|
History first recorded that the hills
and valleys of early Dover were areas of open forests, thick swamps and
sparkling waters, inhabited by several groups of Indians. Those Native
Americans were the Schaghticoke and remnants of the Pequots who lived in
the rugged hills and narrow valley of the Ten Mile River. Richard
Sackett, “of Dover,” was granted a patent for land in 1704. He became
the earliest settler in eastern Dutchess County, but his claim fell to
the Patents of Henry Beekman, (1697 and 1703). Settlement was sparse
until 1731, when the Equivalent Lands agreement with nearby Connecticut
added almost two miles along the New York border. The patent became
known as the Oblong; its meandering river, the Ten Mile, also became
known as Oblong River. Shortly thereafter, Martin Preston became the
first white man to settle on East Mountain, while Quakers purchased the
Oblong Lots. Farming was the primary occupation and iron ore was mined
as early as the 1750s. Dover was located on a direct route to New York
City; rest stops like the Old Drover’s Inn prospered as the roads
swarmed with cattle and sheep, herded by drovers on their way to market.
Area growth continued at a rapid pace up to the American Revolution,
when local ore was used to manufacture weapons and munitions for the
revolutionary arsenal. During the Revolution, Washington’s Army marched
beside the Ten Mile River and camped west of town, while the Morehouse
Tavern hosted General George Washington, his officers and other
dignitaries of the war, including the French military leader Rochambeau,
and his staff. After the Revolution, new civil divisions in 1788,
created Pawing Township from the Beekman Patent; Dover was then a part
of Pawling. On February 20, 1807, a group of Dover men gathered at
Wing’s Tavern and officially separated 26,669 acres from Pawling and
named it Dover. Farming and iron continued to play major roles in the
economy. As the town |
