The Hudson Part 18

[Ill.u.s.tration: MORNING VIEW AT BLUE POINT.]

We now see =Blue Point=, on the west bank; and, in every direction, enjoy the finest views. The scenery seems to stand, in character, between the sublimity of the Highlands and the tranquil, dreamy repose of the Tappan Zee. It is said that under the shadow of these hills was the favorite anchorage of--

=The Storm s.h.i.+p=, one of our oldest and most reliable legends. The story runs somewhat as follows: Years ago, when New York was a village--a mere cl.u.s.ter of houses on the point now known as the Battery--when the Bowery was the farm of Peter Stuyvesant, and the Old Dutch Church on Na.s.sau Street (which also long since disappeared), was considered the country--when communication with the old world was semi-yearly instead of semi-weekly or daily--say two hundred years ago--the whole town one evening was put into great commotion by the fact that a s.h.i.+p was coming up the bay.

See you beneath yon sky so dark Fast gliding along a gloomy bark:-- By skeleton shapes her sails are furled, And the hand that steers is not of this world.

_Legend of the Storm s.h.i.+p._

She approached the Battery within hailing distance, and then, sailing against both wind and tide, turned aside and pa.s.sed up the Hudson.

Week after week and month after month elapsed, but she never returned; and whenever a storm came down on Haverstraw Bay or Tappan Zee, it is said that she could be seen careening over the waste; and, in the midst of the turmoil, you could hear the captain giving orders, in _good Low Dutch_; but when the weather was pleasant, her favorite anchorage was among the shadows of the picturesque hills, on the eastern bank, a few miles above the Highlands. It was thought by some to be Hendrick Hudson and his crew of the "Half Moon," who, it was well known, had once run aground in the upper part of the river, seeking a northwest pa.s.sage to China; and people who live in this vicinity still insist that under the calm harvest moon and the pleasant nights of September, they see her under the bluff of Blue Point, all in deep shadow, save her topsails glittering in the moonlight.

=Poughkeepsie=, 74 miles from New York, is now at hand, Queen City of the Hudson, with name, derived from the Indian word Apokeepsing, signifying "safe harbor." Near the landing a bold headland juts out into the river, known as Kaal Rock, and no doubt this sheltering rock was a safe harbor in days of birch canoes. It has been recently claimed that the word signifies "muddy pond," which is neither true, appropriate or poetic. Poughkeepsie does not propose to give up her old-time "harbor name," particularly as it has been recently discovered that the name "Kipsie" was also given by the Indians to a "safe harbor" near the Battery on Manhattan Island. It is said that there are over forty different ways of spelling Poughkeepsie, and every year the postoffice record gives a new one. The first house was built in 1702 by a Mr. Van Kleeck. The State legislature had a session here in 1777 or 1778, when New York was held by the British and after Kingston had been burned by Vaughan.

On the crest of the waves, a something that glides Before the stiff breeze, and gracefully rides On the inflowing tide majestic and free A huge and mysterious bird of the sea.

_Irving Bruce._

Ten years later, the State convention also met here for ratification of the Federal Const.i.tution. The town has a beautiful location, and is justly regarded the finest residence city on the river. It is not only midway between New York and Albany, but also midway between the Highlands and the Catskills, commanding a view of the mountain portals on the south and the mountain overlook on the north--the Gibraltar of revolutionary fame and the dreamland of Rip Van Winkle.

The azure heaven is filled with smiles, The water lisping at my feet From weary thought my heart beguiles.

_Henry Abbey._

The well known poet and _litterateur_, Joel Benton, who divides his residence between New York and Poughkeepsie, in a recent article, "The Midway City of the Hudson," written for the _Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier_, says:

"Poughkeepsie as a towns.h.i.+p was incorporated in 1788. The village bearing the name was formed in 1799 (incorporated as a city in 1854), and soon became the center of a large trade running in long lines east and west from the river. Dutchess County had at this time but a spa.r.s.e population. There was a post-road from New York to Albany; but the building of the Dutchess Turnpike from Poughkeepsie to Sharon, Conn., connecting with one from that place to Litchfield, which took place in 1808, was a capital event in its history. This made a considerable strip of western Connecticut tributary to Poughkeepsie's trade.

"Over the turnpike went four-horse Concord stages, with berailed top and slanting boot in the rear for trunks and other baggage. Each one had the tin horn of the driver; and it was difficult to tell upon which the driver most prided himself--the power to fill that thrilling instrument, or his deft handling of the ponderous whip and multiplied reins. Travelers to Hartford and Boston went over this route; and an east and west through and way mail was a part of the burden. A sort of overland express and freight line, styled the Market Wagon, ran in and out of the town from several directions. One or more of these conveyances started from as far east as the Housatonic River, and they frequently crowded pa.s.sengers in amongst their motley wares.

"Speaking of the stage-driver's horn recalls the fact that when the steamboat arrived--which was so solitary an inst.i.tution that for some time it was distinctly called 'The Steamboat'--the tin horn did duty also for it. When it was seen in the distance, either Albanyward or in the New York direction, a boy went through the village blowing a horn to arouse those who wished to embark on it. It is said the expectant pa.s.sengers had ample time, after the horn was sounded, to make their toilets, run down to the river (or walk down) and take pa.s.sage on it.

"In colonial days few were the people here; but they were a bright and stirring handful. It seems as if every man counted as ten. The De's and the Vans, the Livingstons, the Schuylers, the Montgomerys and ever so many more of the Hudson River Valley settlers are still making their impress upon the country. I suppose it need not now be counted strange that the strong mixture of Dutch and English settlers, with a few Huguenots, which finally made Dutchess county, were not a little divided between Tory and Whig inclinations. Around Poughkeepsie, and in its allied towns stretching between the Hudson River and the Connecticut line, there was much strife. Gov. George Clinton in his day ruled in the midst of much tumult and turbulence; but he held the reins with vigor, in spite of kidnappers or critics. When the British burned Kingston he prorogued the legislature to Poughkeepsie, which still served as a 'safe harbor.' As the resolution progressed the Tory faction was weakened, either by suppression or surrender.

"It was in the Poughkeepsie Court House that, by _one_ vote, after a Homeric battle, the colony of New York consented to become a part of the American republic, which consent was practically necessary to its existence.

"How large a part two small incidents played here towards the result of nationality. That single vote was one, and the news by express from Richmond, announcing Virginia's previous ratification--and added stimulus to the vote--was the other. Poughkeepsie honored in May, 1824, the arrival of Lafayette, and dined him, besides exchanging speeches with him, both at the Forbus House, on Market Street, very nearly where the Nelson House now stands, and at the Poughkeepsie Hotel. It was one of Poughkeepsie's great days when he came. Daniel Webster has spoken in her court house; and Henry Clay, in 1844, when a presidential candidate, stopped for a reception. And it is said that, by a mere accident, she just missed contributing a name to the list of presidents of the United States. The omitted candidate was Nathaniel P. Talmadge. He could have had the vice-presidential candidacy, the story goes, in 1840, but would not take it. If he had accepted it, he would have gone into history not merely as United States senator from New York and afterwards Governor of Wisconsin territory, but as president in John Tyler's place.

"In 1844, the New York State Fair was held here somewhere east of what is now Hooker Avenue. It was an occasion thought important enough then to be pictured and reported in the London _Ill.u.s.trated News_. Two years after the telegraph wires were put up in this city, before they had yet reached the city of New York. Considering the fact that Prof.

S. F. B. Morse, the telegraph inventor, had his residence here, this incident was not wholly inappropriate.

"The advent in 1849 of the _Hudson River Railroad_, which was an enterprise in its day of startling courage and magnitude, const.i.tuted a special epoch in the history of Poughkeepsie and the Hudson River towns. Men of middle age here well remember the hostility and ridicule the project occasioned when it was first broached. Some said no railroad ever _could_ be built on the river's edge; and, if you should build one, the enormous expense incurred would make it forever unprofitable. It seemed then the height of Quixotism to lay an expensive track where the river offered a free way to all. Property holders, whose property was to be greatly benefited, fought the railroad company with unusual spirit and persistence. But the railroad came, nevertheless, and needs no advocate or apologist to-day. There is no one now living here who would ask its removal, any more than he would ask the removal of the Hudson River itself."

And lo! the Catskills print the distant sky, And o'er their airy tops the faint clouds driven, So softly blending, that the cheated eye Forgets or which is earth or which is heaven.

_Theodore S. Fay_.

Mountains on mountains in the distance rise, Like clouds along the far horizon's verge; Their misty summits mingling with the skies, Till earth and heaven seem blended into one.

_Bayard Taylor._

Poughkeepsie has been known for more than half a century as the City of Schools. The Parthenon-like structure which crowns College Hill was prophetic of a still grander and more widely known inst.i.tution, the first in the world devoted to higher culture for women,--

=Va.s.sar College.=--This inst.i.tution, founded by Matthew Va.s.sar, and situated two miles east of the city, maintains its prestige not only as the first woman's college in point of time, but also first in excellence and influence. The grounds are beautiful and graced by n.o.ble buildings which have been erected year by year to meet the continued demands of its patrons. The college is not seen from the river but is of easy access by trolley from the steamboat landing.

=Eastman College= is also one of the fixed and solid inst.i.tutions of Poughkeepsie, located in the very heart of the city. It has accomplished good work in preparing young men for business, and has made Poughkeepsie a familiar word in every household throughout the land. It was fortunate for the city that the energetic founder of this college selected the central point of the Hudson as the place of all others most suited for his enterprise, and equally fortunate for the thousands of young men who yearly graduate from this inst.i.tution, as the city is charmingly located and set like a picture amid picturesque scenery.

Among many successful public inst.i.tutions of Poughkeepsie are the Va.s.sar Hospital, the Va.s.sar Old Men's Home, the Old Ladies' Home, the State Hospital and the Va.s.sar Inst.i.tute of Arts and Sciences.

I went three times up the Hudson; and if I lived in New York should be tempted to ascend it three times a week during the summer.

_Harriet Martineau._

The opera house is one of the pleasantest in the country and received a high comment, still remembered, from Joseph Jefferson, for its perfect acoustic quality. The armory, the Adriance Memorial Library to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. John P. Adriance, and the historic Clinton House on Main Street purchased in 1898 by the Daughters of the Revolution, also claim the attention of the visitor. Several factories are here located, the best known being that of Adriance, Platt & Co., whose Buckeye mowers and reapers have been awarded the highest honors in Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States, and are sold in every part of the civilized globe. The Phoenix Horseshoe Co., the Knitting-Goods Establishment, and various shoe, s.h.i.+rt and silk thread factories contribute to the material prosperity of the town. The drives about Poughkeepsie are delightful. Perhaps the best known in the United States is the Hyde Park road, six miles in extent, with many palatial homes and charming pictures of park and river scenery. This is a part of the Old Post Road and reminds one by its perfect finish of the roadways of England. Returning one can take a road to the left leading by and up to

=College Hill=, 365 feet in height, commanding a wide and extensive prospect. The city lies below us, fully embowered as in a wooded park.

To the east the vision extends to the mountain boundaries of Dutchess County, and to the north we have a view of the Catskills marshalled as we have seen them a thousand times in sunset beauty along the horizon.

This property, once owned by Senator Morgan and his heirs, was happily purchased by William Smith of Poughkeepsie, and given to the city as a public park. There is great opportunity here to make this a thing of beauty and a joy forever, for there are few views on the Hudson, and none from any hill of its height, that surpa.s.s it in extent and variety. The city reservoir lies to the north, about one hundred feet down the slope of College Hill.

My heart is on the hills. The shades Of night are on my brow; Ye pleasant haunts and quiet glades, My soul is with you now!

_Robert C. Sands._