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Bailey's Churches in Poughkeepsie Poukeepsie is truly a city of churches. There are twenty-two churches. The first church in the county, Dutch Reformed, organized in 1717, was erected there. It also abounds in schools, many of which are of the highest order of excellence. The Collegiate School (of late years turned into a hotel for summer boarders) was located on the summit of a hill about a mile from the Hudson, and nearly half a mile from the business part of the city. This structure is modelled after the ancient Parthenon at Athens. It commands an extensive view of the surrounding country. From the colonnade, which entirely surrounds it, the eye of the spectator can encompass a circuit of fifty miles. In company with a friend on one pleasant day in winter we ascended College Hill, and the scene was imposing. On the west and north, wehre in the summer the Hudson rolls with pride and beauty, the river was covered with a bridge of ice, and the rays of the sun glistened over the snow clad hills, sparkling like diamonds. Far ahead in the distance could be seen the azure summits of the Catskills reared to the clouds, and stretching beyond the vision's utmost limit. The far famed Mountain House is distinctly seen, at an elevation of nearly three thousand feet above the river. At our feet, like a beautiful panorama, lay the city of Poughkeepsie, with its church spires looming upward, wrapped in snow and ice, and glittering in the rays of a winter's sun. Far away eastward, clothed in winter's garments, reposed the fertile fields of Dutchess, bounded by the rugged snowy hills of Connecticut. On the south the Highlands terminate the view, and the county is dotted with beautiful county seats, mansions, and thriving villages. Local Tales and Historical Sketches, by Henry D. B. Bailey, Fishkill Landing, John W. Spaight Publisher, Fishkill Standard Office, 1874, pages 308 - 313. |
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