Development of the Town of Olive
By Ruth Anne Muller Town of Olive Historian
The land in what is now the Town of Olive, was lush and green, thick with grapevines and wildlife, in 1609, when Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River. People later known as the River Indians, or the Esopus or Lenni Lenape lived in the area hunting and fishing, and even cultivating land for gardens. They passed through "Olive" on hunting trips, and when the Dutch and English came, they were willing to trade furs and pelts for tools, axes and hoes, brass kettles, cloth, scissors and needles. They also provided corn, beans and squash. The Dutch and English and "Indians" saw each other as resources for new items in trade. The relatively peaceful existence of these peoples was changed when Dutch and English settlers moved in. European diseases greatly reduced their populations. Eventually most moved West, joining with other peoples, the Mohicans and Munsee, and the Menominee in Wisconsin. Some did remain, and there are some descendants still in the area.
Joris Middagh was the first settler to build a home in the Town of Olive. He came from Hiecop, Holland and met and married Marretje Martinssen of Albany. In 1740 he joined with some other men to petition the Queen of England for land grants of 100 acres each along the Esopus Creek at a place called Ashocan, or "meeting of waters" by the native peoples. Mr. Middagh and his family lived in a log cabin, but the Dutch brought with them a style of architecture seen in some of the old stone houses in and around Olivebridge, and Shokan, and especially in the "Dutch" barns, some of which are still standing. The Dutch and English settlers came slowly away from the river, superstitious about the stories of wild Indians and great cats, but when they did come, they settled along the Esopus creek, building the villages of Olive City, Brodhead's Bridge, Tongore, Shokan and West Shokan.
