Newburgh, NY news and local guide

At the time of European contact the Newburgh area was home to the Waoranek, a branch of the Lenape. Henry Hudson stopped there in 1609 on his voyage up the river, and his navigator, Robert Juet, is said to have called it "a pleasant place to build a town," though some historians think he meant the site of Cornwall-on-Hudson. Around 1683 Governor Thomas Dongan bought the land from the Waoranek, and in the spring of 1709 fifty-four Palatine refugees sponsored by Queen Anne made the first settlement, the Palatine Parish by Quassic. A ferry to Fishkill Landing, now Beacon, ran from the foot of First Street by 1743. In 1752 Cadwallader Colden surveyed the land and named it Newburgh, perhaps for one of the two Newburghs in his father's native Scotland, and shipyards, docks and warehouses grew along the waterfront.

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In April 1782 George Washington made his headquarters at the Hasbrouck family farmhouse, making Newburgh the Continental Army's headquarters until August 1783, his longest stay at any of his more than 160 headquarters. In 1782 he received the Newburgh letter from Lewis Nicola suggesting that he make himself king, which he firmly rejected, and Kings Highway, the street of his headquarters, was later renamed Liberty Street. In March 1783 an anonymous letter circulated among officers at the nearby New Windsor Cantonment, angry at not being paid by Congress, urging them to refuse to disband if peace came while they were unpaid, the beginning of what is known as the Newburgh Conspiracy, which Washington defused with his Newburgh Address. Sources Wikipedia: Newburgh, New York