Editing Esopus, New York (section)

==History==
The town was founded in 1811 from territory taken from [[Kingston, New York|Kingston]], [[New York (state)|New York]],<ref name=Town>[https://www.esopus.com/about/ "About Esopus", Town of Esopus]</ref> which also was called "Esopus" at one time.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} It was officially formed on April 5, 1811. In 1818, a part of it was set off to Kingston, and a portion of Hurley was annexed. On April 12, 1842, a portion of [[New Paltz, New York|New Paltz]] was annexed, making up what is mostly present-day Esopus.

The first known European to settle in the area was a trapper by the name of Christoffel "Kit" Davits,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0g15AAAAMAAJ&q=Ulster+Park,+New+York Van Buren, Augustus H., ''A History of Ulster County Under the Dominion of the Dutch'', Kingston. 1923, p. 17]</ref> who bartered with the Esopus people, a branch of the Lenape. Around 1652 or 1653 many settlers moved south from the [[Manor of Rensselaerswyck]] where they had worked the patroon's land.

During the American Revolution, a colonial prison was established there in the fall of 1777 to house overcrowding of a prison ship anchored offshore.  The British army attacked this settlement in the same year and burned it to the ground.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hurd |first1=Anner |title=Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865 |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca |website=RG 1 L3, C-2046-00745 |publisher=Gov't of Canada |access-date=July 10, 2018 |ref=KLMWallace}}</ref>

The [[Cumming-Parker House]], [[Esopus Meadows Lighthouse]], [[Col. Oliver Hazard Payne Estate]], [[Poppletown Farmhouse]], and [[Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Klyne Esopus]] Holy Cross Monastery are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> Other noteworthy structures in Esopus include the Mount Academy.