Hamilton College in Clinton
Saturday, September 09, 2006
We popped over to Hamilton College in Clinton, NY for a brief visit to see the grave site of Samuel Kirkland and Oneida Chief Skenandoah. We Mecombers are great fans of Alexander Hamilton and Samuel Kirkland.
In 1793, Samuel Kirkland traveled to Philadelphia (the unofficial capitol of the United States at that time) to solicit financial and influential aid from Alexander Hamilton, signer of the Constitution, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and the then current Secretary of the Treasury. In his journal, Kirkland records that Hamilton agreed to lend the college any power in his aid and to become a premier trustee, which post he served till his death in 1804.
In honor of its benefactor, the institution was named the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, and, since Hamilton never received an opportunity to visit the grounds of the site, the noble Baron von Steuben laid the cornerstone of the first building on campus.
Kirkland anticipated the growth of the academy, and although neither he nor Hamilton (who never set foot upon the grounds of the institute) never lived to see it, the academy received its charter as a college in 1812.
You can read much more about our visit and our thoughts about the college here at New York Traveler.net.
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