TOWN OF DAY
Day is the most northwesterly town of Saratoga county.
Its northern boundary is the county line; it is bounded on the east by Hadley,
on the south by Corinth and Edinburgh, and on the west by Edinburgh and the
western boundary of the county. The town is described as follows by the Revised
Statutes:
The Town of Day shall contain all that part of said
county, beginning at the east corner of the farm of Walter Hunt. on the north
bank of the west branch of the Hudson River, and running from thence north
thirty degrees and forty minutes west to the rear line of the river division of
Palmer's Purchase; then along the said rear line westerly until it intersects
the west bounds of the county; then along the said west bounds of the county,
northerly, to the north bounds of the county; then along the same until a course
of south thirty degrees and forty minutes east will strike the most northerly
corner of lot No. 50, in Pairner's Purchase; then south thirty degrees and forty
minutes east, to and along the easterly bounds of the lot marked H. P. P. to the
said corners of said lot No. 50; then along the east bounds of said lot to the
Sacandaga River; then on a course that will strike the east bounds of lot No. 3,
in the subdivision of the twenty-fourth allotment of the Kayaderosseras patent;
then south along the said east bounds to the town of Corinth; then west along
the bounds of Corinth to the west corner thereof; and thence to the place of
beginning.
Day is the most mountainous and most picturesque town
in the county. The center and southern half is occupied by a part of the
Kayaderosseras Range. Some of the peaks are quite lofty. Oak Mountain and Bald
Mountain, both northwest of the center of the town, reach an altitude of over
900 feet above the Sacandaga River, and probably 1,500 feet above the level of
the sea. Rockwell's mountain, near Day center, is 200 feet lower. The Sacandaga
River winds its way in a tortuous channel easterly through the southern part,
the valley being most picturesque in places. Its principal tributary, Paul
creek, drains Livingston Lake, on the northern boundary, and flows south.
Besides Livingston lake, which is the largest body of water in Day, Sand lake
lies near the northern boundary, two and one-half miles west of Livingston lake;
Mud lake lies about three miles south of Sand lake. The town consists largely of
wild forest, with few highways except in the southern part. Deer, bears and
other game abound.
The town was first settled in 1797 by David Johnson, a
Revolutionary soldier, who located in the extreme eastern part, on the banks of
the Sacandaga. Jonas Bond and Phineas Austin settled a short time afterward on
the north side of the river, about a mile east of Day Center. Henry Paul came in
1801, and in 1805 built a saw mill and grist mill, the first in town, at the
mouth of Paul Creek.
The western part of the village of Conklingville lies
in Day. Besides this village, West Day (Huntsville) is a hamlet on the river in
the southwest corner; Day center is about three miles further down the stream,
and Crowville is a small hamlet on Sand creek, three and a half miles from its
mouth. The Presbyterian church of Day was organized in 1842as the Reformed
Protestant Dutch church; the M. E. church of Day center in 1865; the First
Christian church in 1833; the Christian church of West Day in 1857.
Day was erected from Hadley and Edinburgh April 17,
1819, and was at first named Concord. The name was changed in 1827 in honor of
Eliphaz Day, a prominent lumberman who had died a short time before.
Reference: http://history.rays-place.com/index.htm
