Town of Rensselaerville, NY Website
Town of Rensselaerville, NY Website
Rensselaerville township is composed of the hamlets of Rensselaerville, Medusa, Preston Hollow, Potter Hollow, Cooksburg and Smith's Corners in the southwest corner of Albany County, New York. Owned from 1629 by the Dutch patroons Van Rensselaer and part of the huge Manor of Rensselaerwyck, the area was so inaccessible that it was not settled until the late 1700's.Shortly after the Revolutionary War, Stephen Van Rensselaer III advertised "free" tracts of land of 160 acres to anyone who would develop the land. After seven years, farmers had to pay an annual rent of four fat fowls, 18 bushels of wheat and a day's service. The rents were perpetual and binding on subsequent purchasers of the land and the patroon reserved mineral and water rights. These "incomplete sales" led to the Anti-Rent Rebellion 1839-1889, which influenced the wording of the Federal Homestead Act of 1862 and opened up the west to settlement.Many war veterans took advantage of Van Rensselaer's offer, coming mostly from Massachusetts, Connecticut and eastern Long Island by boat up the Hudson River.
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