Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church, Fishkill, New York

I went to elementary school across the street from this church. The church housed prisoners of war during the American Revolution including counterespionage agent, Enoch Crosby. Between September 1776 and February 1777, it served as the seat of state government when the British forced the New York Provincial Congress out of New York City and White Plains. The graveyard there is has one of the finest collections of early American folk art in the form of tombstone engravings.

I remember going there as a class trip to collect rubbings from the tombstones. All I can recall is the walk there, shuffling past the Fishkill Plate Glass company (still there) and it's wide open doors and noisy machinery. I remember the church's ominous, squeaking wrought iron gate and the crooked old tombstones. Not a terribly fun place for kids.