Feura Bush is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of New Scotland, Albany County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. It is in the southeastern corner of the town, along the

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

town-line, eight miles south of Albany. The Feura Bush ZIP Code (12067) includes parts of the town of Bethlehem. It is in the Onesquethaw Volunteer Fire Company fire protection district. The 2020 Census showed 28 employer establishments in the hamlet.

History

Feura Bush was originally called "Moaksville", after an early family in the vicinity, and later called Jerusalem after the Jerusalem Reformed Church. Harmon Van Der Zee was a major landowner in the area during the mid-18th century. At that time, Jerusalem was a part of the town of

; in 1832, New Scotland was erected as a separate town. In 1790, the Jerusalem

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal fami ...

Church was established halfway between Union ( Unionville) and Jerusalem (Feura Bush). This was the first church in the area immediately south of Albany. In 1825, the church was moved to Jerusalem. In the 1920s, part of the Van Der Zee homestead over the town-line in Bethlehem was taken for the

West Shore Railroad The West Shore Railroad was a U.S. railway company active in the states of New York and New Jersey between 1885 and 1952. It was incorporated in 1885 to reorganize the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway, which had originally been inten ...

's Selkirk

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

. The yard was originally referred to as being in Feura Bush, being closer to this hamlet than to Selkirk; however, it is located in the Selkirk ZIP Code. In 1854, a

plank road A plank road is a road composed of Plank (wood), wooden planks or wikt:puncheon#Noun, puncheon logs, as an efficient technology for traversing soft, marshy, or otherwise difficult ground. Plank roads have been built since antiquity, and were comm ...

was established to run through Feura Bush to Houcks Corners, this section is today

New York State Route 32 New York State Route 32 (NY 32) is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a two-lane surface road for nearly its entire length, wit ...

; and then from the corners to Bethlehem Center, which today is

New York State Route 910A New York State Route 32 (NY 32) is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a two-lane surface road for nearly its entire length, wit ...

. This road was also made an official post road by the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. The Feura Bush School ( Bethlehem School District Number 5) was a one-room schoolhouse built in 1885. In 1929, the school was abandoned, and was put to different uses over time until 1987, when the Feura Bush Neighborhood Association converted it to a library. In 1929, a large brick school for kindergarten through eighth grade was built replacing the one-room schoolhouse. This building would be in service until ''circa'' 1950. The West Shore Railroad established a station here in approximately 1870 and it was used to ferry students to

Ravena Ravena is a village in Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 3,271 in the 2020 census an increase of 3 over the 2010 census. The village is in the southeast part of the town of Coeymans. History The village of Ravena ...

for high school. Around 1940, the station was discontinued. The Jerusalem (later Feura Bush)

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was once located in the Mathias Store until it moved to the hamlet's hotel in 1946, when the store was sold and converted into a residence. A new post office was built in 1989.

Geography

Feura Bush is situated along Indian Fields Road ( New York Route 32) at the town border with neighboring Delmar and extends to other borders with Clarksville, Voorheesville, New Salem, South Bethlehem, and Coeymans.

Location

Architecture

The hamlet has mostly

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

and Colonial residences with some modern styles as well. Several are historic buildings from the mid-18th century.

Education

The majority of Feura Bush is part of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District (R-C-S). Children attend A.W. Becker Elementary School for kindergarten through fifth grade, R-C-S Middle School for sixth through eighth grade, and R-C-S High for ninth through twelfth grade. Small pockets of the hamlet are within the Bethlehem Central School District. Feura Bush also has a library, situated in a former one-room schoolhouse adjacent to Jerusalem Reformed Church.

References

{{Authority control New Scotland, New York Hamlets in New York (state) Hamlets in Albany County, New York