In 1722 a blockhouse was built here by an expedition sent by
Governor William Burnet of the Province of New York. The site was
the location of an earlier French trading post, on the trail
leading from Sodus Bay. During the French and Indian War, the
Iroquois village of Sodoms was located here. The British built a
stockade fort at the settlement in 1756, for the protection of
its inhabitants. During the Revolutionary War the old fort fell
into the hands of British Loyalists, who used it as a station
smuggling supplies from Canada via Sodus Bay. After the war, a
remaining blockhouse was used by squatters and smugglers
until they were driven out by State militia in 1788. During the
fighting, the structure was burned. In 1789, a trader named
John Fellows came up the Clyde River, built a cabin here, and
cleared a path to haul his boat to Sodus Bay. His was the first
American craft on the Great Lakes. The site was used as a
camping place by other traders seeking to bypass British held
Oswego, and by boatman, hunters and trappers. The Clyde
River was declared a public highway by New York State in 1799,
and pioneers reported seeing the burned ruins of the block
house. In 1809, a new blockhouse was built on the south side
of the river at Lauraville Landing. It was the location of the
first meeting of the Town of Galen in 1812.
Clyde was called
"Block-House" until 1817
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