Many North Country residents consider Northern New York a special place for a variety of reasons. One of its most significant features is our geography-- that it has been –and remains very much a place apart. Sometimes it does not seem that way; after all, we do get cable. But try to get out of here on any given winter morning, when you absolutely, positively need to be in Syracuse, Albany or elsewhere. It can be an adventure.
It has always been this way. For American colonists, the rugged Adirondacks proved an effective barrier to northward settlement. When settlement did start in earnest it was nearly two decades after the American Revolution in the early 1800’s. To put this in perspective, the Northwest Territories (Ohio and Michigan) had been opened to settlement with the Northwest Ordinance in the late 1780’s and the Lewis and Clark Expedition started a couple years before Canton, NY was founded in 1806.
When settlement did come, it was a westward migration from overcrowded Vermont, across Lake Champlain. It was primarily a youth movement, a new generation looking for tillable land, and in many cases the settlers were just passing through on their way west, or stayed just a few years. Even now, Northern New York is not a popular destination, but a region most people pass through on their way to Western New York or east to Vermont.
Today, Northern New York is on the margins of the larger society, backed up against the border with Canada to the north and isolated geographically by mountains to the south.
None of this takes away from the natural beauty and sense of community that is also a part of the North Country. At the same time, recognizing that our geography makes us “a place apart” needs to be considered in meeting not only our current circumstances, but in addressing our future economic and energy challenges as well.
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You forgot the french had been here since the 1600's ( not to mention the local native tribes) also there is a house on the Ritchie Rd. in Old Dekalb who's original foundation dates back to the early 1700's and not far from there, is a old village, only the basements remain that was rumored to be from the late 1600's. It is surrounded by Beaver creek on one side and a huge swamp on the other, so only a handful of people knows where it is, I do not know if the guy who owns the property now even knows. When I was a kid it was only known about by my grandfather and a couple trappers. I imagine there are a number of places like that around the North Country that were never written about and long forgotten. I think the white man has been around here alot longer than people say
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