The Van Kleeck House. men have been borne down to the awful spectator views its waves with awe and verge, and plunged to unknown depths fear, as they glide beneath his feet, and in the black gulf beneath. intimate the sudden and fatal conse The Welland canal, on the Canada side, gives a passage to lake-vessels from Erie to Ontario. A wire-bridge across Niagara river, below the falls, has been built, and is of sufficient strength to allow the passage of great weights. The vicinity of Niagara has been sig-quences of a single misstep. nalized by several important military events. The French fortress of Frontenac, at the mouth of the river, was captured by the British, after a siege; Fort Erie, at the head of the stream, was taken by the Americans, in the war of 1812; Buffalo was burnt by the enemy; Lewistown was taken, by an American force, by a bold coup-de-main, after crossing in boats, and scaling an almost inaccessible height on the shore. The battle of Lundy's Lane and Bridgewa-pleasantest villages in the valley of the ter was fought within a short distance of the cataract, and gave the Americans some of their greatest advantages in that unhappy contest. Grand island, a little above the cataract, is a good agricultural region, and is remarkable as the site of the proposed city of "Ararat," offered as a gathering-place of the Jews, and as a camp occupied by the invaders of Canada, in the late attempt at revolution. The passage to the islands, over the bridge, affords the visiter a gratifying though an agitating view of the rushing stream, just as it pours furiously by to its stupendous leap down the awful precipice. With astonishing skill and boldness, the slight fabric has been constructed, from rock to rock, across the wild and dangerous channel; and the Without naming numerous other places and objects of great interest, we return to the Hudson river. POUGHKEEPSIE.-This is one of the Hudson, but is so situated, at the distance of a mile from its eastern shore, as to be quite out of sight to travellers passing in steamboats. It is one of the most flourishing villages in this part of the state; and its settlement dates back to about the year 1700, when it was first inhabited by a few Dutch families. The soil is favorable to cultivation, while the stream which flows through the town makes a succession of falls, amounting, in all, to a descent of about a hundred and sixty feet, and affords water-power to various mills and manufactories. The place contains three printing-offices, two banks, and eleven churches, with twelve schools. Population, 1850, 11,080. The Van Kleerk House.—This was the first house ever erected in Poughkeepsie. It was the residence of Myndert Van Kleeck, one of the first settlers in the county; and the remarkable building, with the surrounding grounds, was in possession of his descendants in the year 1835, when it was taken down. It was built in 1702. It was for many years a public-house; and, in 1787, was occupied by the legislature as a statehouse. The session held there was the eleventh, and the governor of the state was then George Clinton. The Collegiate School is an institution for education, in a large building one hundred and fifteen feet by thirty-five, well proportioned, with a fine colonnade, and surrounded by spacious grounds, tastefully adorned. The building cost forty thousand dollars; and it commands a fine view of forty or fifty miles upon the surrounding country, with the ridge of the Catskill mountains, twenty miles distant toward the south. Poughkeepsie lies below, about a mile in front; and the elevation occupied by the edifice c‹mınands a charming view of the Hudson, enlivened by numerous steamboats and other vessels engaged in its varied and active commerce. Poughkeepsie is one of the largest manufactories of locomotives in the United States. The surprising success of Americans, in the improvement and construction of the most complex and powerful steam machines, and especially of this class, has excited admiration abroad, as well as at home; and multitudes of our locomotives are now performing the labors of some of the principal railroads of Europe, while our furnaces and workshops are resounding with the preparations for many more. Roman Catholic Church at ColdSpring.-A few miles below Poughkeepsie, and opposite West Point, on an elevation commanding a view of the river, is this neat little edifice, just above the landing. It is of plain, Grec an style, with four Doric columns. The material is brick, but the whole is covered with stucco, which gives it the appearance of white stone. The Stone-Church at Dover.—About twenty-four miles east from Poughkeepsie, near the village of Dover, is a remarkable cavern, which, from the peculiar, angular form of its roof, has received the name of the "stone-church.' This natural cavity appears to have been |
