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 The
Town of Highlands is located in Orange County, New York, about 50
miles north of New York City in the beautiful Hudson River Valley.
It is bordered on the South by Bear Mountain in the Town of Stony
Point in Rockland County, on the North by the Town of Cornwall, on
the West by the Town of Woodbury, and on the East by the Hudson
River. It is composed of the village of Highland Falls, the
hamlet of Fort Montgomery, portions of the Palisades Interstate
Park, and the United States Military Academy at West Point. On
December 3, 1872, the Town of Highlands was formed from the Town of
Cornwall by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. For many
years the Town of Cornwall had consisted of the thickly settled
territory north of the Storm King mountains, and the localities
around Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery far to the south. It
was an unnatural and inconvenient alliance. In order to
transact public official business together, required the people of
one part of the town or the other to travel over long and difficult
mountain roads, or make the trip by boat on the Hudson. It was
a very obvious necessity that led to a movement for a new town south
of Cro's Nest -- a town that should consist of of territory upon
which the people might easily meet and transact public business. Accordingly,
the petition for a new town met with little opposition, and the Town
of Highlands was authorized to organize in 1872. On
June 5, 1712, the British Crown granted 400 acres of land to Dr.
Samuel Staats, the first in the present-day Town of Highlands. This
landstretched along the Hudson in the area which is now Fort
Montgomery. A second
land grant was to Charles Congreve on May 17, 1723 for 800 acres,
now part of the lands of the United States Military Academy, and a
third land grant was to Gabriel Ludlow and William Ludlow on October
18, 1731 for 991 acres, including Buttermilk Falls. On
December 20, 1750 Alexander Phoenix and others petitioned for a
grant of land situated in Orange County near Buttermilk Falls. The
land, amounting to 1,000 acres was patented to them on July 13,
1751. Early
settlement in what was to be the Town of Highlands was sparse.
A 1780 map shows only Garrison and Rose near Fort Montgomery, Davis
near the Forest of Dean, Cronk near Long Pond, Faurot to the
eastward,and "Swim's Trn" (Swim's Tavern) south of
Buttermilk Falls. Undoubtedly,
other settlers were in the area as well. John Moore had
acquired the Congreve tract at West Point, and Richard Williams had
acquired the 991-acre Ludlow tract, conveying part of it to Nathan
Elliot on August 30, 1763. In 1794 he sold a mill site at
Buttermilk Falls to David Lydig, the beginning of Lydig's Mill,
which was to become David Parry's Mill in the early 1800's. In
the 1790's, Eugene Lucer had an extensive business at Fort
Montgomery on Popolopen Creek which was "navigable for vessels
of 50 tons. Erected on the creek were three docks, three dwelling
houses, a store and grist mill. On April 19, 1775 the American Revolution began at Lexington and
Concord. In 1776 and 1777, the Americans built Fort Montgomery on
the north side of Popolopen Creek, and Fort Clinton on the south
side. They also placed the first Hudson River chain across the
river to the mountain called Anthony's Nose to protect West Point
from British forces. On October 6, 1777 the British attacked
with an overwhelming force, capturing both forts and dismantled the
chain. In 1778, West Point was fortified and a second chain was
placed across the river. The
British never renewed the attack on WestPoint, and remained a
military post. The United States Military Academy was established by
Act of Congress on March 16, 1802, and became one of the world's
great educational institutions. On
April 9, 1814, the Fort Montgomery Turnpike Company was chartered.
The incorporators were Nathan Smith, Benjamin Rose, Selah Smith,
Robert Davenport, David Havens and James Davis. It's road began
"at or near the landing" then occupied by Nathan and Selah
Smith, and ran from thence "to the Forest of Dean minehole;
thence southwesterly to the Dunderburg and Clove Turnpike, near the
house of Isaac Holler, in the Town of Monroe." A
post office was established at Buttermilk Falls on July 14, 1849,
with Cornelius Nelson as the first postmaster. The name was
subsequently changed to Highland Falls.
A
post office was also established at Fort Montgomery on November 7,
1855, with Jeremiah Drew as the postmaster. The name "Fort
Montgomery" remains today as it originated in 1776 in honor of
General Richard Montgomery, killed while leading his troops in the
cause of independence.
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