In 1683, the County of Orange, named for William
of Orange (King William III, 1650-1702), was formed.
In 1799, the residents of the southern part of Orange
County petitioned the state and broke off to become
Rockland County. Orange County today is almost a
half million acres in size and is dotted with dairy
and produce farms, orchards, vineyards, horse ranches
and bucolic villages set amongst vast areas of woodlands,
rolling hills and glacier carved valleys. There are
three cities within the county's borders: Newburgh,
on the Hudson River; Port Jervis, on the Delaware
River; and Middletown, halfway between the other
two.
Orange County NY is the oldest county named Orange in the US. It
is 204 years older than Orange County California, 165 years older
than Orange County Texas, 162 years older than Orange County Florida,
132 years older than Orange County Indiana, 98 years older than Orange
County Vermont, 69 years older than Orange County North Carolina,
and 51 years older than Orange County Virginia.
Dating back to its formation under a colonial law of 1683, Orange
is one of the oldest of the counties in the State. It was reestablished
in 1788, and had its boundaries finally determined April 3, I80I.
In 1799, Rockland was set off, and five towns from Ulster added.
Newburgh and Goshen were jointly the shire villages. The county was
divided at this time into the towns of Blooming Grove, Chesekook,
Deer Park, Goshen, Minisink, Montgomery, New Windsor, Newburgh, Wallkill
and Warwick. The county has an area of nearly half a million square
acres; fronts on both the Hudson and Delaware, and is bounded on
the south and west by the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Sullivan and Ulster counties supply the west and north lines, the
Hudson the east.
Few sections of New York can equal the district in the variety and
picturesqueness of terrain. The most and best of the Hudson highlands,
with Storm King, Cro'Nest and Bear Mountain dominating the landscape,
is one of its natural beauties. The central part is one wide range
of rolling surface, broken by deep valleys; on the west are the Shawangunk
mountains. There are valleys in which the richest bottom lands have
been cultivated for more than two centuries, such as the Neversink.
Lakes are to be seen in profusion, some of the best roads making
them accessible to all. Even the swamp lands, such as those in the "Drowned
Lands," have both charm and utility, since drainage has been
used in their development. The geology is as interesting as the topography,
although minerals of commercial value are few.
Of the part played by the county in the history of the State and
Nation, it is well to recall that this section was intimately associated
with some of the crucial events of the Revolution. Not only was there
a continuous movement of troops through the region, for West Point
was on the county's frontier, but near the close, the last cantonment
of the war was in Orange, and Washington passed the greater part
of his time here. When the army went into winter headquarters at
Little Britain in 1782, with the end of the war in sight, there grew
the idea that a republic was an impossibility as a form of government,
and Washington was suggested as the king of a limited monarchy. He
was a resident of the county when such an offer was made to him by
Colonel Nicola. The stern rejection of the idea is well known, and
in his utterance he assured the establishment of a free government.
