Wassaic, New York

Wassaic, New York
Wassaic, New York
Hamlet
	Downtown Wassaic
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Dutchess
Town	Amenia
Elevation	139 m (456 ft)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	12592
Area code	845
GNIS feature ID	968879

Wassaic is a hamlet in the town of Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, in the United States. Located in southeast New York in the valley of the Ten Mile River, Wassaic is overshadowed on the east and west by mountain ranges.

The name of the hamlet comes from the Native American word Washaic; "land of difficult access" or "narrow valley". However, Europeans found ready access by following the Housatonic River valley up from Long Island Sound and through the mountains along the Ten Mile River.

One of the earliest recorded Europeans to settle in Wassaic was Richard Sackett. He petitioned the Colonial Government on March 11th 1703 for a license to purchase a tract of land in "Washiack". He was known as Captain Richad Sackett when appointed the first Dutchess County clerk in 1715.

By the 1770s Wassaic was processing Ancram pig iron into steel. This continued into the early 1800s providing steel for the Harris scythe works at Hammertown near Pine Plains in northern Dutchess.

In the Revolutionary War, General George Washington marched through Wassaic on the way to Connecticut.

Among Wassaic's main employers in the 19th century were Gridley Iron Works^[2] and the Harlem division of the New York and Harlem Railroad. In 1861 Gail Borden opened a factory for producing a condensed milk that would not need refrigeration. This was a welcome ration for the Union troops during the American Civil War. Long sold by Borden, it is today marketed as Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. Wassaic was also known for dairy, sheep and grain farming.

Wassaic is home to The Wassaic Project, a non-profit arts and music organization and the Wassaic Artist Residency. They provide summer programming as well as run an artist in residence program.

Wassaic train station is the northernmost station of Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line. The station, once located in the hamlet, has been moved a mile north of it. The station is also the southern access to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail for recreational hiking and biking.

References

^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Wassaic, New York
^ Ghee, Joyce (1998). Harlem Valley Pathways. Arcadia Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 978-0738589831.

External links

[gnis-1] U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Wassaic, New York

[2] Ghee, Joyce (1998). Harlem Valley Pathways. Arcadia Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 978-0738589831.

[1]

[2]

v t e Municipalities and communities of Dutchess County, New York, United States
County seat: Poughkeepsie
Cities	Beacon Poughkeepsie
Towns	Amenia Beekman Clinton Dover East Fishkill Fishkill Hyde Park LaGrange Milan North East Pawling Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Poughkeepsie Red Hook Rhinebeck Stanford Union Vale Wappinger Washington
Villages	Fishkill Millbrook Millerton Pawling Red Hook Rhinebeck Tivoli Wappingers Falls
CDPs	Amenia Arlington Bard College Barrytown Brinckerhoff Chelsea Cove Crown Heights Dover Plains Fairview Freedom Plains Haviland Hillside Lake Hopewell Junction Hyde Park MacDonnell Heights Marist College Merritt Park Myers Corner New Hackensack New Hamburg Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Red Oaks Mill Rhinecliff Salt Point Shorehaven Spackenkill Staatsburg Titusville Upper Red Hook Vassar College Wassaic Wingdale
Other hamlets	Annandale-on-Hudson Bangall Boston Corner‡ Castle Point Chelsea Glenham Holmes Linden Acres Lithgow Mabbettsville Oniontown Pleasant Plains Quaker Hill Rock City Shekomeko Silvernails Sylvan Lake Van Keurens Verbank
Former communities	New Guinea Community Site
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
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