death of Alexander Hamilton. Washington Irving was a guest at Lindenwald during one period of which we have record, and not improbably at other times. He is said to have made there the acquaintance of the school-teacher, Jesse Merwin, who is credited with be- ing the original of the character of Ichabod Crane in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Referring to this, Digitized by Microsoft® 5IO The Hudson River Mr. Harrold Van Santvoord, the author of Half Holidays, wrote, in 1898: After the Sketch-Book was published it was feared that the caricature of Ichabod Crane would occasion strained relations between the honest schoolmaster and his friend. It was in a spirit of playful humour, such as that in which Butler burlesqued his host, Sir Samuel Luke, that Irving caricatured Jesse Merwin, and the pedagogue seemed to enjoy the grotesque humour of the portraiture as much as the author himself. In proof of his affection he named one of his sons after his early friend, who is still living, a prosperous farmer in Illinois. The remains of Merwin repose in the village cemetery, not far from the burial plot of Martin Van Buren. A few years ago the plain slab with its simple inscription, at the head of the grave, was replaced by a neat monument, and residents of the village take pride in exhibiting to strangers the grave of Ichabod Crane. Coxsackie station, on the east side of the river, com- municates by ferry with the village of that name upon the opposite bank. The Iroquois Indians called that part of the shore by the descriptive name of Cut Banks (Kuxakee), because along there the current made a marked depression. The older portion of the town lies well back from the water, having been built along the line of the post-road. Schodack means a place of fire, or fire-plain. Before there was any settlement at this point the site was so called because there was the ancient place for the council fires of the Mohegans. Opposite Schodack are the considerable towns of New Baltimore andCoeymans. One of the most attractive of rural towns is Castle- ton, a place of pleasant houses arid shaded streets, of Digitized by Microsoft® Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters 511 thrifty gardens and trim orchards, with its main thor- oughfare running nearly parallel with the river, but a short distance away. Near by are those cliffs where the eternal fires of the redskins biirned, and where ruled chief Aepgin, who sold his land, "from Beerin Island to Smack's Island," to the representative of the Patroon Van Rensselaer. Beerin, Beam, or Bear Island, as it has been vari- ously called, is a little above Castleton and near the west bank of the stream. It is from various causes one of the best known of the many islands that diversify the river from Coxsackie north to the head of nav- igation. It enjoys the distinction of being the birth- place of the first white child born to any of the early settlers upon the Hudson, and was also the fortified place that was so great a bone of contention between the powers of the lower and those of the upper river. Irving, in one of his maddest moods, with a refresh- ing disregard for historical accuracy, told the story of Beam Island, " showing the rise of the great Van Rensselaer dynasty and the first seeds of the Helder- berg war." Regardless of the fact that the first Van Rensselaer is not known to have visited in person his lordly estate in the New World, the author of Knicker- bocker describes his coming and appearance. It was in the time of Walter the Doubter : Now so it happened that one day as that most dubious of governors and his burgermeesters were smoking and pondering over the affairs of .the pr-ovince, they were roused by the report Digitized by Microsoft® 512 The Hudson River of a cannon. Sallying forth, they beheld a strange vessel at anchor in the bay. It was unquestionably of Dutch build, broad-bottomed and high pooped, and bore the flag of their High Mightinesses at the mast-head. After a while a boat put off for land, and a stranger stepped on shore, a lofty, lordly kind of man, tall and dry, with a meagre face, furnished with huge moustaches. He was clad in Flemish doublet and hose, and an insufferably tall hat, with a cocktail feather. Such was the patroon Killian Van Renselaer, who had come out from Holland to found a colony or patroonship on a great tract of wild land, granted to him by their High Mighti- nesses, the Lords States General, in the upper regions of the Hudson. Killian Van Rensselaer was a nine days' wonder in New Am- sterdam; for he