Castle
Island
, 1645,” depicts one of two farms located in the vicinity of the present day
Port
of
Albany
in
Albany
,
New York
. At that time there were at least 5 skipper-owned barks in the community.
Castle
Island was made up of a narrow strip of land about ¼
mile in length bounded on the east side by the
Hudson River
and on the west by the Normanskill Creek. Today with years of silting and fill the island has merged with the shore. The precise location of this site is not known so the painting orientation is intentionally vague and can be interpreted in a number of ways. We know that in general the farms of that time consisted of a house, barn and hay barrack. It is also known that the Dutch built very few dock structures and that offloading small craft was often accomplished by beaching vessels at high tide, moving cargos at low tide and sailing off with the returning high tide. The
Hudson River
at
Albany
has a tide differential of as much as 6 feet. Resource: L.F. Tantillo website
http://www.lftantillo.com/index.html
