Van Kleeck, one of the first settlers in the county; and the remarkable building, with the surrounding grounds, was in possession of his descendants in the year 1835, when it was taken down. It was built in 1702. It was for many years a public-house; and, in 1787, was occupied by the legislature as a statehouse. The session held there was the eleventh, and the governor of the state was then George Clinton. The Collegiate School is an institution for education, in a large building one hundred and fifteen feet by thirty-five, well proportioned, with a fine colonnade, and surrounded by spacious grounds, tastefully adorned. The building cost forty thousand dollars; and it commands a fine view of forty or fifty miles upon the surrounding country, with the ridge of the Catskill mountains, twenty miles distant toward the south. Poughkeepsie lies below, about a mile in front; and the elevation occupied by the edifice commands a charming view of the Hudson, enlivened by numerous steamboats and other vessels engaged in its varied and active commerce. Poughkeepsie is one of the largest manufactories of locomotives in the United States. The surprising success of Americans, in the improvement and construction of the most complex and powerful steam machines, and especially of this class, has excited admiration abroad, as well as at home; and multitudes of our locomotives are now performing the labors of some of the prinripal railroads of Europe, while our furnaces and workshops are resounding with the preparations for many more. Roman Catholic Church at ColdSpring.-A few miles below Poughkeepsie, and opposite West Point, on an elevation commanding a view of the river, is this neat little edifice, just above the landing. It is of plain, Grecian style, with four Doric columns. The material is brick, but the whole is covered with stucco, which gives it the appearance of white stone. The Stone-Church at Dover.-About twenty-four miles east from Poughkeepsie, near the village of Dover, is a remarkable cavern, which, from the peculiar, angular form of its roof, has received the name of the "stone-church." This natural cavity appears to have been slowly formed by the flowing of a stream, which, coming down the mountain in which the cavern is found, enters at a narrow fissure in the roof, and, descending from crag to crag, presents a beautiful succession of cascades, till it reaches the level of the floor, where it spreads out in a quiet little pond. The whole cavern is large, being divided into two compartments by an immense rock which has fallen from above. The inner chamber is about seventy feet in length, while the Gothic arch above is twenty feet in width, and the top about two hundred feet high. "The scene," remarks a visiter, "is well fitted to inspire devotional feelings : the heart acknowledges the power of the Creator, and rises in admiration of his works." St. Paul's Church, Troy. small but constant streams flowing down the eminence on which the spectator is supposed to stand; and such is the variety found among the factories, mills, &c., in this immediate vicinity, that we can not pretend to give a full account of them. Population, 1850, 29,000. TROY is one of the numerous towns in this state which display striking evidence of rapid, substantial, and permanent improvement, which has been so extensively occasioned by the enlightened internal policy of the government, and accomplished by the intelligence and industry of the people. A view from Mount Ida, an eminence rising abruptly from its eastern border, embraces a scene of life and activity seldom sur- PLATTSBURGH.-This town, the capipassed. A young and flourishing city tal of Clinton county, one hundred and below, with streets crowded with busy twelve miles north of Whitehall, and people, the noble Hudson sweeping ma- one hundred and sixty-four miles from jestically by, crossed by a fine pier, Albany, enjoys an advantageous and which serves the double purpose of a pleasant situation, on the western side bridge and a viaduct to the railroad- of Lake Champlain. The township is the combined trunk of the Champlain supplied with many fine mill-seats, by and Erie canal, floating the crowded the Saranac and Salmon rivers, and sevboats from the north and the west-several other small streams; and the easteral of the splendid New York steam-ern part of it is generally level, although boats, which penetrate to this highest accessible point: all these are embraced within the immediate range of the eye, with the various signs of bustle to which they give rise. The United States arsenal, at Watervliet, stands opposite; while nearer by, the environs of Troy are beautified by the mansions and gardens of some of the wealthy citizens, and the rumbling of machinery, and the smoking of chimneys, betray the vicinity of some of the largest and best manufactories in the country. Some of these are supplied with moving-power by the the western is hilly. The village stands on the lake-shore, at the mouth of the Saranac. In speaking of Lake Champlain, on a preceding page, we alluded to the important naval victory achieved on the Cumberland bay, opposite this place, in the last war with Great Britain, in 1814. Plattsburgh was twice taken by their troops, but the country below was finally delivered from danger by the event just mentioned. The victorious American squadron, under Commodore McDonough, had 820 men, and 86 guns, and the British 1,050 men, and 96 guns. | hours and twenty minutes; and we The following recollections of the battle knew the work of death was going on are from the pen of a friend: at every new report. Such a sabbath "The Battle of Plattsburgh. It was may this land never see again! It was a bright sabbath in September, one of not a day of rest,' or of worship, but those rich, soft, and mellow days that one to be remembered with feelings of. begin to wear the sober tints of autumn, horror and dread. A few gathered in that my childish heart was made sad by the morning, aged men, women, and the scenes and the sounds of war. Our children, in a lonely group, for worship; home was on the eastern border of the but, as the excitement increased, every lake, just across from Plattsburgh; and, man fled from the village, and, in short, for many long months, the event of bat- almost every one had climbed to some tle had been the theme of conversation height on the hills, or in the steeple of by the fireside, among men as they met the church, to read, in the progress of in their daily haunts, and friends by events, our consequent destiny. When the wayside. Preparations were going the British ships struck their colors, and forward for defence; and among men victory was the cry, there was great rethere was enlisting, draughting, &c., and joicing, in the sure and delightful feelall things wore the aspect of some im- ing of safety, far more than in that of pending evil, which threw a kind of success. gloom over the feelings, in which all sympathized. We lived within less than a day's march of the enemy's ground, and consequently were often alarmed with conjectures and painful suspense, in regard to their movements. Often were we surprised with rumors of the near approach of the British-that they had crossed the lines-were marching down upon us, &c., which kept the inhabitants in a very uneasy and unsettled condition. But so many false alarms had a tendency, at length, to lull them into a state of indifference, or to allay their apprehensions so much, that people had resumed their avocations in comparative quiet. "But at last the event burst upon us, with all the dreaded realities of bloodshed and war! The scene was sufficiently distant to prevent immediate danger, yet all knew that their future security hung on the result, and every eye was strained, and every heart beat with deep anxiety, for the sequel. "It was a peaceful sabbath morning; the sun had risen with its accustomed splendor, and nature wore the stillness peculiar to the sacred day. But alas! it was a strange sabbath with man. The booming so inds of guns came across the water, such quick and rapid succession, that they shook the earth, and sound like heavy and deep-toned thunder. The engagement lasted two "Men and boys had nearly all crossed over the lake to witness the scene, from the hills about the village, and were spectators of the bloody affray. One of my brothers went aboard one of the vanquished ships, soon after the action ceased. The deck was strewed with the dead and dying, weltering in gore. The gallant Downie, who had commanded the British forces, lay on a large iron chest, just as he was slain. Victory was the theme and the cry of the conquerors; but grief and dismay were the feelings of the vanquished. "The officers who fell in these encounters, both by land and water, were buried side by side in the graveyard at Plattsburgh. Monuments have been erected to all. Friends and foes sleep as quietly as if they had never had collision here on earth. Commodore Downie, though slain in the invasion of our country, as the officer of the highest rank, is placed in the centre; and a tablet, erected to his memory, bears the following inscription : "Sacred to the memory of George Downie, Esq., a post-captain in the British navy, who gloriously fell on board his B. M. ship Confiance, while leading the vessels under his command to the attack of the American flotilla, at anchor in Cumberland bay, off Plattsburgh, on the 11th of September, 1814.-To mark the spot where the remains of a gallant |