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History of Orange County
Town of Newburgh
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Dubois’s Mills.—A large milling establishment on Chamber's Creek, two miles southwest of the village of Newburgh. It derives its name from its present owner Gen. Nathaniel Dubois, who has owned them more than forty years. Previous to that time they were called Van Keuren’s Mills, for a like reason, and still previous to that Hasbrouck's Mills, then owned by Jonathan Hasbrouck, who purchased them in 1753, and erected the first mill at the place. This was the gentleman who built the old stone Hasbrouck House in 1750.
The Vale.—A beautiful glen extending up Chamber’s creek for half a mile from its mouth. In the centre of it there is an artificial pond, which supplies several manufactories with water. The place is cool and leafy as the vale of Vallambrosa, delightful for a morning or an evening walk during the summer months. The word is from the French Vat, and means low ground or valley.
The Vale is in the form of an ox bow, the ends resting on the river, and the arch extending west up the creek. The heights along its southern side and at the head of the bow are 100 feet above the level of the stream, as it murmurs along a gentle declivity to mingle its waters with those of the Hudson. The beautiful residence of Mr. Philip Verplank graces the southern elevation, the avenue to which winds up the acclivity from the vale overhung with trees, shrubs and evergreens. The cottage residences of Mr. Theodore Valentine and Mr. Samuel Walsh crown the arch, while that of Mr. William A. Roe, on the north, is deeply imbosomed in shade and within the soft whispers of the creek as it glides by him to pass beneath the bridge thrown across its mouth.
King’s Hill.—A high eminence in the northwest part of the town. The west line of the town of Newburgh, which is the east line of the town of Montgomery, passes directly over the crown of this hill. The prospect from this place is beautiful and extensive in all directions. The name by some is said to be from an early settler by the name of King, and has been known by that appellation for seventy or eighty years: others say its name is by way of eminence, being the highest land in the vicinity. The word hill is from the Saxon hil, and means “high land lower than a mountain.”
Racoon Hill.—Another high eminence directly north from King’s Hill, just in Newburgh, and so called (per tradition) from being a favorite haunt of that animal at the early settlement of the county.
The Powder Mills.—About four miles northwest from the village of Newburgh, where Mr. Daniel Rogers has his powder works—hence its name. This section of the country is low and rocky and well supplied with water. The land around it is neatly cleared up, so as to be a beautiful and romantic retreat.
Gidneytown.—A small district of country about two miles northwest of the village of Newburgh, where there is a flour mill on the Gidneytown creek. It has its name from an old and reputable settler by the name of Gidney, many of whose descendants still reside there. We have mentioned this locality more particularly in our article of “Early settlement of the town.”
Limestone Hill.—A small ridge of imperfect limestone, and runs north and south, about two miles northwest from the village of Newburgh.
Fostertown Creek.—This is it small stream which rises in Ulster county, runs in a southerly direction and unites with Chamber’s Creek, south of Orange Lake. This stream drains a narrow valley of several miles in extent, running north and south, and has its name from running a part of its course through lands belonging to families by the name of Foster.
It is also called Gidneytown creek, as it runs through that settlement and supplies Mr. Gidney’s mill with water.
There is a creek which enters Orange Lake at the north, larger than Fostertown creek, has its rise in Ulster county, and thus far, during the whole course of an active life devoted to agricultural drainage in neighborhood usefulness, has remained unspoken of and (by name) by all the recipients of its kindness. That it may be known among its numerous kindred of creeks and brooks in all time to come, in books, maps and charts, by the learned and unlearned of town, county, state and world at large, we name it Bush-field’s Creek, in honor of Mr. James Bushfield, who owns the land through which it flows on entering the Lake. We hope its name, bestowed without consent, will not stop nor impede the full course of its usefulness, but continue as heretofore to dispense its unrequited blessings.
This creek rises in the town of Plattekill, Ulster county, three or four miles north of where it enters into the Lake.— The head of the stream is in a swamp some half a mile long, on the farm of Mr. Henry Bodine. At the south end of the swamp, where the stream issues, there is a stone dam 150 yards long, three feet high of dry stone wall, regularly built, and now in good preservation. Through it is an opening or sluice way, through which the water of the swamp issues, where imbedded timbers of some kind of framework have been found. This dam was there at the first settlement of the county, and the lands apparently in a state of nature.— On this dam trees are now growing, some of which are as large as a flour barrel. The stream is small at this place, with scarcely any fall, not sufficient for any kind of manufacturing purposes. The stream runs through meadows, and there is no hydraulic power in its whole course. The wall, doubtless was built to pond the water, but when, by whom, and for what purpose, there is no knowledge or tradition in that vicinity. The wall is a work of civilization beyond all question.