Fort Hunter 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 ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Montg ...

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, west of the capital at Albany, on the south bank of the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson R ...

and on the northeast bank of

Schoharie Creek Schoharie Creek is a river in New York (state), New York that flows north from the foot of Indian Head Mountain (New York), Indian Head Mountain in the Catskill Mountains, Catskills through the Schoharie Valley to the Mohawk River. It is twice ...

. The hamlet, developed around a fort of the same name, was built by English colonists in 1712 near the Mohawk village of

Tionondoroge Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, also known as Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, is a historic district that includes the ruins of the Erie Canal aqueduct over Schoharie Creek, and a long part of the Erie Canal, in the towns of Glen a ...

for their defense. Queen Anne ordered the fort built at the request of the Mohawk, in exchange for their allowing her to settle

German Palatines Palatines () were the citizens and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, princes of the List of states in the Holy Roman Empire, Palatinates, Holy Roman States that served as Kaiserpfalz, capitals for the Holy Roman Emperor. After the fall of the Holy ...

in their territory. The English called the Mohawk settlement the Lower Mohawk Castle. Within a few years, the fort included an Anglican chapel, first built in logs and replaced by a stone church in 1741. It was a mission church for the Mohawk in addition to English settlers. The fort survived the wars in the region; it was taken down in 1820 to make way for construction of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

History

Land deed

The Fort Hunter land, approximately 80 acres on both sides of the mouth of the Schoharie, was deeded in 1697 to Jan Peterse Mabee. He had an advantage because his wife, Anna Borsboom, apparently of mixed race, was "something related to the Indian castle". The deed was signed by Sachem Rode of the Wolf Clan. In order to build the fort, there was a land swap, with the Mabee family receiving land further south on Schoharie Creek. Copies of the deed are held both in the Albany State Archives and at the shrine of Saint

Kateri Tekakwitha Kateri Tekakwitha ( in Mohawk), given the name Tekakwitha, baptized as Catherine ("Kateri" in Mohawk), and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680), is a Mohawk/ Algonquin Catholic saint and virgin. Born in the Mohawk v ...

in nearby

Auriesville, New York Auriesville is a hamlet in the northern part of New York state and west of Albany. It was the site of Ossernenon, a Mohawk village where French Jesuits established a mission. This operated from 1667 until 1684, when the Mohawk destroyed it as pa ...

Palatine settlement

The future site of Fort Hunter was on

, near the easternmost of the two primary

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...

settlements of the time. It was in part for defense of the nearby Mohawk village against the French and their Indian allies. The Mohawk name for their village was rendered variously in English as ''Tionondoroge'', ''Teantontalago'', ''Thienderego'', ''Tionondorage'', and ''Tiononderoga''. The European colonists also called it the Lower Mohawk Castle, referring to its relative position near the Mohawk River, which flows east. ''

Canajoharie Canajoharie (), also known as the "Upper Castle", was the name of one of two major towns of the Mohawk nation in 1738. The community stretched for a mile and a half along the southern bank of the Mohawk River, from a village known as ''Dekanohag ...

'', the other primary Mohawk village, was known as the ''Upper Mohawk Castle'' and was located further west upriver, also on the south side of the river. By the

Dongan Charter The ''Dongan Charter'' is the 1686 document incorporating Albany, New York, as a city. Albany's charter was issued by Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York, a few months after Governor Dongan issued a similarly worded, but less de ...

, the city of Albany acquired the right to own at the Lower Mohawk Castle.

Hendrick Tejonihokarawa Hendrick Tejonihokarawa (Tay yon' a ho ga rau' a), also known as ''Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row'' and Hendrick Peters (c. 1660 – ) was a pro-English leader of the Mohawk in the Province of New York in the early 18th century. He was one of the " F ...

of the Wolf

Clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

, a Mohawk ''

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

'' also known by the English as Hendrick Peters, was one of the "

Four Mohawk Kings The Four Indian Kings or Four Kings of the New World were three Mohawk chiefs from one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and a Mohican of the Algonquian peoples, whose portraits were painted by John Verelst in London to commemor ...

" who went to London in 1710 to meet with Queen Anne. The chiefs asked her for Anglican

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

to help offset French Catholic influence in the

Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

, as well as for defenses against French soldiers. In 1711, the Crown authorized the construction of Fort Hunter near Tionondorage for such defense. The fort contained a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

and mission house. Queen Anne donated a set of communion silver and sent two missionaries to the colony. In return, she asked Tejonihokarawa for help in settling Palatine Germans, Protestant refugees then working at English camps in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

in present-day Dutchess County. They had left the Palatine because of French invasions related to religious wars. Through Governor Hunter, the sachem made some Mohawk land available to settlers near Schoharie Creek, where some of the Palatines eventually settled.Snow, Dean R
"Searching for Hendrick: Correction of a Historic Conflation"
. ''New York History'', Summer 2007

Fort Hunter

Fort Hunter was constructed by English colonists in 1712. In 1723, some 100 heads of German households were granted land in what was known as the Burnetsfield Patent, west of the rapids at Little Falls. They were a buffer between the French and Iroquois, and the English settlements. A log cabin was erected for use as a chapel, and at one time there were 30 houses for Mohawk within the fort. The log structure was replaced with a stone church in 1741 and a parsonage was later built outside the fort; it still stands. The fort was used by area residents for defense in the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, and during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

Erie Canal

In 1820, the fort and church were taken down to make way for construction of the

, which dramatically increased trade and traffic through the valley.

Today

Today, the hamlet of Fort Hunter is the location of the

Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, also known as Erie Canal National Historic Landmark, is a historic district that includes the ruins of the Erie Canal aqueduct over Schoharie Creek, and a long part of the Erie Canal, in the towns of Glen ...

. It includes the remains of the Schoharie Crossing, a

navigable aqueduct Navigable aqueducts (sometimes called navigable water bridges) are bridge structures that carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railways or roads. They are primarily distinguished by their size, carrying a larger cross-se ...

over the creek, and part of a lock from the early nineteenth-century development of the

along the Mohawk River.

References

External links

"Fort Hunter"
Tryon County, NY at Rootsweb {{authority control Erie Canal

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

Hamlets in New York (state) Former Native American populated places in New York (state) Iroquois populated places

Hamlets in Montgomery County, New York 1712 establishments in the Province of New York Populated places on the Mohawk River