Local History

In the Spring of 1662, Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch Governor of Niew Amsterdam, established the village of Niew Dorp on the site of an earlier Native American Settlement. On June 7, 1663, the Esopus Indians attacked and destroyed the village, and took captives who were later released. England took over the Dutch Colony on September 6, 1664. On September 17, 1669, the village, abandoned since the Esopus Indian attack, was resettled and renamed Hurley. In 1708 two large land patents from the New York Colonial government expanded the bounds of Hurley northward to near the present boundary with the Town of Woodstock and southward to the old boundary of the Town of New Paltz.

The southern section was quickly settled by farmers and the villages of Bloomingdale and Wagondale (now Creeklocks) were established. The discovery of limestone suitable for cement made this a valuable economic area and the village of Rosendale became its center. These villages and the surrounding area became the core of the Town of Rosendale, established in 1844.

Old Hurley, the central part of the Town, remained an agricultural community of close-knit families. Farming the Esopus Valley they supplied grain to the growing colony, New England, and the American Revolutionary forces. In October, November, and December of 1777, Old Hurley was the military headquarters for General George Clinton's Continental forces and the temporary capital of New York State.

The northern section of the Town was a forested wilderness until the discovery, in the 1830s, of a fine quality shale. Known as Blue Stone, it was used in the construction of road curbing, sidewalks and building facades. West Hurley, Glenford, and Ashton were villages established by the quarry industry. In 1917, New York City's need for a dependable water supply resulted in land condemnation and the flooding of the valley to create the Ashokan reservoir. The flooded villages of Glenford and West Hurley were resettled on the shores of the reservoir, but Ashton was never relocated.

George NewKirk was born the free son of Dianna Johnson, a slave, about 1820. His father’s name is not known. Around 1843 George moved into the Town of Hurley and obtained work as a farm hand. By 1850 he had established a family; a wife Margaret and three children, Aaron H., Richard and Dianna.

On September 30, 1850 George purchased an acre of land from Cornelius P. Wynkoop for twelve dollars. The lot was in a small clove on the Hurley Mountain Road, just south of Dug Hill Road. On this parcel he built a house for his family and lived there for the rest of his life. Within three years he had purchased three more parcels of land around his original home lot and in the foothills behind his home. This is the earliest recorded land purchase by a Black in the Town of Hurley.

During this period, two more children, Sarah and Catherine, were born. In all, twelve children would be born to George and Margaret, but only five would survive.

George was not content to work for others and so he established his own business, selling fresh clams. To insure that he had a ready supply of clams to meet his customers needs, he dammed a stream on his property, creating a fresh-water pond to store his clams in until they were marketed. Later in life he was recognized as the village caterer for special functions. He is recalled as being involved with weddings and funerals.

It appears that George also used his upland as a place for Black families to take up temporary residence. As during and after the Civil War many of these families had English surnames not common to the town, he may have been a quiet participant in the underground railway. George’s eldest son also supported the cause of the Civil War and served in the Northern Army in the 125th Artillery. He died in service in 1866 at the age of 25 and was buried in a local Black cemetery near his home.

By 1870, George estimated his real and personal estate to be over eleven hundred dollars. This was a considerable sum, for an average wage earner at that time earned one dollar a day in wages. He also gained local recognition as the first Black in New York State to have the right to vote. The date of this event is not known, as the records no longer exist at the local level. However, attaining his right to vote also indicates that he was educated.

He died in his early eighties at his home on Hurley Mountain Road in February, 1901. Burial was in the local Black cemetery near the grave of his son Aaron, on a hill overlooking the Esopus Valley.