Fort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland. Back in 1624, a group of Walloon settlers built it about two miles north of Fort Nassau because the old spot kept flooding. It wasn't exactly a sprawling masterpiece; a Jesuit priest later described it as a wretched little fort made of stakes with a few cannons.
Things got spicy when a guy named Kiliaen van Rensselaer claimed the land around the fort as his personal estate. This sparked a massive jurisdictional feud between his interests and the Dutch West India Company. The Governor, Pieter Stuyvesant, was so worried about losing control of the lucrative fur trade that he literally ordered the destruction of buildings within cannon shot of the fort. In response, the patroon's agent tried to push his settlers even closer, down to pistol shot distance.
To settle the score, Stuyvesant eventually carved out a tiny independent municipality centered on the fort. This move paved the way for the future city of Albany. He even laid out the oldest streets, State Street and Broadway, moving the settlement slightly further away from the fort's cannons for safety.
Today, the site is recognized as a significant archaeological site in the heart of Albany.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Friendly Jane
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