Fort Crailo and the Van Rensselaers: The Dutch Colonial Origins of Greenbush & the City of Rensselaer

Illustrated history of the 1663 Fort Crailo built across the Hudson River from Fort Orange (today's Albany, New York) as protection and refuge for the early Dutch settlers living on the east side of the river. Performing the dual function of farmhouse and fort surrounded by a tall wooden palisade, Crailo survived King Philip s War, the French and Indian wars, and the Revolution. For over a century, armies camped on its grounds as they made their way to and from the battles, and it was at Crailo that a British Army surgeon penned the lyrics to Yankee Doodle. When peace finally came, generations of Van Rensselaers enlarged the little fort into a mansion overlooking their 1,500-acre farm that sprawled along the east bank, sowing the seeds for the future Village of Greenbush and the City of Rensselaer. Derelict and shuttered by the late 1800s, Crailo State Historic Site today a museum of Dutch colonial life in New York stands as a rare victory of historic preservation.