Portal:Hudson Valley

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The Hudson Valley Portal

The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to Yonkers in Westchester County, bordering New York City. (Full article...)

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The Red Hill Fire Observation Station consists of a fire lookout tower, cabin and pit privy located on the summit of Red Hill, a 2,990-foot (910 m) Catskill Mountain peak in Denning, New York, United States. It is the southernmost fire tower in the Catskill Park.

One of the last state towers built, in 1920, it filled a missing link in the Catskills' forest fire detection network. Except for a few brief periods of closure, observers working for the state conservation agencies manned the tower through 1990, making it the last fire tower closed in the Catskills. The abandoned tower and its views of the region remained a popular destination for local hikers, and it was slated to be torn down in accordance with state policy prohibiting nonessential structures on Forest Preserve land. Preservationists and forest historians campaigned to save and restore it and four other Catskill fire towers, and in the early 21st century they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Red Hill's observer's cabin, included as part of the listing, is one of the oldest such buildings in New York.

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Did you know?

... that Old Albany Post Road (pictured) in Philipstown, New York, is one of the oldest dirt roads still in use in the United States?
... that it has been difficult to establish when the Oliver Barrett House near Millerton, New York, was built since there are no records of it until 14 years after its likely construction date?
... that the four rooms on the first floor of Hiddenhurst outside Millerton, New York, are decorated in different architectural styles?

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Kiliaen van Rensselaer (before 1596 – after 1642) was a Dutch diamond and pearl merchant from Amsterdam who was one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company and was instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland. He became one of the first patroons and ended up being the only successful one, having founded the Manor of Rensselaerswyck in what is now mainly New York's Capital District. His estate lasted as a legal entity until the 1840s, having lived through Dutch and British colonial times, the American Revolution, and eventually coming to an end during the Anti-Rent War.

Van Rensselaer was born in the province of Gelderland to a soldier and a homemaker. To keep him from risking his life in the army like his father, he apprenticed under his uncle, a successful Amsterdam jeweler. He too became a successful jeweler and was one of the first subscribers to the Dutch West India Company upon its conception. He may very well be the source of the idea of patroonships and was probably the leading proponent of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions.

His patroonship became the most successful to exist, with van Rensselaer making full use of his business tactics and advantages, such as his connection to the Director of New Netherland, his confidantes at the West India Company, and his extended family members that were more than happy to emigrate to a better place to farm. He was married twice and had at least eleven children, two of whom succeeded him as patroons of Rensselaerswyck. Van Rensselaer died sometime after 1642.

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Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Assess : Review all unassessed articles for quality.
Cleanup : Expand and improve Hudson Valley.
Expand : Kingston, New York has a long and storied history that needs to be written. The same goes for Poughkeepsie, New York. And there are many articles about painters in the Hudson River School that need to be improved, such as Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church.
Infobox : Watch for articles missing relevant infoboxes, including Pleasant Valley (town), New York.
NPOV : Help give Gregory R. Ball a more neutral tone.
Orphans : Find articles that can link to Sneha Anne Philip.
Stubs : State road articles, including New York State Route 113, New York State Route 301, and New York State Route 403. Mountain articles such as History of the Catskill Mountains and Thomas Cole Mountain could also use work.
Wikify : Add links to the Hudson Valley portal where appropriate.
Other : Add {{WikiProject Hudson Valley}} to the tops of talk pages for Hudson Valley articles.