Peebles (Peobles) Island

Peebles Island, once known as Haver Island, sits where the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers meet near Waterford, New York. Its 132 acres are mostly woods, shrubs and open land, with ridges, shallow swamps and steep banks that made it a natural fortress. A 1630 patent map places the Mohican Indians' Moeneminnes Castle here, and in 1750 a Swedish traveler described Indians fishing for sturgeon nearby. The island's most important chapter came in August 1777, when Schuyler's northern army fortified it to defend Albany, with works laid out by the Polish engineer Thaddeus Kosciuszko. Traces of those breastworks remain on the northern edge and have never been restored or disturbed. The island was farmed until 1910, when the Cluett-Peabody firm bought it and built a shirt bleachery on the northeast corner, which operated until 1972. That construction may have destroyed some archeological remains, so the surviving earthworks and undisturbed areas are considered worth protecting.