Saugerties () is a town in southeastern New York State, on the west bank of the Hudson River between Albany and New York City. It is in the northeastern corner of Ulster County. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 census, a decline from 19,482 in 2010. The village of the same name is located entirely within the town.
Part of the town is inside Catskill Park. U.S. Route 9W and New York State Route 32 pass through the town, converging at the center of the village and overlapping to the south. These routes parallel the New York State Thruway (Interstate 87), which passes through the town just west of the village of Saugerties.
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History
In the 1650s, Barent Cornelis Volge operated a sawmill on the Sawyer's Kill, supplying lumber for the manor of Rensselaerswick. He had secured a title from the Esopus Sachem to this land sometime before 1663. Volge likely left the area at the outbreak of the first Esopus War in 1658. The "footpath to Albany" was not laid out until 1670. In April 1677, Governor Edmund Andros purchased land from the Esopus Indian Kaelcop, chief of the Amorgarickakan band, for the price of a piece of cloth, a blanket, some coarse fiber, a loaf of bread, and a shirt. The Mynderse House was built by John Persen, formerly of Kingston, an early mill owner, circa 1685.
In October 1710, three hundred families who had immigrated to England from the Palatine region of Germany established camps on the east and west side of the Hudson. The camp on the west side of the river became known as West Camp in the Town of Saugerties. They were sent by the British government to manufacture naval stores for Her Majesty's fleet. The villages at West Camp were called Elizabethtown, Georgetown, and Newtown. Sawmills were established on the Esopus Creek. In 1998, a monument commemorating their arrival was erected on the lawn of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in West Camp.
Sometime before 1730, the Katsbaan area northeast of the village was settled by Dutch farmers from Kingston and Palatines from the "Camps". In 1732, they built a stone Dutch Reformed Church.
During the American Revolution, a British Squadron laid anchor at Saugerties from October 18–22, 1777, while raiding parties burned Clermont and Belvedere, across the Hudson River. These were the estates of Margaret Beekman Livingston and her son, Chancellor Livingston. The British also burned sloops near the Esopus Creek, and several homes and barns. While here, British General Vaughan learned of Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga on October 17. On October 22, 1777, the British fleet left the Mid-Hudson Valley, never to return.
The town was organized from the town of Kingston on April 5, 1811. At that time the hamlet of Saugerties contained twenty-one houses.
Henry Barclay (1778–1851), was an importer from Manhattan who, with his wife Catherine (1782–1851), came to Saugerties about 1825. Barclay, who had business relationships with Robert L. Livingston, had a dam constructed on the Esopus Creek near today's 9W bridge. Circa 1828, he established the Ulster Iron Works to produce bar and hoop iron. It had a capacity for manufacturing about 6,000 tons annually. and employed approximately 300 hands working round the clock shifts. At the same time he was building the iron mill, Henry Barclay built a paper mill powered by water from the Esopus Creek, which at that location had a fall of thirty-one feet. This mill was operational by 1827. Barclay imported skilled workers and engineers from England to man his mills.
St. John the Evangelist
Catholic laborers, principally quarrymen of Fish Creek, also known as "The Clove", were accustomed to go on Sundays to St. Mary of the Snow, in the village, for Mass, and sometimes disorders ensued. At that time the Saugerties congregation was served by Father Michael Gilbride, pastor in Hudson. Mr. Russell, owner of the quarries offered Gilbride land for a church, and St. John the Evangelist was established.
Rev. Michael C. Power, pastor of St. Mary of the Snow from 1852 to 1878, built a church in Quarryville. Rev. Michael Haran, of St. Joseph's in Kingston, was named pastor in 1886. He worked in Quarryville for seventeen years, also serving a mission in Shokan.
Geography
The town has a total area of 68.0 square miles (176.2 km2), of which 64.5 square miles (167.2 km2) is land and 3.5 square miles (9.0 km2) (5.13%) is water (United States Census Bureau statistics). The northern town line is the border of Greene County, New York, and the eastern town line, marked by the Hudson River, is the border of Dutchess and Columbia counties. Esopus Creek enters the Hudson River south of Saugerties village.
In 2016, a Kingston Creative study of social media data found that the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Opus 40, and HITS were leading drivers of tourism, by virtue of mentions on Instagram.
Communities and locations in the town of Saugerties
Asbury – A hamlet near the northern town line, bordering the town of Catskill.
Barclay Heights – A location in the southern side of the village on Route 9W.
Blue Mountain – A hamlet in the western part of the town.
Canoe Hill – A hamlet north of Saugerties village.
Centerville – A hamlet west of Veteran (aka Toodlum).
Eavesport – A hamlet on Route 9W, north of Saugerties village.
Fishcreek – A hamlet southwest of Saugerties village, over the Plattekill.
Flatbush – A hamlet in the southeastern corner of the town.
Glasco – A hamlet in the southeastern section of the town, by the Hudson River.
Glenerie – A hamlet in the southeastern part of the town on Route 9W.
High Woods – A hamlet in the southwestern part of the town, south of Fish Creek and West of Mount Marion.
Katsbaan – A hamlet northwest of Saugerties village, located on County Route 34.
Malden-on-Hudson – A hamlet by the Hudson River, north of Saugerties village.
Manorville – a hamlet north of West Saugerties and south of the Greene county hamlet of Palenville
Demographics
As of the 2010 census, there were 19,482 people; 8,163 households and 5,193 families residing in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 94.2% White, 1.7% Black or African American, .03% Native American, 1.1% Asian, .87% Pacific Islander (U.S. census), and 2.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5% of the population.
Of the 8,163 households, 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.9% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.4% were non-families. Of all households, 29.3% were made up of individuals, and 29.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.92. In the town, the median age was 42.9 years; 7.3% are over 65.
Education
Saugerties Central School District, including Saugerties High School, is the public school district covering all of the town.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates Catholic schools in Ulster County. St. Mary of the Snow School in Saugerties closed in 2013.
Historic places
Augusta Savage House and Studio
Big Pink
Dubois-Kierstede Stone House: built in 1727, it is now the Kiersted House Museum.
Loerzel Beer Hall
Main-Partition Streets Historic District
Osterhoudt Stone House
Opus 40: a dry stone environmental sculpture created by Harvey Fite.
Saugerties Lighthouse
Trinity Episcopal Church: consecrated on June 13, 1833, the window behind the altar is by William Morris.
Trumpbour Homestead Farm
Wynkoop House: was built by descendants of Dutch settlers around 1740
Saugerties lighthouse
Construction began on the original lighthouse in 1835 to guide ships away from shallows and into Esopus Creek. It was built on a pier made of chestnut cribbing filled with stone. The original source of light came from five whale-oil lamps with parabolic reflectors. It burned down in 1848. It was rebuilt by 1850, with four mineral-oil lamps, replacing the whale oil lamps.
In 1867, Congress appropriated $25,000 for the construction of a new lighthouse. It was built on a circular stone base, 60 feet (18 m) in diameter. The mineral-oil lamps from the original lighthouse were moved to the new building. Two years later in 1869, the newly built lighthouse became functional. In 1873, a lantern room made out of cast-iron was installed with an iron-plate walkway that wrapped around for cleaning the outside panels of glass.
In 1888, Saugerties harbor was dredged to improve access to the Esopus Creek. A small jetty was constructed from the fill linking the lighthouse to the mainland.
In 1909, a fog bell was installed in the lighthouse. In the late 1940s, telephone, electricity and steam heat were added. In 1954, the automation of light made light keepers unnecessary so the Coast Guard closed the lighthouse. The Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy was established in 1985 with the mission to restore and maintain the lighthouse. After extensive restoration, it was recommissioned by the Coast Guard as an aid to navigation. The foundation for the original lighthouse remains as a small islet adjacent to the existing lighthouse.
Notable people
Adam Adamowicz (1968–2012), video game concept artist, worked on Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at Bethesda Softworks.
The Band resided in a house known as "Big Pink" in West Saugerties while recording The Basement Tapes (with Bob Dylan) in 1967. Their debut album, Music From Big Pink was recorded in New York City and Los Angeles.
Leon Barritt (1852–1938), illustrator, cartoonist, journalist, and amateur astronomer
Dennis Bermudez, American mixed martial artist (native)
Roger Donlon, first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War, and the first Green Beret to receive the award. The auditorium in the Village Hall municipal building on Partition Street and the Town Hall on High Street in Saugerties were renamed in Roger Donlon's honor. He died January 25, 2024.
Darnell Edge (born 1997), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's Tonight Show since 2014, grew up in Saugerties from age two (born in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn).
Irving Fisher (1867–1947), economist
Harvey Fite (1903–1976), sculptor, painter, and teacher, who built Opus 40
Dorothy Frooks (1896–1997), author
Tom Hallion, Major League Baseball umpire (native, now resides in Kentucky)
Frank Hannigan (1931–2014), former executive director of the United States Golf Association (native and resident)