Fort Hunter

Fort Hunter is a hamlet in the Town of Florida in Montgomery County, New York, west of the capital at Albany, on the south bank of the Mohawk River and on the northeast bank of Schoharie Creek.

The hamlet developed around a fort of the same name, built by English colonists in 1712 near the Mohawk village of Tionondoroge for their defense. Queen Anne ordered the fort built at the request of the Mohawk, in exchange for their allowing her to settle German Palatines in their territory. The English called the Mohawk settlement the Lower Mohawk Castle. Within a few years, the fort included an Anglican chapel, first built in logs and replaced by a stone church in 1741. It was a mission church for the Mohawk in addition to English settlers. The fort survived the wars in the region; it was taken down in 1820 to make way for construction of the Erie Canal.

The Fort Hunter land, approximately 80 acres on both sides of the mouth of the Schoharie, was deeded in 1697 to Jan Peterse Mabee. He had an advantage because his wife Anna Borsboom, apparently of mixed race, was "something related to the Indian castle". The deed was signed by Sachem Rode of the Wolf Clan. In order to build the fort, there was a land swap, with the Mabee family receiving land further south on Schoharie Creek. Copies of the deed are held both in the Albany State Archives and at the shrine of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha in nearby Auriesville, New York.

The future site of Fort Hunter was on Schoharie Creek, near the easternmost of the two primary Mohawk settlements of the time. It was in part for defense of the nearby Mohawk village against the French and their Indian allies.

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