DUTCHESS COUNTY, NY.

Located in the heart of the Hudson Valley, 75 miles north of New York City and 75 miles south of Albany, NYS capitol. Western boundary includes 30 miles of Hudson River shoreline. The State of Connecticut forms the eastern border.

POPULATION: 270,000
AREA: 800 square miles

CLIMATE: Dutchess County climate is moderate compared to other locations in the northeastern United States. Average temperatures range from a low of 18 in January to high of 84 in July.

• Dutchess County was named for Maria Beatrice D'Este, the Dutchess of York, later ascended the British throne as Queen Mary.

• Formed in 1683 as one of the original counties in New York.

• Home of first presidential museum and library, Franklin D. Roosevelt Home in Hyde Park.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt Home is called "Springwood" and is located in Town of Hyde Park.

• What did Eleanor Roosevelt serve the young Queen Elizabeth II on her first visit to Eleanor’s retreat, Val-Kill? "Good, plain American food," - picnic hot dogs!

• Hyde Park was named for Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, eccentric provincial governor of New York.

• History in the making at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home, Museum and Library, when on October 23, 1995, President Clinton and Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, held a world summit.

• Culinary Institute of America is the former St. Andrew-on-Hudson Jesuit Seminary in Hyde Park. CIA purchased the seminary in 1972 and moved the school there from New Haven, CT. Every 3 weeks a new class begins training for Bachelor and Associates degrees in occupational studies. 4 restaurants and a bakery are open to the public.

• Montgomery Place is home which memorializes Richard Montgomery, hero in Battle of Quebec in 1775.

• Beekman Arms is the oldest continuously operating inn in the U.S. The "Beek" as it is locally known was used as headquarters by General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War.

• Discrete "people watching" is a great pastime in Dutchess County. Some of the serious "finds" include, Richard Gere, Mary Tyler Moore, James Earl Jones, Kevin Bacon, Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman, Billy Joel, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Bruce Willis, plus many soap opera stars.

• Dutchess County boasts the oldest public golf course in the U.S. The Dutcher Golf Course in Pawling. This course dates back to 1890, the time when home sick Scots brought the game of gold State side.

• What's in a name? Fishkill got its name from the Dutch "kill" meaning creek, which had lots of fish. Salt Point, NY got its name when cattle were herded from upstate New York and Vermont to board trains in Poughkeepsie. Since cattle were sold by the "hoof weight," the herd was treated to salt licks to retain water weight. Drovers were New England cowboys of some dubious repute. It seem they spent more time drinking ale and playing games of chance that they spent in getting their cattle to market. The faithfully restored and preserved Old Drovers Inn in Dover Plains, where these scalawags often spent considerable time, preserves their memory.

• The VanWyck Homestead Museum was used for court-martials during the Revolutionary War, including the trial of Enoch Crosby, immortalized in James Fenimore Cooper's novel, The Spy.

• Troutbeck, a contemporary conference center, inn, and restaurant in Amenia, was the location of many early meetings that lead to the founding of the NAACP.

• View the first telegraphs at the Young - Morse Estate. Samuel B. Morse was also one of the great Hudson Valley painters.

• Mills Mansion, Home of Ogden & Ruth Livingston is one of the few estates whose river view is uninterrupted by the railroad tracks. 65-room mansion is furnished in the styles of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI.

• Vanderbilt Mansion, home of Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt, built between 1896 and 1898, is an excellent example of the Gilded Age.

• The Hudson River is 306 miles long beginning at the Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains. The river water, which follows the county coast, is fresh water until it reaches Bear Mountain Park where it turns into salt water. At its narrowest the river is 1/2 mile wide and at its widest point it is 3 miles wide.

• From 1626 to 1660 slaves were first imported by the Dutch directly from Africa and later from the Dutch Colony of Curacao to fill the demand for farm labor in the Hudson River Valley.

• In 1827, slavery was abolished in New York State and Dutchess County’s black population was 2,485.