Spuyten Duyvel Creek

Text from William Wade

Thirteen miles north of the city of New York, Spuyten Duyvel creek flows into the Hudson. This stream, by connecting with the Harlem river, forms New York Island and separating it from Westchester county. Kingsbridge, hallowed as one of the battle grounds of America, crosses this creek a mile from its mouth, on the great road from New York to Albany. On the north bank, near the mouth is the site of Fort Independence. Here commences a succession of beautifully situated country residences, facing the Palisades, the shore itself being marked by many ridges and intervening narrow valleys, running back to the Highlands which divide the tributaries of the Hudson from those of the East river and Long Island Sound. These highlands, as you advance north, grow more elevated and rocky, enlarge themselves into the Fishkill mountains and the Taghkanic group, and finally attain the highest grandeur as the Green mountains of Vermont.