It’s unfortunate that so many residents of this our Colonial City are so unfamiliar with its colorful history. Either they weren’t taught local history in schools or they just forgot. Newcomers seem to take more of an interest.

Settled in 1652 by Dutch colonists from Fort Orange (Albany), Kingston suffered its worst tragedy in October 1777 with the burning of the whole town by British invaders.

According to most accounts, a British force of about 1,500 regulars anchored off what is now the Esopus Lighthouse where officers may have received word of Burgoyne’s defeat at Saratoga a few days previous.

Their mission to relieve Burgoyne canceled by the heroism of Continental troops, among them Benedict Arnold, the “North River” force turned its attention to Kingston, the state capital about three miles inland.

According to contemporary reports, the redcoats marched up what is now Delaware Avenue to Broadway to the small village of Kingston. They found the town deserted and undefended. In only a few hours, about 300 buildings, including churches and civic buildings, were destroyed. Contemporary accounts tell us that Governor/General George Clinton, whose home at the corner of North Front and Wall streets in Kingston was one of those razed, got as far as Marbletown with a small contingent of troops before the British departed to continue marauding north on the river.

Flash forward some 249 years to a tour of Olde Hurley I took with about a dozen others last month called “Patriots and Spies.” Hosted by history writer/author A.J. Schenkman and Marbletown historical cultural director Erin Von Holdt-Gilbert, the focus was on the hanging of Daniel Taylor, a British spy in Hurley shortly before the Kingston burning.

More of a Q&A than a boring historical lecture, the tour hosts encouraged participants to ask questions. With that, someone asked where George Clinton was when Kingston was burned. Homeless residents returning to their smoldering town might have asked the same question. Kingston was, after all, the state capital, if only since April of that year, and should have been defended. Clinton’s response was to blame others for not supplying him with enough reinforcements to challenge the British. Militarily, it might have made sense: Taking on 1,500 British regulars with 400 colonials would have no doubt gone down in history as the “Kingston Massacre.”

The answer, much to my surprise, was, “He was here in Hurley the night before and his men were camped right over there,” in what is now an overgrown vacant lot on Hurley’s Main Street. One of the tour hosts went on to say that Clinton was so depressed by the loss of the state capital (and his home) that he remained in Hurley for another two months.

This latest tale of the burning of Kingston may not be gospel, but in several ways it makes sense. History is not written in stone. That George Clinton was re-elected governor four more times before becoming a two-term vice president of the United States (he died in office in 1812), indicates that if his constituents attached any blame to his failure to defend the state capital, they didn’t hold grudges.

Clinton lives in glory with his name on streets and boulevards all over the state. The state actually named the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge for the old general a few years ago, though few people call it that.

With all due respect to Von Holdt-Gilbert and Schenkman, two well-informed amateur historians, whether Gen. Clinton watched history unfold in Marbletown, 10 miles away, or in Hurley, literally in sight of Kingston from the Hurley Burial Grounds, matters little. What matters is that their tour sparked a conversation in a long-neglected subject.

Kingston schools might consider booking this act.

Condolences

Two of my favorite people passed away in recent months. Jimmy Gage of Saugerties, 91, died last month after a long life of contributing to his community. Jim Hanstein, 70, a career law enforcement officer, died in May after a freak accident at his retirement home in Massachusetts.

Hanstein, the beloved stepson of former county judge Frank Vogt, served in different ways. A Kingston native, he developed a passion for law enforcement from Vogt which took him from the county sheriff’s department as a young man, to a career with the FBI and then back to Ulster as warden at the county jail.

Hanstein died after being struck by a falling tree limb at his home.

Gage was a life-long bachelor which gave him plenty of time for his numerous civic activities. Hanstein leaves a wife and two daughters.

Both will be fondly remembered.