The History of New Scotland
The earliest European settlement of the area now known as New Scotland dates to the early 17th century. In 1629, a patroonship was granted to Killian VanRensselaer by the Dutch West India Company. The patroonship would prove to be a strong and lasting economic and political influence in the area until the mid-19th century, until its demise as a result of the Helderberg War.
By the 18th century, settlers from Holland, England, Scotland, and elsewhere began to populate the choicest land for farmsteads. Indeed, New Scotland derives its name from the large population of Scottish settlers who settled in the area in the quarter-century immediately preceding the American Revolution. One of the primary drivers of that Scottish emigration was the sudden failure of the London banking house of Neale, James, Fordyce and Downe—a socioeconomic catastrophe known as “Black Monday” (June 12, 1772)—which brought financial disaster to thousands of Scottish citizens.
The Town’s population grew significantly after the American Revolution. Various church congregations (Dutch Reformed, Presbyterian, Mthodist, and others) were erected in the growing hamlets, and they served as the centers of both religious and social life. By the early 19th century, schools were established in each of the hamlets, resulting in the development of vibrant communities in what would become—by act of the New York State Legislature on April 25, 1832—the Town of New Scotland.
The Town’s early economy was based principally on agriculture, supporting families, livestock, and the breweries in the nearby city of Albany. Hops, apples, wheat, plums, rye, melons, corn, and other crops were grown on the fields of family farms—some of which yet dot the Town’s landscape at the base of the Helderberg Escarpment and extending on up the mountain.
The establishment of the railroad fundamentally changed the face and culture of New Scotland, connecting markets with new faraway markets and introducing mercantile and industrial activity to New Scotland. A second seismic cultural shift accelerated in the 1960s, when suburban sprawl from the city of Albany once again changed the face of New Scotland.
The Town of New Scotland is located in the center of Albany County; it borders three of the four “Hilltowns” to the west, Guilderland to its north, Bethlehem to its east, and Coeymans to the south.
New Scotland TODAY
Today, the Town of New Scotland is known as “the jewel of Albany County.” Home to nearly 10,000 residents, the Town is composed of 58 square miles and consists of six hamlets (Clarksville, Feura Bush, New Salem, New Scotland, Onesquethaw (Tarrytown), and Unionville) and a single incorporated village (Voorheesville).
Following a political mass mobilization in the mid-2000s—prompted by a developer’s failed effort to erect a massive commercial center in the Town’s eastern flank—the Town Board implemented a comprehensive plan to ensure the agrarian, rural character of this special little corner of the planet.