These churches are on diagonal corners of Rt 52 and Rt 9. (Southeast
and Northwest) Currently a VERY busy intersection. Rt
9 is a divided 6 lane highway at this point, with a Walmart, hotels and
fast foods for the mile south of Rt52 to I-84. Fishkill dates back
to the pre-revolutionary days. There was a major revolutionary war
depot at the current intersection of I-84 - Rt 9 (Albany Post Road).
George Washington spent the night in Fishkill, on his way back from Hartford,
prior to being informed that Benedict Arnold had given the plans of West
Point to the British. The Provincial Congress convened briefly
at Trinity Episcopal Church in 1776 after fleeing Whiteplains.
The building proved too small, so the Congress moved to nearby Dutch Reformed
Church from 9/1776 - 2/1777. John Jay and Robert Livingston
were delegates at this time. The Trinity Church served as a hospital
for the overflow from the nearby camps, and the Dutch Reformed church as
a hospital.. (One story describing the rationale for the congress
moving from Trinity Church due to poor heating and pigeons roosting in
the rafters. The pigeons were evidently ruining the documents!).
Trinity Episcopal Church
This is the county's oldest church building still in regular use, built
in 1768. The interior is beautiful, complete with the old fashioned
pews with doors. 914-896-9884. Acid rain and the nearby
Rt 9 have effected the condition of the stones. The most famous
stones are of a visiting family that died of eating poisonous mushrooms.
Many of the stones are no gone. Most of the remaining stones are
to the right of the building (north) in the first picture below.
Rt 9 is running Left-Right (South-North) 100 ft behind the building.
This picture is taken on Rt52. The Albany Post Road would have originally
run in front of the building.
First Dutch Reformed Church
Main Street (Rt 52) and Rt 9. 914-896-9836. This
is the more obvious, and picturesque of the two churches in "downtown"
Fishkill. It was built in 1731, but had to be rebuilt in 1786 due
to it's active war time use as the temporary seat of NY government and
as a military prison. This was the scene of the "escape" of
Enoch Crosby, patriot spy, who had helped capture a group of Loyalists.
The church yard is a who's who of early Southern Dutchess County names;
Verplank, Brinkerhof, Van Wyck
