Baldwin Hill

With an elevation of more than 850 feet, Baldwin Hill is the highest point in Scotchtown and has been known for many years for the view of the surrounding countryside that its altitude provides. According to the Town of Wallkill Historian Dorothy Hunt-Ingrassia, at one time this hill was said to have been the highest point of cultivated land in the entire county. [1]

Baldwin Hill, located just north of the Presbyterian Church, was named for the first settler on the property, Rev. Methuselah Baldwin. We know the condition of the hill in 1846 from the testimony of the historian Samuel Eager, who may have climbed the hill himself:

A rise of ground upon the farm of the late Rev. Mr. Baldwin commands a view in every direction of a large part of Orange County, and a portion of Dutchess, which is from twenty to thirty miles distant. The view embraces a perfect amphitheatre, and well repays for the labor of a visit. [2]
A later work described the view as extending “into six counties, two states, and upon many villages, besides a fine view of the Shawangunk Mountains.” Baldwin bought the 140-acre farm with the aid of George Houston when he came to serve as pastor for the Presbyterian Church in 1803. In 1848, shortly after Rev. Baldwin’s death, George Wallace settled on the homestead. [3] Two roads, Baldwin Hill Road and Heather Court, now ascend the hill.

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[1] For a detailed discusion of this claim see also Mildred Park Seese, “Historian corrects old error on altitude” The Times Herald-Record, November 30, 1965

[2] Samuel Eager, An Outline History of Orange County (1846), 348

[3] E. M. Ruttenber and L. H. Clark, History of Orange County, New York (1881), 436, 435, 504