On April 4, we hosted From The Vault — Revolution at Scale: New Netherlands, the Hudson, and Albany.

Our new exhibition, Terrains of Independence, explores the American Revolution through the lens of geographic scale rather than chronology or individual figures. This week’s From the Vault examines another colonial city—Albany—revealing what we can learn as we zoom in from empire to town.

Arnold Colom, Pas caarte van Nieu Nederlandt (1656)

This is a map designed to get you somewhere not to tell you what the place will be like when you arrive. This map reveals its purpose in the rhumb lines crisscrossing the map like a spider web. The lines would supported navigation when a compass was placed on the map. Notice the land is almost entirely empty of detail except for a few marked locations. 

The Dutch initially envisioned creating trading outposts rather than settlements in North America. Albany originated as an outpost, evolved into a settlement organized by a manor system controlled by individual patroons and eventually became the village of Beverwyck in 1652 about 100 years after this map was created.

Carte de la route des lacs depuis Montréal et St. Jean jusqu’à la Riviere d’Hudson : réduite d’après les meilleures cartes anglais e[s], pour servir aux Essais historiques et politiques sur la révolution de l’Amérique septentrionale (1781–1782)

The Hudson River runs like a spine down the length of New York State. The river provided a place for hunting, fishing, horticulture, and trade for indigenous people for thousands of years before Henry Hudson sailed up the waterway in 1609. 

This map comes from Michel René Hilliard D’Auberteuil’s 1782 Essais historiques et politiques sur les Anglo-Américains. The text also included portraits of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock. The inclusion of this map demonstrates that the Hudson River was as important in the Revolution as these patriot luminaries.

Robert Yates, Plan of the city of Albany about the year 1770 : from the original survey (1850)

Albany became a British colony in 1664. This map demonstrates how settlement was pressed along the Hudson River. Like other colonial cities, many of these streets still survive today. Time traveling 18th century Albanians would probably still be able to navigate from Orange Street to Beaver Street.

Christoph Heinrich Korn, Plan von den operationen der Koeniglichen Armee unter dem General Sir William Howe : in Neuyorck und Ost-Neujerseÿ gegen die Americaner unter comando des General Washington, vom 12. October bis 28. November. 1776, wobeÿ vorzüglich die affaire beÿ White Plains am 28. October vorgestellt wird (1777)

The Hudson, or North River, was a point of fixation for King George III. He firmly believed, based on his examination of maps like this one from a distance, the British army could seize control of the river and separate New England from the southern colonies. Just as the king was obsessed with this plan, the Patriots were similarly convinced it was possible. 

George Washington wrote to Major General Israel Putnam in December 1777: 

“The importance of the North [Hudson] River in the present contest and the necessity of defending it, are subjects which have been so frequently and so fully discussed, and are so well understood, that is is unnecessary to enlarge upon them. These facts at once appear, when it is considered that it runs through a whole state; that it is the only passage by which the enemy from New York, or any part of our coast, can ever hope to cooperate with an army from Canada; that the possession of its indispensably essential to preserve the communication between the eastern, middle, and southern states; and further, that upon its security, in a great measure, depend our chief supplies of flour for the subsistence of such forces, as we may have occasion for, in the course of the war, either in the eastern or northern departments, or in the country lying high up on the west side of it.”

Mary Ann Rocque, Plan of Fort Frederick at Albany (1763)

Fort Frederick and the site it was built on, as seen on this map, serve as a microcosm for the history of colonial Albany. 

Fort Frederick, located close to the modern day state capitol, looked out from the top of a steep hill to the smattering of buildings and river below. It was built on the same site as Fort Orange, a Dutch trading post. Demonstrating the differing intentions of British colonization, Fort Frederick was erected as a defense against indigenous people in their ongoing thirst to conquer more land. 

The fort protected British soldiers during the Seven Years’ War and in a reversal, the same structure was used to jail them during the American Revolution. In 1789, it was demolished and became St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Today, it is the site of New York State offices and the building is affectionately referred to as the “red roof inn”. There is a plaque and lobby display commemorating the history of the site.