=Poughkeepsie=, 74 miles from New York, is now at hand, Queen City of the Hudson, with name, derived from the Indian word Apokeepsing, signifying “safe harbor.”  Near the landing a bold headland juts out into the river, known as Kaal Rock, and no doubt this sheltering rock was a safe harbor in days of birch canoes.  It has been recently claimed that the word signifies “muddy pond,” which is neither true, appropriate or poetic.  Poughkeepsie does not propose to give up her old-time “harbor name,” particularly as it has been recently discovered that the name “Kipsie” was also given by the Indians to a “safe harbor” near the Battery on Manhattan Island.  It is said that there are over forty different ways of spelling Poughkeepsie, and every year the postoffice record gives a new one.  The first house was built in 1702 by a Mr. Van Kleeck.  The State legislature had a session here in 1777 or 1778, when New York was held by the British and after Kingston had been burned by Vaughan.

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  On the crest of the waves, a something that glides
  Before the stiff breeze, and gracefully rides
  On the inflowing tide majestic and free
  A huge and mysterious bird of the sea.

  Irving Bruce.

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Ten years later, the State convention also met here for ratification of the Federal Constitution.  The town has a beautiful location, and is justly regarded the finest residence city on the river.  It is not only midway between New York and Albany, but also midway between the Highlands and the Catskills, commanding a view of the mountain portals on the south and the mountain overlook on the north—­the Gibraltar of revolutionary fame and the dreamland of Rip Van Winkle.

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  The azure heaven is filled with smiles,
  The water lisping at my feet
  From weary thought my heart beguiles.

  Henry Abbey.

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The well known poet and litterateur, Joel Benton, who divides his residence between New York and Poughkeepsie, in a recent article, “The Midway City of the Hudson,” written for the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, says: 

“Poughkeepsie as a township was incorporated in 1788.  The village bearing the name was formed in 1799 (incorporated as a city in 1854), and soon became the center of a large trade running in long lines east and west from the river.  Dutchess County had at this time but a sparse population.  There was a post-road from New York to Albany; but the building of the Dutchess Turnpike from Poughkeepsie to Sharon, Conn., connecting with one from that place to Litchfield, which took place in 1808, was a capital event in its history.  This made a considerable strip of western Connecticut tributary to Poughkeepsie’s trade.