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Revolutionary War Site Threatened by Developer

By Jeffery Battersby ⋅ February 3, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

by Michael Boyajian

Few people realize that a major historic site exists in Fishkill. A location sacred to the American Revolution yet threatened by commercial development. A place whose hallowed ground was walked by the very likes of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette and General Israel Putnam.

The site is the Fishkill Supply Depot and Encampment and it once stood along what is now Rt. 9 in Fishkill. University of Massachusetts archeologist Tim Binzen says that, “the Fishkill Depot was located at a critical junction between New England and the rest of the colonies.” The British hoped to capture this and other Hudson Valley sites thereby dividing the colonies and breaking the rebellion. The plan failed thanks to the Depot and key battles it supplied along the Hudson. Binzen states that, “because Washington wrote that he could not have beaten the British without the Depot, the site is as important as Valley Forge or Morristown.”

Today the Depot site is a mix of developed and undeveloped land surrounding the Van Wyck Homestead, which served as General Putnam’s headquarters. Fishkill Historical Society trustee Mara Farrell says that, “the Depot operated between 1776 and 1783 as the principal supply base in the north with troop levels around 2,400, all of whom endured bitter winters and periods of starvation.” It is said that more soldiers died at the Depot than at Valley Forge. Certainly such a historically significant site is worthy of preservation

Binzen goes on to say that, “barracks for troops and POWs as well as a hospital were part of the Depot complex as was a yet to be discovered soldiers’ burying ground.” The regional historic preservation officer for New York State, Rich Goring, confirms the existence of the “barracks, prison, hospital and undiscovered burial site”. These statements match the findings of the 1971 archeological report of Temple University’s Dr. James C. Gifford and the 1970 New York State historic report of Stefan Bielinski and Horace Willcox.

The Depot is now threatened by Crossroads Development, which seeks to raze the wooded land to construct a strip mall and theme restaurant. Many people cannot fathom the possibility of such an occurrence. According to Mara Farrell the site is on both the “national and state registers of historic places.”

Binzen states that, “important archeological evidence can still survive and there is the need for a new archeological survey.” There are now new archeological technologies available that did not exist at the time of the last survey in the 1970s that could uncover a bounty of historic artifacts.

Binzen also says there is a, “new regulatory process in New York State known as the State Environmental Quality Review Act or SEQRA which protects the state’s archeological, historic, environmental or aesthetic attributes.” A law that seems tailor-made for the Depot. SEQRA provides for an in depth methodic survey of threatened places whereas in the 1970s quick surveys were done as the bulldozers waited nearby.

A peaceful accord with Crossroads is unlikely considering that at a recent meeting with local historians the developer said that their “property rights [were] paramount.”.

There is much opposition to the project. Mara Farrell and fellow Fishkill Historical Society trustee Marty Byster created a web site, www.fishkill-historical-focus.org, where they collected the signatures of over 300 people opposed to the developer that they will present to the Town of Fishkill so as to implement a SEQRA review.

The director of municipal development for the Town of Fishkill, Chris Colsey, noted that “Crossroads came before the town in January to amend its plan and that this was just step two in a ten step process.” He also stated that “the Town is always interested in setting aside sites of environmental, archeological or historic significance,” and that, “part of the planning process is consideration of a SEQRA review.”

The power of SEQRA should not be underestimated considering that the Department of Environmental Conservation reports on their web site that local authorities can face legal ramifications for non-compliance.

Victoria Polidaro, a law student at PACE University Law School, is working on a comprehensive legal paper on the Depot development plan. She reports that, “Fishkill has a history of issuing decisions that allows developers to go through SEQRA.” She goes onto to say that “Fishkill is a signatory to the Hudson River Valley Greenway Compact mandating preservation of historic resources like the Depot, a site listed on both the national and state registers of historic places.”

Jeff Anzevino, a planner for 15 years at Scenic Hudson, says that the “piecemeal development of the Depot property is a classic example of segmentation which is illegal under SEQRA.” There are concerns about traffic, the historic nature of the site and its importance as a wildlife habitat. Anzevino points out that, “under SEQRA environmental concerns balance with economic benefits requiring that a thorough archeological survey be conducted at what is our version of Valley Forge.”

Scenic Hudson has preserved a great deal of the Hudson Valley since coming into its own with its victory at the classic environmental battle at Storm King Mountain. Anzevino proclaims, “In a perfect world we can buy that land because the Town of Fishkill understands the importance of the Depot and takes a hard look at the Crossroads plan for this last vestige of the American Revolution.”

Preserving what remains of the Depot would create a historic park allowing for an infusion of what Anzevino calls “heritage tourism” in southern Dutchess County. It would also increase visitors to other historic sites in the area like the Madam Brett House, Mt. Gulian, and the Van Wyck Homestead. The result would be a historic corridor stretching from the great estates of northern Dutchess down through Poughkeepsie into Fishkill and Beacon. New York State’s Rich Goring says, “the state wants to connect the dots of these historic sites and the Depot is unique because all the other dots would not exist without it.”
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