Hello Stuyvesant,
The Town of Stuyvesant became an official township in April 1823. It was formerly a part of the 10-mile square that had been portioned as the Township of Kinderhook. It contained several Hamlets known as Kinderhook, Landing, Nutten Hook (or Newton Hook), Glencadia, Sunnyside and Poelsburgh. Stuyvesant Landing & Stuyvesant Falls replaced Kinderhook Landing & Glencadia. Nutten Hook was known as Coxsockie Station for a short time.
We have set-up a core committee who have been planning several seasons of celebrations for next year. Different locations thru out the Town. Tentative dates April, July, Harvest time, and December. With much program planning on going, we do not want to forget our yearly Historic Stuyvesant Day celebration. This is usually the second Saturday in August which is fast approaching, and we hope you will accept a format change.
Instead of our annual Historic themed picnic get together, the 2023 committee plans to make August 2022 Trivia month which will be posted on the Town Website.
This new feature “Did You Know” will be present thru out the month of August.
We will also celebrate Community Night on October 8th with another Vendor Fair & Cruise In. It will be held at the Town Hall from 3pm – 7pm and thee will be food, vendors, cars, music, and neighbors. Please plan to join us.
-- Juanita Knott
-- by Juanita Knott
In 2009 and 2010 the Town produced a local photo calendar. It has recently come to my attention that the "People and Places" 2010 Calendar matches the dates/days in 2021. Since we have some left, we are slashing the price by 50% and making them available again for just $10. All money raised will go toward our Bicentennial Celebration in 2023.
The photographs in the calendar are priceless and each month features a brief history note.
January -- Ice Harvesting on the Hudson River
Febrruary -- Isaac Sharp Store & Stuyvesant Falls Bridge
March-- Albany Southern Railroad car & workers
April -- Stuyvesant Chiefs baseball team (ca. 1951)
May --- Doyle's cash store and Stuyvesant Post Office
June -- Bicycle Emporium Route 26A, Stuyvesant & Pollys Garage Route 9, Stuyvesant Falls
1. What transportation route was favored by both Native Americans and Dutch immigrants?
2. Early roads often followed trails used by Native Americans. Which group called the east bank of the Hudson River home?
3. South of Stuyvesant, the Kinderhook Creek joins the Claverack Creek. The combined waters (now called Stockport Creek) were once named for one of the earliest Dutch immigrants to settle in Columbia County. Who was he?
4. Hamlets are clusters of homes within a township. Stuyvesant Landing and Stuyvesant Falls are two examples in the town of Stuyvesant. Name two other Stuyvesant hamlets?
5. Name an agricultural product, once grown by both Native Americans and early European immigrants, which is still grown by Stuyvesant Farmers?
Answers: 1. the Hudson River 2. Mohicans 3. Major Abram Staats (Major Abram’s Creek) 4. Newton Hook & Poelsburgh 5. Maize / Corn
Juanita Knott - Town Historian
A History of the Town of Stuyvesant
by Juanita Knott, Stuyvesant Historian
Stuyvesant is in the northwest corner of Columbia County, bordered on the north by Rensselaer County, the east by the Town of Kinderhook, the south by Stockport and the west by the Hudson River.
Archaeological evidence demonstrates the Native Americans were in partnership with the land along the river's edge long before Henry Hudson made his exploration in 1609. They fished the river, planted corn and pumpkin. Communication was probably carried out by signal fires built on the shale hill above the waters they named Muhheakunnuk, meaning "great waters or sea-constantly ebbing and flowing."
In the mid-1700's local sloops, many belonging to beaver fur traders, plied the river. Formerly known as Kinderhook Landing, Stuyvesant became a separate township in 1823.
An agricultural community, several farms have been handed down through successive generations of the same family. A second principal waterway in the town is the Kinderhook Creek, with its two-step natural waterfall at Stuyvesant Falls. Both sides of the creek were claimed for paper and textile mills in the early 1800's.
Spectacular views of the upper and lower falls can be viewed from the historic iron truss bridge in the hamlet that spans the creek. The area at the north end of town became known as Poolsburgh, named after the VanderPoel family who settled there. They were instrumental in planning the course of the Farmer's Turnpike (now Route 9J) which was charted in 1813.
Using the clay along the riverbank, brick-making was an early local industry. Ice harvesting, another typical Hudson River industry, provided a valuable service in the pre-electric refrigeration days. Stuyvesant had as many as four large icehouses along its more than nine miles of shoreline.
Docking sites varied over the years following the natural changes of the river channel. Freight sloops made trips to New York City as early as 1820. In 1836, the Kinderhook Stuyvesant Steamboat Association formed.
Farmers as distant as Albany and Pittsfield, MA, used the Stuyvesant docks to ship and receive produce and goods.
A ferry service that ran until 1938 was established between Newton Hook and Coxsackie in 1820.
The Hudson River Railroad Company laid track along the east shore of the river in 1850, forever changing access to this neighboring waterway. Stuyvesant had freight and passenger service through the World War II years.
Stuyvesant Falls had rail service from 1891 to 1929. At first powered by steam, the railroad was electrified by the turn of the century and extended to Albany. The power that operated the third rail for the Albany & Southern Railway Company was generated at Stuyvesant Falls.
Today, just over 2,000 people call Stuyvesant home. Community pride is reflected by many active volunteer groups and celebrated yearly on Historic Stuyvesant Day held the second Saturday of August
A video that was made about Stuyvesant by local residents 10 years ago. Enjoy.
