The village, which was settled by Dutch and Swedes at an early period, is upon a plain five miles from the river, with most attractive rural surroundings. There, for more than twenty years after his retirement from public life, the late Honourable Martin Van Buren, a descendant of one of the early settlers, and the eighth president of the United States, resided. His pleasant seat, embowered in lindens, is called " Lindenwold," and there, in delightful quietude, the retired chief magistrate of the republic spent the evening of his days.

The country road from Kinderhook to the Coxsakie station passes through a rich and well-cultivated region, and leads the tourist to points from which the first extensive views of the magnificent range of the Katzbergs may be obtained.

Coxsakie village is upon the west side of the river, partly along the shore for a mile, in three clusters. The more ancient portion, called Coxsakie Street, is upon a beautiful plain a mile from the river. The latter was originally built upon the post road, as most of the old villages along the Hudson were, the river traffic being at that time inconsiderable. The name is the Iroquois word Kuxakee, or the Cut Banks, Anglicised. Its appropriateness may be understood by the form of the shore, whose banks have evidently been cut down by the rushing river currents that sweep swiftly along between an island and the main, when the spring freshets occur. From a high rocky bluff at the ferry, on the east side of the river, a fine view of Coxsakie, with the blue Katzbergs as a background, may be obtained. Turning southward, the eye takes in a broad expanse of the river and country, with the city of Hudson in the distance, and northward are seen the little villages of Cocymans and New Baltimore,