Text from William Wade Text from William WadeCatskill takes its name from a large creek which flows through it, and empties into the Hudson at that place, one hundred and eleven miles from New York. It is on the west bank of the river, some thirty-three miles from Albany, and contains two thousand eight hundred inhabitants, four hundred dwelling-houses, a court-house, a jail, two banks, five churches, and several public houses. It is connected by a ferry with Oak Hill, a small settlement on the opposite side of the river.
Arthur Adams in his Guidebook of the Hudson River says that Oak Hill is 265 feet high and the site of a mansion by the same name. The manor hall is brick and built in 1763 by John Livingston and still in use today by the Livingston family.