User:Ottre/Amity

Amity is a hamlet in the town of Warwick, New York, United States. It is located between Edenville and Pine Island, approximately six miles from Warwick Village, near the New Jersey state line. Amity is served by the Amity Station of the Pine Island Fire Department. The Amity Presbyterian Church, which was first opened in 1796, is located on Newport Bridge Road near Amity Road.

History

 * "[Spinel] occurs in granular limestone; also in gneiss and volcanic rocks. At numerous places in the adjoining counties of Sussex in New Jersey, and Orange county, of various colors from red to brown and black; especially at Franklin, Newton and Sparta, in the former, and in Warwick, Amity and Edenville, in the latter. The crystals are octohedrons, and often grouped or disseminated singly in granular limestone. One crystal found at Amity by Dr. Heron, weighs 49 pounds. The limestone quarries of Bolton, Boxborough, Chelmsford, and Littleton, Massachusets, afford a few crystals. Crystals of spinel are occasionally soft, having undergone a change of composition, and approaching steatite in all characters except form. They are true pseudomorphs.They are met with in Sussex and Orange Counties."
 * "WARWICK— was formed March 7, 1788. A part of Chester was taken off in 1845. It lies upon the line of N. J., in the extreme s. angle of the co. Its surface is mountainous in the s. and E. and broken and hilly in the N. and w. The principal mountain ranges are the Sterling, Rough, and Warwick Mts. in the s. E., and the Bellvale Mts. in the E.<8> They are high, steep, and rocky, and have all the characteristics peculiar to a wild, mountain region. In the extreme w. part is a nearly level region, occupied by the Browned Lands.' Several eminences in the midst of these lands are denominated islands.<10> The principal streams are Wall Kil, forming the w. boundary, Quaker Creek, forming the N. w. boundary, and the Wawayanda, or Warwick, and Pochuck Creeks. Greenwood Lake, upon the s. line, extends about 4 mi. into this town. The other principal bodies of water are Sterling, Wickhams, and Thompsons Ponds, near the E. border. The soil is light and unproductive upon the hills, and a gravelly and sandy loam in the valleys. Warwick, (p. v.,) on Wawayanda Creek, near the center of the town, contains 3 churches, the Warwick Institute, and 358 inhabitants. Florida, (p. v.,) in the N. part, contains 3 churches, the S. S. Seward Seminary,11 and 45 dwellings ; Amity, (p. v.,) in the w. part, 1 church and 30 dwellings; Edenvllle, (p. v.,) 2 mi. N. E. of Amity, a church and 24 dwellings; New Milford, (p. v.,) in the s. part, a church and 26 dwellings; Bellvale, (p.v.,) in the E., a church and 192 inhabitants; and Dutch Hollow, 2 mi. s. E. of Bellvale, a church and 15 dwellings. Sterling Works, in the extreme s. part, is a hamlet.<19> The precise date of the first settlement is unknown. Daniel Burt, from Conn., came into town in 1746." The first church (Presb.) was formed in 1764, and the second (Bap.) in 1766." lion. Wm. H. Seward was born at the village of Florida.

"4 Presb., 3 IU|i.. 2 Cong., 2 H. E, and R. C. Round, Rocky, and Chucks Hills, In the 8.; Ponchuck Sit. and Green and Adneys Hills, In the w. ; and Mts. Adam and Ere, and Round Hill, in the if. w. 9 These lands hare mostly been drained and conrcrted into the most valuable meadows. 10 Among these eminences are Pine, Merritt, Gardners, Black Walnut, Cranberry, and Fox Islands. H This seminary was founded about 1845, by Judge 8. 8. Seward, father of Wm. H. toward, who endowed It with a fund of J2i y »0i '. u Sterling Works receives its name from the iron works located upon the outlet of Sterling Pond. The manufacture of Iron has been carried on at this place for 100 years or more. Gen. Wm. Alexander, Lord Sterling, Is aald to have been interested in them at one time : and hence their name. Anchors and steel were manufactured here during the Revolution. 12 to 15 tons of pig iron are now made here per day. 1* Among the other early settlers were Thos. Willing, Daniel Whitney, Benj. Burt, John Vance, and Dnvid McCauley. The first mill was built by David Burt, at Bellvale. In 1760. Many of the early settlers were Dutch, and others English, from Mass, and Conn. 1* There are 11 churches in town : 6 M.E., 3 Preab., Bnp., and Rot/?"


 * "From Amity, N. Y., to Andover, N. J., a distance of about thirty miles is a region of granular limestone and serpentine, in which, localities of spinel abound. At Amity crystals are occasionally found sixteen inches in diameter ; and one, collected by Dr. Heron, weighs forty-nine pounds ; it is in three pieces and contains cavities studded with crystals of corundum. They occur of various shades of green, black, brown, and less commonly red, along with chondrodite, and other minerals. A mile southwest of Amity, on J. Layton's farm, is one of the most remarkable localities ; also on W. Raynor's farm, a mile to the north; another half a mile north, affording grayish-red octahedrons ; and others to the south. Localities are numerous about Warwick, and also at Monroe and Cornwall, though less favorable for exploration than those at Amity. Franklin, N. J., affords crystals of rich shades of black, blue, green, and red, which are sometimes transparent, and a bluish-green oeylanite variety here, has the lustre of polished steel ; Newton, N. J., pearl-gray crystals  along with blue corundum, tourmaline, and rutile ; Bryan, red, brown, green, and black colors, along with chondrodite. At Sterling, Sparta, and Vernon, N. J., are other localities. Light blue spinels occur sparingly in limestone in Antwerp, Jefferson Co., N. Y., two and a half miles south of Oxbow, and in Rossie, two miles north of Somcrville, St. Lawrence Co. Green, blue, and occasionally red varieties occur in granular limestone at Bolton, Boxborough, Chelmsford, and Littleton, Mass. Soft octahedral crystals occur in Warwick, which, according to Beck, are spinels permeated with steatite or serpentine, (Min. N. Y., p. 318.) They have been considered pseudomorphs."