The City of Kingston offers many layers to explore. Founded in 1652, in the foothills of the Catskills along the Hudson River, Kingston is one of the original large, early Dutch settlements in the New World (the other two settlements became New York City and Albany). Initially called the town of Wiltwyck, it eventually merged with the neighboring port town of Rondout, and renamed 'Kingston' in honor of the British sovereign.
Kingston is where independent-minded colonists wrote the New York State Constitution in 1777, and where the state's first capital was established. It was then promptly burned to the ground by the invading British army! Luckily, the city was quickly rebuilt and today many of the original stone structures remain.