Editing Columbia County, New York (section)

==History==
At the arrival of European colonists the area was inhabited by the [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[Mahican|Mohican Indians]]. To the west of the river were the Mohawk and other four tribes of the [[Iroquois Confederacy]], extending past what is now the border of New York state. The first known European exploration of Columbia County was in 1609, when [[Henry Hudson]], an English explorer sailing for the Dutch, ventured up the [[Hudson River]]. An accident to his craft forced him to stop at what is now known as Columbia County and there search for food and supplies.<ref name="disc1">{{Cite web|author=Columbia County, NY.com|title=History of Columbia County, New York|access-date=February 11, 2008|url=http://www.columbiacountyny.com/history.html}}</ref> In 1612, the Dutch established trading posts and minor settlements, building New Amsterdam (now [[New York City]]) and Fort Orange (now [[Albany, New York|Albany]]). Fort Orange became a center of the [[fur trade]] with the [[Mohawk people]]. Traders stopped at points along the Hudson River on their travels between New Amsterdam and Fort Orange; small settlements arose along the river to supply the traders' ships.<ref name="disc1"/>

Dutch colonists bought land [from whom?] near [[Claverack, New York|Claverack]] in 1649 and 1667.<ref name="disc2">{{Cite web|author=Rootsweb|title=History of Columbia County|access-date=February 11, 2008|url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycolumb/}}</ref> As more Dutch arrived, the region slowly developed. In 1664, the English took over New Netherland and renamed it the "[[Province of New York]]"; they also renamed Fort Orange "[[Albany, New York|Albany]]".<ref name="disc2"/>

In the late 17th century, [[Robert Livingston the Elder|Robert Livingston]], a Scots immigrant by way of Rotterdam, built on his connections as [[Indian agent]] in the colony and purchased two large tracts from the Native Americans. He gained much larger grants from the provincial government, for a total of 160,240 acres. He was made [[lord of the manor|lord]] of [[Livingston Manor]] by the [[British crown|Crown]], with all its perquisites, and developed the property with [[tenant farm]]ers. In 1710, he sold 6,000 acres of his property to [[Queen Anne of Great Britain]] for use as work camps and for the resettlement of [[German Palatines|Palatine German]] refugees. The Crown had supported their passage to New York, and they were to pay off the cost by [[indentured labor]].<ref name=Knittle>{{cite book|last=Knittle|first=Walter Allen|title=Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration|year=1965|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Co.|location=Baltimore|isbn=0-8063-0205-4}}</ref> Some 1,200 [[Palatine Germans]] were brought to Livingston Manor (now [[Germantown (town), New York|Germantown]]). New York's Governor Hunter had also helped with these arrangements: the workers were to make [[naval stores]] (''e.g.'', pitch, resin, and turpentine) from the pine trees in the [[Catskill Mountains]].

They were promised land for resettlement after completing their terms of indenture.<ref name="disc2"/> They were refugees from years of religious fighting along the border with France, as well as crop failures from a severe winter.<ref name=Knittle/> Work camps were established on both sides of the Hudson River. The Germans quickly established Protestant churches at the heart of their community, which recorded their weddings, births and deaths, among the first vital records kept in the colony.<ref name=Knittle/>

[[File:1879 CV map only.jpg|thumb|left|1879 map of the [[Vermont Central Railway]]]]

After many years, some of the colonists were granted land in the frontier of the central Mohawk Valley west of present-day [[Little Falls, New York|Little Falls]] in the 100 lots of the Burnetsfield Patent; in the Schoharie Valley, and other areas, such as [[Palatine Bridge, New York|Palatine Bridge]] along the Mohawk River west of Schenectady. They were buffer communities between the British settlements and the Iroquois and French (the latter located mostly in Canada.)

Columbia County was formed in 1786 after the [[American Revolutionary War]] from portions of [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]],{{refn|group=nb|name="Sullivan-founding"}} once a vast area until new communities were developed and jurisdictions were organized. In 1799, the southern boundary of Columbia County was moved southward to include that portion of Livingston Manor located in [[Dutchess County]].

In the nineteenth century, the [[Vermont Central Railway]] was constructed to the area. It provided transportation north towards [[Rutland (city), Vermont|Rutland]] and [[Burlington, Vermont]], and south towards the major junction town of [[Chatham, New York]], for travel to points west, south and east.

A large number of [[LGBT]] artists and writers settled in Columbia County in the late 20th century, including [[Ellsworth Kelly]], who moved to the county in 1970, followed by [[James Ivory]] and [[Ismail Merchant]] (1975) and the poet [[John Ashbery]] (1978).<ref name=Gefter>Philip Gefter, [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/t-magazine/columbia-county-gay-utopia-new-york.html The Place Beyond the Fire Island Pines], ''New York Times'' (October 23, 2017).</ref>

{{expand section|content on the 19th and 20th centuries. But for one single item after the 1700s both are entirely skipped.|date=September 2021}}