The Hudson River's "Long Reach" stretches many miles almost due
northward, and on it is Poughkeepsie, with thirty thousand population,
midway between New York and Albany. Near here lived stout Theophilus
Anthony the blacksmith, who forged the great chains stretched across
the Hudson in the Highlands, for which the British burnt his house and
carried him a captive down to the New York prison-ships. Here, at
Locust Grove, a foliage-covered rocky point protruding into the river,
was long the home of Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the
electric telegraph. Poughkeepsie spreads broadly upon its group of
gentle hills, with the great railway-bridge crossing high overhead,
elevated two hundred feet above the water, and nearly a mile and a
half long. The Poughkeepsie streets, lined with fine elms, maples and
acacias, rise upon the sloping banks to a height above the bridge
level, the town being environed by rocky buttresses. The Indians named
the place Apo-keep-sinck, or the "pleasant and safe harbor," and in it
they housed their canoes. From this was gradually evolved the present
name, through a variety of spellings, of which no less than forty-two
different styles are found in the old records of the town. The "safe
harbor" of the Indians was between two protruding rocky bluffs, and is
now filled with wharves. The rapid Winnakee Brook leaps into it, a
stream which the Dutch called the Fall Kill. The northern bordering
bluff was their Slange Klippe, or the "Adder Cliff," infested with
venomous serpents, and the other is the "Call Rock." Tradition tells
that once a band of Mohican warriors who had made a foray into New
England brought here some Pequot captives, among them a young chief
who was tied to a tree for a sacrifice, when a shriek startled them,
and a girl, leaping from the thicket, implored his life. She also was
a captive Pequot and his affianced. As the captors debated, the
warwhoop was suddenly sounded by hostile Hurons, and they seized their
arms for defense. The maiden released her lover, but in the conflict
they were separated, and a Huron carried her off. The young chief was
almost inconsolable, but he pursued them beyond the river, and
conceived a daring plan for rescue. He entered the Huron camp
disguised as a wizard, found the maiden ill, and her Huron captor
implored the wizard to save her life. This he essayed to do, she
recognized him, and eluding the Huron vigilance, they escaped at
nightfall. They made their way to the Hudson, paddled over in a canoe,
and though pursued, he brought her into the "safe harbor," concealed
her, and then, by the aid of the friendly Indians he found there, beat
off the Hurons.
The Dutch often sailed by, and cast longing eyes upon this spot, so
favorable for a settlement, but it was nearly a century after Hudson's
exploration when the venerable yet venturesome Baltus Van Kleek
concluded it was about time to take possession. He landed in the
harbor, became the lord of the manor, and in 1705 built near the
Winnakee Brook a stout fortress-dwelling, which stood until recently.
It was loop-holed for musketry, and in it the New York Legislature met
for two sessions during the Revolution. Out in front was the "Call
Rock," where old Baltus and his friends used to stand and hail the
passing Dutch sloops when they wanted to get the news or journey upon
the river. The New York State Convention met at Poughkeepsie in 1788,
and ratified the Federal Constitution by the small majority of three,
after a protracted debate. From its many elevations, this leading city
of the Hudson Valley has a superb outlook, only limited by the
Catskills far to the northwest, the Highlands down the river, and the
dark-blue Shawangunk ridge off to the westward, where the attractive
lakes Mohonk and Minnewaska, the former at twelve hundred and the
latter at eighteen hundred feet elevation, nestle high among the
mountain peaks, overshadowed by the bold summits of Paltz Point and
Sky Top. Here flows deep in the valley the pretty Wallkill, out to the
Rondout and the Hudson, giving the railroad a route into the mountain
fastness.
About two miles back from the river, and behind the city, is Vassar
College, the foremost educational institution for women in the world.
The splendid buildings stand in grounds covering two hundred acres,
attractively laid out, and the main building, modelled after the
Tuileries, with high surmounting dome, is five hundred feet long. From
Sunset Hill, their highest eminence, there is a panorama of the Hudson
for forty miles. This college was the gift of Matthew Vassar, a
wealthy Poughkeepsie merchant and brewer, of English birth, who
desired to make it the most complete foundation of its kind, and gave
and bequeathed $1,000,000 besides the land, there being over $400,000
expended upon the buildings. His nephews have since made large
additional gifts. Here is provided a complete mathematical, classical
and English education for several hundred female students. Its main
building is the chief structure of Poughkeepsie. There are art
galleries, a museum, library and observatory. The museum of American
birds is the most complete existing, there is a fine gallery of
water-colors, and a collection of ancient weapons and armor, including
the halberd of King Francis I. The founder, having an ample fortune
and no children, devoted the closing years of his life to this
beneficent work, the college being begun in 1861 and opened in 1865.
He labored assiduously at its development and died at his post of
duty. Three years after the opening, when attending the annual meeting
of the trustees, while reading his address, he was suddenly stricken
with death.