14 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Climate 



The climate of this district is more severe than at New York City. 

 Although only 50 miles inland it is not greatly affected by the influ- 

 ence of the sea. The winters are cold, temperatures of 30 degrees 

 below zero having been recorded, whereas such a temperature has 

 never been known at New York City. A difference of about 20 

 degrees between these two places is common. It is not, however, 

 quite so cold on the average as the Catskills 50 miles farther to the 

 northwest and not nearly so cold as the Adirondacks 150 miles 

 farther north. In the summer, although the temperature is as high 

 as on the coast, excessively humid atmosphere is seldom felt. 



Rainfall amounts to approximately 48 inches a year and is heaviest 

 in the spring and early summer. The average yearly rainfall is well 

 enough distributed through the summer so that vegetation is kept 

 green and farms seldom suffer seriously from lack of moisture. 



Discovery and Colonial History 

 In 1609 Henry Hudson, an explorer of English birth sailing under 

 the Dutch flag, entered the Hudson river and proceeded as far as 

 Albany. The lower Hudson on the present site of New York City 

 was the second ]:»ennanenlly occupied spot within the borders of 

 the United States. In 1613 Adrian Block built rude luits in which 

 to spend the winter there. Hendrick Christiansen established a fort 

 at Albany in 161 4 and inaugurated commerce on the Hudson river, 

 the three-hundredth year of which was celebrated 1914. 



Settlement pushed up the river slowly because of difficulty and 

 dangers but at least two attempts to establish settlements beyond 

 the Highlands were made before 1655. In that year a strong out- 

 post was permanently established at Kingston. From that time on 

 the territory of the Highlands was more or less fully within the 

 control of the white man, although the natural ruggedness of the 

 country and its resistance to cultivation has kept parts of it even 

 to this day almost as wild as it must have been at the time of its 

 discovery. 



Revolutionary History 

 The barrier of mountains known as the Hudson Highlands, tra- 

 versed by the narrow gorge of the Hudson river for some 12 miles 

 between Peekskil'l and Cornwall, separates the Westchester county 

 area from the fertile farmland of Orange and Dutchess counties. 

 This wild and inaccessible belt with its woods and precipitous cliffs 



