HISTORIC WASHINGTON COUNTY: A Photographic Portrait explores the storied past of Washington County through photographs of what life was like from the 1840s until the early 1950s. Although early settlers migrated to the north country before the Revolutionary War, farming and industry did not thrive until the early 1800s, as rivers like the Batten Kill and Mettawee powered the mills and the Champlain canal carried the products of the county's agriculture and industry. The people who came to Washington County were diverse in numerous ways: lifestyles, ethnicity, religion and skills. Men often worked in the fields planting crops in the spring and harvesting their bounty in the fall. Women worked in the factories all year round; they were seamstresses making shirts, garments and gloves. Most who lived in the small communities which grew up along the waterways were either dairy, sheep, or potato farmers. Others worked in mills producing paper, lumber, tools and equipment.In the early 1800s, Washington County boasted a population of over 45,000, the third largest in New York State at that time. In 1861, when young men were conscripted into the Union army, the county was one of the most prosperous in the entire country. The decades following the Civil War and through much of the 20th century were a time of invention, achievement and prosperity for many, when people were able to create a better way of life for themselves and their children.This book depicts how our ancestors dressed, what they did, and how they lived. It is a tale of the people and by the people, told through photos from private collections and archives.