The Oblong

Disagreements between the English settlers of Connecticut and the Dutch settlers of New York led to a constant dispute over the stretch of land between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. Both the charter of the Connecticut colony, and the title of the territory granted to the Duke of York, encroached on each other, so throughout the seventeenth century negotiators made several attempts to establish firm boundaries. Finally, in 1683, the Treaty of Dover established that in exchange for Connecticut retaining a parcel of land on Long Island Sound (known as the Horse’s Neck), Connecticut would give up a strip of land along its western border, which became known as the Oblong. The treaty was not formally until 1731, though the final legal status of the land would not be fully settled until 1881, but within a few years Quakers had begun settling the lands of the Oblong, in an area that would in short time become known as Quaker Hill.