Kingston Stockade District

Uptown Kingston's Stockade District preserves the footprint of a Dutch village fortified in 1658 under Peter Stuyvesant, after Indian raids devastated nearby settlements. The stockade's boundary streets, Green, Main, Clinton Avenue and North Front, remain in place, and the bluff that protected the settlement is still largely intact. In 1777 the village became New York's first state capital, hosting the convention that adopted the first state constitution; the British burned it that October, and it was rebuilt on its original plan. Today the eight-block area holds eight late 17th-century stone houses and about a dozen more from the 18th and early 19th centuries, alongside Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne buildings. Notable examples include the 1852 Old Dutch Church by Minard LaFever, the 1818 county courthouse, the 1857 Firemen's Hall and the Clermont Building on Wall Street. The district remains the city's commercial center and a focus of county government.