RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Friends, Baptists, Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Roman Catholics, Universalists, and Unitarians. There are 103 churches, and ninety-four clergymen of all denominations in the county.

HISTORY. The precise period when Dutchess county was first settled, does not seem to be satisfactorily ascertained. The first settlement was made at Fishkill, by the Dutch. In 1683, the number of its inhabitants was sufficient to authorize its organization, as a separate county. It was however very small, and, for nearly 20 years, was considered in the light of a dependency upon Ulster county.

In 1689, its inhabitants, like those of Ulster, took part against Leisler, but afterward submitted to his administration.

A large tract, extending from the Hudson to “the Oblong,” and some eight or ten miles in width, comprising part of the towns of Hyde Park, Pleasant Valley, Washington, and Amenia, was granted to nine proprietors at a very early date, probably about the commencement of the eighteenth century. It was called the "Great Nine Partners."

In 1711, one Richard Sackett lived on this tract, and with his family remained the only settlers upon it till 1724, when some German families, from the East Camp, on Livingston's Manor, in Columbia county, removed here.

In 1702, the first house was built in Poughkeepsie by Myndert Van Kleek, a Dutchman, and one of the early emigrants to the county.

In 1731, the boundary difficulties which had long existed be tween New York and Connecticut, were terminated by a compromise; Connecticut relinquishing to New York a tract called "the Oblong," lying mostly in this county, and containing about 60,000 acres, in consideration for which, she received a tract on the southwestern corner of her territory, extending into Westchester county.

Two patents were issued for "the Oblong," one in London the day after the settlement, to Sir Joseph Eyles and others, the other in New York, some few months later, to Hawley & Co. These two patents were the subject of much litigation, and the source of no small amount of party animosity.

In 1741, several families from Connecticut emigrated to the northern part of the county. About the same time a considerable number of Friends from Long Island settled in the eastern section.

In the troublous times which preceded the Revolution, Dutchess county took the side of liberty, and furnished from among her citizens, some of the most brilliant and useful actors in that

9*

fearful conflict. Such were Montgomery, the hero of Quebec, the Schencks, and others of imperishable renown.

During the revolutionary war, a part of the American army were stationed for a considerable time at Fishkill, under the command of General Putnam, and afterwards of General Par. sons. Their barracks were about half a mile south of the village.*

VILLAGES. POUGHKEEPSIE, the county seat, in the town of the same name, is finely situated on the elevated bank of the Hudson, about equally distant from New York and Albany. During the Revolution, and after its close, the legislature of the state frequently held its sessions here. The convention of the state, which adopted the Federal Constitution, also met here in 1788. The building occupied by that body has since been used as a brewery.

Poughkeepsie is regularly laid out, and has many elegant public and private buildings. It has considerable commerce with New York and other home ports.

It is also largely engaged in manufactures. Of these, machinery, malt liquors, flour, carpets, cutlery, fire arms, silk, pins, iron and brass ware, sash and blinds, and bricks in large quantities and of superior quality, and the principal,

The Poughkeepsie collegiate school is a fine institution, unsurpassed in the beauty of its situation, and the elegance of its edifice. This building is 77 by 137 feet, mcdeled after the Parthenon at Athens, and surrounded by a massive colonnade. Its cost, exclusive of the extensive and beautiful grounds, was $40,000. The Dutchess county academy, also located in the village, is an excellent chartered institution. Beside these there are four female seminaries. Population about 9000.

Fishkill Landing, in the town of Fishkill, is situated on the Hudson, directly opposite Newburgh. It has much delightful scenery, and is a place of considerable trade. Population about 1000.

Fishkill Village, in the same town, is a picturesque and beautiful hamlet. The Fishkill academy, located here, is a flourishing chartered institution. Population 800.

Matteawan, in the same township, is an important manufacturing village. Large quantities of moleskins, beaverteens, and fustians are produced here. It has also an extensive iron and brass foundry, several machine shops, flouring mills, and other manufactories. The Highland Gymnasium, a celebrated boarding school for boys, is located here. Population about 2000.

* In the old stone church in the town of Fishkill, Enoch Crosby the pedlar spy, [the "Harvey Birch" of Cooper's novel, "The Spy,"] was confined, and from thence he made his escape in an extraordinary and mysterious manner.

Glenham and Franklindale, in the same town, are flourishing manufacturing villages.

Pleasant Valley, on Wappinger's creek, in the town of the same name, is a manufacturing village of some importance. It is principally engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. Population 700.

Hyde Park is a beautiful village, situated on the Hudson, and has some commerce and manufactures. Population 700.

Rhinebeck, in the town of the same name, is a large and thriving village, with several manufactories. The Rhinebeck academy is a highly flourishing institution. Population 1300.

R. Nevisink. V. Shaw

Rivers, &c. C. Hudson. H. Delaware.
a. Murderer's Creek.

angunk. g. Wallkill.

Lakes, &c. i. Long Pond. h. Drowned Lands.

Forts. West Point. Clinton. Montgomery.

Battle Fields. Minisink. Montgomery and Clinton.
Colleges. West Point Military Academy.

Villages. NEWBURGH. GOSHEN. West Point. Montgomery.

BOUNDARIES. North by Sullivan and Ulster counties; East by Hudson river and Rockland county; South by Rockland county and the state of New Jersey; and west by Sullivan county and the Delaware river.

SURFACE. Mountains, hills and plains diversify the surface of this county. The Matteawan mountains, or Highlands, cross its southeastern border diagonally; the Shawangunk range stretches along its western boundary; and, parallel to them, run a chain of low hills called Comfort hills. Between these and the Highlands extends a level valley, with occasional marshes.

Upon the banks of the Hudson, in this county, are some of the highest points of the Highlands. Bare mountain is 1350 feet, the Crow's Nest 1418 feet, and Butter Hill 1529 feet above tide water. The eastern face of the latter is an almost perpendicular precipice.

RIVERS. Beside the Hudson, which forms a portion of its eastern boundary, the principal streams are the Wallkill (or Waalkill), the Shawangunk and Nevisink rivers, and Murderer's creek. The Wallkill, for about twenty miles of its course, flows through a marsh, known as the "Drowned lands." The Delaware river just touches a portion of the western boundary. PONDS. In the south part of the county are several ponds of considerable size. Long pond, on the New Jersey line, is the largest, and is some nine miles in length.

RAILROADS AND CANALS. The New York and Erie railroad passes through the county, affording a daily communication with New York city, while the Delaware and Hudson canal crosses its western border.

CLIMATE. The climate of the county is mild and agreeable. In the vicinity of the Drowned lands, fevers prevail in autumn;

but the county generally is remarkably healthy. The spring opens about two weeks earlier than in the counties west of it. GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The southeastern portion of the county, including the Highlands, is of primitive formation, and contains granite, sienite, hornblende, and primitive limestone. The remainder belongs to the transition system, being chiefly composed of slate, limestone and graywacke, of which the first and last are mostly found on the hills, and the second underlying the valleys. The Shawangunk mountains are composed mostly of graywacke, in which the millstone grit prevails.

It abounds in minerals of rarity and value. In the towns of Monroe and Canterbury, are vast beds of magnetic iron ore. Hematitic iron ore is also abundant and of excellent quality.

Among the minerals of interest may be enumerated spinel (a species of ruby) of extraordinary beauty; fine Labradorite, a new mineral; Ilmenite, a rare and interesting mineral, found more abundantly here than in any other known locality; zircon, apatite, fibrous epidote, tourmaline, serpentine, Clintonite, Boltonite, scapolite, idiocrase, Bucholzite, white iron pyrites, sphene, pyroxene, hair brown hornblende, and many others of less importance. Their principal localities are in the towns of Monroe, Cornwall, Warwick and Deer Park. Excellent peat is found in the Drowned Lands and other low lands.

Bones of the Mastodon have been discovered in several places in this county. An entire skeleton of this gigantic animal, by far the most perfect hitherto discovered, was disinterred in Coldenham, in 1845. The locality had evidently once been a marsh, and the animal, in attempting to cross it, had sunk in the mud, and was unable to extricate himself. His length is stated at thirty-three feet; length of tusks ten feet; length of skull three feet ten inches; weight of head and tusks 692 pounds; weight of all the bones 2002. The contents of the stomach were found within the skeleton, consisting of crushed twigs, &c.

This skeleton is now in the museum of the Harvard University. The skeleton of the Mastodon, in Peale's museum, Philadelphia, was taken from the town of Montgomery, in this county, and bones of others have been discovered in Chester and other towns.

SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is chiefly clay and gravelly loam, and is for the most part fertile, but better adapted to grazing than to the culture of grain, except the alluvial lands in the southern part. The vast marsh of the Drowned lands, when drained, furnishes a soil of great depth and fertility, and is annually covered with the most luxuriant vegetation.

The timber of the county is principally oak, chestnut, hickory, maple, blackwalnut, elm, &c. The county produces apples and other fruit in perfection, and a great variety of the natural grasses. Owing to the rapid and precipitous course of the Wallkill, before entering the Drowned Lands, and its sluggish progress through them, many plants, belonging to a more southern climate, are found here.*

PURSUITS. Agriculture mainly engages the attention of the inhabitants. Orange county stands in the first rank among the dairy counties of the state. More than 4,100,000 pounds of but

The first treatise on the Botany of New York, and we believe the first botanical work by an American author, was the Plantæ Coldenhamie, by Governor Colden, of Coldenham, near Newburgh. It was published at Upsal, in Sweden, in 1744.