Categories
Archive

Crossgates-Gate: Albany History Subject to Apple Math

A number of readers have written in to correct Apple’s claim that “The capital of New York, Albany is the oldest continuing settlement in the nation.”Nitpicking update! 10/10/01 – more trivia!

A number of readers have written in to correct Apple’s claim that “The capital of New York, Albany is the oldest continuing settlement in the nation.”

For the record, I only reported that Apple made this claim — not me. Let’s hope that copywriter for the Apple Store Crossgates Site isn’t on Who Wants to be a Millionaire anytime soon. Stephen Rea of Rochester writes:

“I don’t know where Apple got it’s info, but St. Augustine, Florida is the oldest, continuously settled city in the country, founded on August 28, 1565. http://www.oldcity.com/his2.html According to the Albany web site, http://www.albanyny.org/alb-info.htm, ”Albany has served as the Capital of New York State since 1797 and is one of the nation’s oldest communities. The City has been operating under its charter granted by Governor Thomas Dongan since 1686.” So, Albany is 120 years younger than St. Augustine.”

Thanks, Stephen and others. It’s really interesting to know, speaking as someone living in New York state’s largest metropolis, Mount Vernon. (Actually, I am near what claims to be the nation’s oldest parkway, among other dubious area acheivements.)

UPDATED, 10/10/01 More readers have written in with additional historical background Apple didn’t see fit to share — and I didn’t see fit to, er, know!

Greg La Vardera writes: “The oldest settled area around Albany is actually the “Stockade” Area of nearby Schnectady. I am not absolutely sure, but that is what I remember from when I lived up there in Troy.”

And writes: “Well if you want to get technical, the oldest city in Continental US is St Augustine. The first settlement in the US territories is Caparra, Puerto Rico. It now lies in the town of Guaynabo, PR. Established by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1508, it was moved to San Juan which was founded in 1521. San Juan is the second oldest city in Las Americas. The oldest is in the Dominican republic (La Espa?ola). Puerto Rico was discovered by Columbus on his second trip in Novemeber 19, 1493. Some more info on Puerto Rico, USA can be found in welcome.topuertorico.org

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.