Program

NYS Historic

Subject

People, Site

Location

31 Rich Lake Ln, Newcomb, NY 12852, USA

Lat/Long

43.970895, -74.198338

Grant Recipient

Town of Newcomb

Revolutionary War veteran and Duchess County judge Nathaniel Pendleton purchased over 5,000 acres of Adirondack wilderness in 1808 and later established a settlement named Pendleton. He cleared the land and built a saw mill and grist mill near Rich Lake. In the years that followed Pendleton tried to sell the land to farmers as indicated by an advertisement published in the January 26, 1814 edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal:

Farms for sale by the subscriber in various parts of this state, some cultivated and improved, and others un-improved, at different prices from two to fifteen dollars per acre. Great encouragement will be given to settlers on some lands of his in Essex County- there is a good grist mill and saw mill, blacksmith’s shop, and every other convenience for a new settlement.

While Pendleton’s mills are gone and his settlement no longer exists, the impact that he had on the development of the area is not forgotten.