18,000 BP
Laurentide Ice Sheet. Arthur Dyke, 2009.For thousands of years before European contact, the Munsee Lenape people inhabited the Hudson Valley region, including the land that would become this property. They lived in harmony with the forests, rivers, and wildlife, developing sophisticated systems of agriculture, hunting, and trade. The Munsee Lenape called the Hudson River “Muhheakantuck,” meaning “the river that flows two ways,” recognizing its tidal nature.
12,000 BP
Megafauna species like the Mastodon and Wooly Mammoth become extinct due to climate changes and human hunting pressure.
1000 - 1600s BP
Tishcohan, a Delaware chief. Painting by Gustavus Hesselius 1735Wappinger, Munsee, and Lenape Native Americans. The Mahicans reside north of the Hudson Highlands. The Lenape live in the southern coastal area. The Mahicans relied primarily on hunting and gathering. The Lenape people used fire to clear forest for agriculture. After a few years of cultivation, they would let the land return to forest.
1600s
European colonization. Colonists bring domesticated horses, oxen, and cattle and clear woodlands for agriculture, lumber, and fuel.
1670
Of the 35,000 Native Americans who lived in the Hudson Valley in 1600, only about 1,000 survive past 1670. They were susceptible to European diseases and were killed fighting by settlers to retain their land.
1697
European population of Dutchess County totals 4 or 5 solitary men along the Hudson River, mostly patent holders looking for tenants. The Beekman Patent is granted by the English Crown to Henry Beekman. This included the present towns of Beekman, Union Vale, a portion of La Grange, and nearly all of Pawling and Dover with the exception of an eastern strip.
1700-1750s
Forest clearing continues, but at a slow pace due to political instability. White pine was harvested for use as ships’ masts and timbers. Oak and hickory were exported to Amsterdam and England, both of which suffered wood shortages.
1723
Dutchess county grows to a population of 1,040 white people and 43 enslaved people.
Source: eastfishkillny.gov1740
Nicolas Emigh, often credited as the first pioneer arriving in 1685, settles on a farm in Beekman next to Clove Spring with his wife Anna Catherine Muller.
On this Emigh homestead is the far-famed Clove Spring. This is a natural fountain of the purest water, from which flows a stream equivalent to an ordinary mill-race.
Emigh Homestead1750-1800
Tanning develops into a large industry for New York. Early tanning uses the bark of trees such as hemlock and oak to create the colors desired in leather. Following the American Revolution, colonial presence pushes further north and west, cutting forests and developing farms and villages. Sawmills are erected wherever woodland and water exist.
1750s
Clove Spring Trout company constructs 10 ponds for 22,000 trout in Clove Spring. These fish are released into nearby streams and fed 80lbs of ground beef daily.
1771
The Duchess county population increases to a population of 22,404 with a sudden influx of Quaker residents.
1800s
Hudson Valley farmers struggle to Elk are extirpated from NY due to Orchards and vineyards gain popularity. compete against upstate farmers (wheat hunting pressure and other grains) and diversify to dairy, fruits, and vegetables or leave to settle out West. Tanneries continue to grow, until the hemlock trees become almost extinct. Other methods of tanning are developed.
Peeling, and piling hemlock bark, for Prattsville Tannery. Nahum Capen, 1852.1821
The town of “Freedom” is founded and named by Enoch Dorland, a Quaker preacher. “Freedom” later changes town name to La Grange in 1829 due to confusion in mail delivery.
1827
The town of Union Vale is formed. Livingston, Potter, Abel, Morey, Reed, Uhl, Cline, and Wilkinson families are the earliest settler families. The Abel family are Dutch immigrants who live on what later becomes known as Ferme Montagne.
1839
Iron ore is found and mined.
1856
Brown Ore Mine is developed.
Late 1800s
Eastern cougars are extirpated from NY due to hunting pressure.
1847
Elk are extirpated from NY due to hunting pressure.
1850
The Hudson River School art movement of landscape painters emerges.
Dover Plain, Dutchess County, New York. Painting by Asher Brown Durand, 1848.1850-1920
Farms change from small, self-subsistent farming to orchards, vineyards, or dairy fields to feed a growing New York City.
1900
Wolves are extirpated from NY due to hunting pressure.
1903
Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club is founded.
1904
Chestnut blight is introduced, an invasive species that devastated native chestnut trees. Coal, oil, and natural gas replace wood as the common sources of fuel. However, forests are still threatened by a spike in fire frequencies ignited from railroads, careless campers, and natural causes and intensified by a buildup of dead tree material.
1869-1945
Many Hudson Valley farmers continue migration west to flatter, more fertile lands yet as NYC grows, agriculture remains important in Dutchess County. Orchards and vineyards gain popularity.
1945 - Present
After World War II, the US government concern over food affordability leads to its support for high-yield agriculture practices. Arsenic and DDT are deployed with harmful consequences. Small family farms disappear. Invasive species increase dramatically. Abandoned agricultural land returns to forest.