Text from William Wade Text from William WadeA mile further north is the village of Kingston, which was incorporated in l8O5, and contains more than three hundred buildings and two thousand five hundred inhabitants. It was early settled by the Dutch and called Esopus. Here General Tryon, the tory, destroyed the public stores and wantonly laid in ashes one of the largest places in the province of New York. Every house in the town was burned, except one in which Mrs. Hamersley resided. A short time before, a convention met in Kingston, and formed the first constitution of the State of New York, which was adopted on the 20th of April, 1777. During the Revolutionary war, a number of Tories were here executed for treason. Judge Hasbrouck, who was at that time a lad, gives an account of the handing of two of them on the first hill from the landing.
