Editing Ballston, New York (section)

== History ==
The region was first settled around 1763. In 1775, the area became a District in Albany County.

In 1780, [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] raiders attacked the northern part of the town and took several [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] to Canada. The area was originally called "Ball's Town" and "Ballton."  The town was formed in 1785 while still in [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]]. The original owners of the town were the Mcdonald brothers. Rev. Eliphalet Ball from [[Bedford (town), New York|Bedford, New York]] bought the area of land from them and called it Ball's Town.  Ball also paid the brothers 1 barrel of rum for the right to name the town after himself.  Over time the name was shortened to Ballston.

Early settlers in this area feared attacks from [[Mohawk people|Mohawks]], who already inhabited the region and who resented the establishment of European buildings on their sacred grounds.  One of Ballston's historic sites is Indian Rock, a large boulder where Mohawk tribesmen reputedly took white captives (children, in some cases) to torture and kill them.<ref>{{cite book|last=Briaddy|first=Katherine Q.|title=Around Ballston Lake|date=2004|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|page=24|isbn=9780738535456|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmv9CpbEDEMC&q=indian+rock+ballston&pg=PA24}}</ref>

[[Ballston Lake]], a narrow, {{convert|3.7|mi|km|adj=on}}-long lake with an unknown maximum depth in the south of the region, was called "Shanantaha" or "Sha-nen-da-ho-ra" by natives.  It was known to early white settlers as Long Lake.  The lake was part of the Mohawk River during the glacial age and archeological digs have unearthed artifacts indicating settlement around the lake as early as 3,500 BCE.

For a long time the depth of Ballston Lake was not determined, due to the multiple caves that prevented divers from going to the bottom. There has been an artifact found that is dated 2000 B.C.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ballston Lake Improvement Association/Town of Ballston Set Historic Tour|url=http://townofballstonny.org/documents/historictour.pdf|website=Town of Ballston|access-date=December 17, 2017}}</ref>