blue clay, and it imbibes in its pas- sage the fine particles common to that kind of soil; this discolours it, and when exposed any length of time to the air, it acquires a disagreeable taste. Indeed, all the water for cooking is brought from the river, and many families use it to drink. The water in the wells is un- wholesome, being full of little insects, resembling, except in size, those which we frequently see in stagnated rain- water. But the inhabitants are about to remedy this in- convenience, by constructing water-works to convey good water into the city.
The public buildings are, a Low Dutch Church, one for Presbyterians, one for Germans or High Dutch, one for Episcopalians-a hospital, the city hall, and a hand- some brick gaol.
SKENECTADY.
Skenectady is sixteen miles north-west of Albany, in Albany county, situated on the banks of the Mohawk river. The town is compact and regular, built of brick,
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Schenectady.
and excepting a few, in the old Dutch style, on a rich flat of low land, surrounded with, hills. The windings of the river through the town, and the fields, which are often overflowed in the spring afford a beautiful prospect about harvest time. As it is at the foot of navigation on a long river, which passes through a very fertile country, one would suppose it to embrace much of the commerce of it; but originally knowing no other than the fur trade, since the revolution the place has decayed, and no ad- vantage been taken of its happy situation.
[ Annals viii.] 18
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JOHN MELISH IN ALBANY.
[About 1810, Mr. John Melish, an English merchant, traveled extensively in this country, and in 1812 pub- lished his observations in two volumes.]
My tour of discovery being completed, I had no very important information to receive at Albany, but I still continued my journal, and Mr. Fellows of Geneva having favored me with letters of introduction to Mr. Southwick and Mr. North, these two gentlemen showed me a great deal of attention, and obligingly answered all my inqui- ries. In obedience to the request of my friend, Mr. M'. Intyre, I called on his son, the comptroller, and he also showed me much attention. I was quite pleased with my visit.
Albany is the seat of government of the state of New York, and is situated on the west side of the Hudson river, at the head of tide water, 180 miles from the sea. It runs nearly a mile along the river, and about half a mile back from it. The city is divided into streets, some of which are spacious, but others rather narrow and ir- regular. They are however pretty convenient, and there is a line of excellent wharfs and warehouses. The houses amount to about 1300, and the inhabitants to nearly 10,000. The houses are mostly built of brick, and many of them are elegant. The state-house stands on an elevated situation at the head of State street, and is a very handsome building, with most splendid and convenient apartments for the legislature to meet in. The old state-house is also in State street, and is occu- pied by the different public offices. The other public buildings are the arsenal, powder-house, city library, 3 banks, 10 churches, 2 market-houses, 2 masonic lodges, a theatre, and Cook's reading-room, an institution pro- bably better supplied with newspapers, and other peri- odical publications, than ony other in the United States.
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