History, Natural History & the Arts
Long time Clifton Park (Saratoga County) resident Elmer Droms died on Friday, October 27, 2000 at age 102. He had been an occupant of Maplewood Manor Nursing Home in Ballston Spa since spring.
Prior to that time, he occupied a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse on Droms Road, near Grooms Corners in Clifton Park, his home for 98 years. [Read more…] about 20th Century’s Witness: Elmer Droms of Saratoga County
Abraham (1789-1871) and Harriet Best moved from Claverack, Columbia County, NY to Vischer Ferry in the Town of Clifton Park (Saratoga County) in 1815 and built a fine brick federal style home that still stands on Vischer Ferry Road. My late wife Martha and I purchased this home in 1987 and so I live in the “Best House.”
Abraham had red hair and a temperament to match. He was a farmer who seems to have been very opinionated, and sometimes argumentative. He was a staunch member of the Amity Reformed Church, and in 1835 he petitioned the consistory in a suit against a neighboring landowner, John Clute, who he accused of wrongfully removing a fence from his property. [Read more…] about Abe Best: Contentious Clifton Park Resident
The Town of Colonie in Albany County, NY, owns the Stony Creek Reservoir located in southern Clifton Park, just above Vischer Ferry in Saratoga County. It was completed in 1953 at a cost of $1,800,000 and covers 297 acres holding 1.4 billion gallons of water that is carried by pipes under the Mohawk River to the residents of Colonie.
The Latham Water District closed the floodgates on the dam across Stony Creek in the beginning of June 1953. By June 14 the lake began to form with a depth of 12 feet. [Read more…] about Stony Creek Reservoir: A Short History
This year marks the 192nd anniversary of the establishment of Clifton Park. Separated from the Town of Halfmoon on March 3, 1828, it was the last town to be formed in Saratoga County.
The first Town Board meeting occurred on April 1, 1828 at the inn of James Groom at Grooms Corners. The first town officers were elected, and town justices, highway supervisors, and school district commissioners were all selected. The first supervisor of the new Town was Ephraim Stevens who ran a large hotel. (He is now buried under a 1972 addition to the Clifton Park Methodist Church). [Read more…] about How Clifton Park Got It’s Name