About

Our History

In the year of 1793, a youth of eighteen wended his way up the Hudson from New York to Albany and proceeded to the locality now covered by the Townships of Princetown and Duanesburg. This youth, Alexander McLeod, "Animated by the spirit of liberty and independence" was led to remove himself from his native Ireland to make his home among the Scottish Highlanders of these townships. Here he found a warm welcome among these rugged folk who had carved their homes and farms from the wilderness. Much virgin timber still covered the rolling hillsides and the roads were but wagon trails through the woods joining one farm to the next. 

Thus the foundation was laid for the formation of the Duanesburg Reformed Presbyterian Church, which would become officially organized in 1795. It is one of the oldest churches in America to continue in existence to the present day. 

These early settlers possessed admirable characters. It is recorded that young McLeod found these people to be, "Honest and unsophisticated farmers"... Who were, "Men of genuine piety, of primitive simplicity and of strong common sense. They were warm-hearted, ardent and of rigid moral integrity."