This historic Dutchess County church in Fishkill, New York was erected in 1731. The First Reformed Dutch Church was the first church built on the Rombout Patent, an 85,000-acre Royal grant of land that encompasses much of southern Dutchess County.
During the Revolutionary War, the church hosted the New York Provincial Congress and was also used as a military prison. Enoch Crosby, an American double spy, was famously held here after mistakenly being arrested. A mock trial was performed at the nearby Van Wyck Homestead before Crosby was released.
In 1785, the church was enlarged and would go through several renovations throughout the 19th century. As the oldest continuously used church in Dutchess County that still holds services, the First Reformed Church in Fishkill is a must-see. In its surrounding cemetery, you can find early Dutch graves and tombstones of the area’s earliest European settlers.