George Washington's impact stays strong in valley

By Darren O'Sullivan
Poughkeepsie Journal

As commander of the Continental Army, Washington made his headquarters in the area twice during the war. From September to November in 1778, he made is headquarters at the John Kane House in Pawling.

"It was sort of a watch-and-wait operation," said Molly McLean, chairwoman of the docents at the Kane House. She said the Quaker Hill area was selected because it was high enough for Washington to use fire signals to communicate with Long Island and West Point.

Washington also spent more than 16 months in Newburgh, where his headquarters and home, the Hasbrouck House, remain.

"He announced the end of the war from here," said Mel Johnson, historic site assistant at Washington's Headquarters in Newburgh. On April 19, 1783, Washington delivered his proclamation ending the war at what is now the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site in New Windsor.

Many places bear name

The impact Washington had on the region can perhaps most easily be seen in all those places that now bear his name. The City of Newburgh has a section called Washington Heights, Kingston has a George Washington Elementary School and the Town of Washington bears his name because the general had camped for a short period on the town's western edge. And straddling the Town of Pleasant Valley/Washington line is the hamlet of Washington Hollow.

"He had a lot of personal friends in this area, not the least of whom was (then New York governor) George Clinton," said Johnson.

It was his friendship with Clinton that in 1782 led Washington to Kingston, where Clinton's wife's family lived.

"He came up through Stone Ridge, stopped at Hurley, making a speech in every town he came to," said City of Kingston Historian Edwin Ford, noting that records show Washington spent nights in both Stone Ridge and Kingston. "He liked to dance. He went to a dance the night he was here and danced with several of the local girls."

Yearned for Virginia

Despite all of the time Washington spent here and the various places he visited, Johnson said the general did not like being away from his home.

"He didn't like any place that wasn't Tidewater, Virginia," said Johnson, recalling a line from a letter Washington wrote while at Newburgh during the winter of 1782-83: "Time will pass heavily on in this dreary mansion in which we are fast locked by snow and ice."

Marian Edmonds Liggera, historian with the Mahwenawasigh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, said the time Washington spent here, coupled with the fact that so much physical history remains, has fueled local students' interest.

"We do an essay contest every year, and at least half the kids -- no matter what they write -- find a way to tie in George Washington in some way," said Liggera.