History of Schoharie, New York, USA

The Town of Schoharie has a village, also called Schoharie. Both are derived from the Mohawk word for driftwood. The town is on the northeast border of the county and is southwest of Albany, and east of Oneonta and Cooperstown, both located in Otsego County.

Although the English claimed New York province after taking control from the Dutch, the first European settlements in this area were by Palatine Germans in 1713, after the area was first explored in 1710/ 11. These Germans were among nearly 3,000 German Protestant refugees who sailed to New York in 1710, on ships arranged by Queen Anne's government. They were refugees from the religious warfare along the border with France, and also had suffered the loss of crops from an extremely harsh winter in 1709, when the Rhine River froze. The English believed the German settlers could help develop the colony and granted them land to the west of English settlements...

Schoharie was first known as a district in Albany County before Schoharie County was organized. Established as a town in Albany County in 1788, it became the founding town of the newly created Schoharie County in 1795. In 1797, part of the town was used to form the towns of Blenheim, Broome, Cobleskill, and Middleburgh. Similarly, area for the towns of Esperance and Wright were removed from Schoharie in 1846 as settlement increased in other areas.