As I was driving thru the backroads of New York, actually the road was an early colonial highway and stagecoach thoroughfare, I came across this wonderful old farmhouse. The odd part of the Image here is that the flag caught my eye on my drive by. No not that it was draped over the front door in patriotic display, but that it only had 48 stars…. that put the flag at over 50 years old, on a house that predates the signing of the declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.
The home owner was gracious enough to let me plunk down my camera gear and set up for a few 4th of July Images. Seems that this the homes deed can be traced back to the original tract of land to the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck. Not many people know that Henry Hudson was Dutch, and upon his claim in 1609, this area of upstate New York, was actual called New Netherland, and was managed by the Dutch West India Company.
In 1630, the Company, in order to tempt the ambition of capitalists, offered certain exclusive privileges to the members of the company. The charter stated that any member who founded a colony of fifty adults in New Netherland within four years of the charter’s would be acknowledged as a patroon (feudal chief) of the territory to be colonized.
Lots of precolonial and colonial history and a number of homes and churches in the area are still standing and have witnessed it all …. Happy Independence Day …. America
