Fort Orange

Fort Orange was a four-sided structure with wooden palisades, several buildings, and a courthouse, measuring about fifty meters in interior space. The site stood near the present downtown of Albany on the western shore of the Hudson River, where today only archaeological remains survive.

The West India Company founded this outpost in 1624 as the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland after abandoning an earlier fort due to flooding. The British took over the structure in 1664 and renamed it, after which it served as a military base for several decades.

The name honors the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau, which governed the Netherlands in the early 17th century. The memorial site today preserves the place where European traders and indigenous peoples negotiated directly and exchanged furs for metal goods or textiles.

The excavation site lies within the modern city boundaries and is easily reached by public pathways, though the original walls are no longer visible. Visitors find information panels explaining the layout and importance of the former compound.

Excavations uncovered numerous clay tobacco pipes and everyday objects that show how 17th-century residents lived and smoked. Some pieces still bear decorations or maker's marks pointing to workshops in Amsterdam or other Dutch cities.