Hi NY Group! I'm looking for any resource sets or primary sources about New York State forests and early settlers of NYS, who settled near, in or around these forests. Looking to create a set of units around a local teacher's needs and questions:
Why did the 1st New Yorkers settle along the Hudson River? How did living in forests meet their needs? What kinds of animals could they hunt/crops could they grow? 3 - 5 Social Studies/History
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Edited
Some LOC resources to consider:
Three rivers, the James, the Potomac, the Hudson: a retrospect of peace and war.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbcb.02665/?st=gallery (over 294 images, and critical essays that include the Hudson River)
The 1888 publication: The Hudson River by pen and pencil. Illustrated with 60 engravings on wood.
https://www.loc.gov/item/ltf91000057/
Victory at the Battle of Saratoga (such a great story and definitely an event in one of NYS's forests.
Colonial history of the State of New York: History and Settlements of the Towns Along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers (with the exception of Albany): 1630-1684
https://archive.org/details/documentsrelatin00alba/page/n7
(all 672 pages -- amazing resource. Has to have something in there for you!)
NYS history Hudson River New Amsterdam Mohawk River 1630-1684
Hi Julie,
Sorry to be late to answer this, but one thing I am guessing is that it wasn't so much the forests as it was the waterways that encouraged settlement in New York. The beaver trade was the big draw for the British, Dutch and French and all the earliest forts and settlements were along the rivers and lakes where the beavers could be found. There are plenty of sources at Canadian Online that will affirm this - here is one example: http://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.04219/25?r=0&s=3
The forests were, in fact, often a source of annoyance for many settlers who came to farm and had the task of clearing densely forested land for their crops and animals! Two monographs on settlement of Erie and Niagara Counties will show you evidence of this (they are both on NY Heritage and owned by Niagara University): https://nyheritage.org/collections/19th-century-monographs-history-western-new-york
Hope this helps!
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