Editing Valatie, New York (section)

==History==
[[File:Valatie, New York (1914).jpg|thumb|left|Main Street, Valatie, 1914]]

Valatie was first named ''Pachaquack'', meaning "cleared meadow", by the earliest Native American settlers&mdash;Algonquian [[Mohican]]s&mdash;who lived along the banks of Valatie's two waterways now referred to as Valatie [[kill (body of water)|Kill]] and [[Kinderhook Creek]].

Part of the original [[New Netherland]], the first European settlers were the [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch]] who settled Kinderhook around 1665, and named this area "Vaaltje", meaning "little falls".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lizzi|first1=Dominick|title=Valatie, the Forgotten History|date=2009|publisher=Valatie Press|location=Valatie, New York|isbn=978-0615291864|page=8|edition=first |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGI-QwAACAAJ}}</ref>   The first post office was established in 1832. By the early 19th century there were nine [[cotton mill]]s in Valatje operating on power derived from the famous waterfalls; the village was incorporated in 1856. With a bustling Main Street, Valatie was considered the center of commerce in northern Columbia County throughout the 19th century.

The United States' first Santa Claus Club was founded in Valatie in 1946 by fifteen village veterans to provide holiday gifts for several critically ill children. Every Christmas Eve, a Santa travels throughout the village, personally visiting every child under age ten.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}