Look closely at the Town of Schaghticoke’s official seal (the one on the Zoning and Planning Board letterhead) and you’ll see an oak tree ringed by the words “A Monument to Peace · Witenagemot Oak · 1676.” It’s not a generic emblem. It commemorates something that happened on the ground here, and 2026 marks its 350th anniversary.
Town Historian Chris Kelly has raised the milestone repeatedly at Town Board meetings over the past year, noting in the August and September 2025 sessions, and again in April 2026, that the anniversary is coming and that she’s planning a celebration. Here’s the story behind it.
What happened in 1676
In 1676, colonial New York governor Edmund Andros came to the junction of the Hudson and Hoosick Rivers, the land that became Schaghticoke, to seal a peace covenant. The gathering drew more than a thousand people: members of the Mohawk, Mohican, and Hoosac nations, English colonists and militia, and refugees from King Philip’s War, the brutal 1675–76 conflict in New England. Andros invited those displaced Native families to settle and take refuge in the Schaghticoke area, and the agreement knit together friendships among peoples who had been in conflict.
Further reading: For the story of the war that sent those refugees north, King Philip’s War: A History from Beginning to End (Hourly History) is a concise, roughly hour-long primer on the 1675–76 conflict and its long shadow over early America.
To symbolize the covenant, an oak tree was planted. It came to be called the Witenagemot Oak; Witenagemot is an Old English term meaning “Council of the Wise.” On the 1877 Beers atlas of the town, the same tree is simply labeled the “Indian Council Tree.” It is often described as the only tree ever planted in North America for the welfare of Native people.
The tree itself
The oak stood for the better part of three centuries, becoming a local landmark, before it was lost to a storm in the late 1940s. Its memory (a surviving piece of the tree and a historic photograph of it standing) is preserved by the Knickerbocker Historical Society, keepers of the nearby Knickerbocker Mansion, which the town supports each year and which our Historian often works alongside.
Why it still matters
Most towns pick a seal. Schaghticoke’s records one: a specific act of peacemaking, on this land, that gave the community its name and its identity. For a hamlet like Speigletown, tucked inside that town, the Peace Tree is a reminder that this quiet stretch of the Hudson was, 350 years ago, a place people chose to come together rather than apart.
The 350th-anniversary celebration: August 1–2
The milestone will be marked with a two-day celebration at the Knickerbocker Mansion (132 Knickerbocker Road, Schaghticoke) on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2, 2026, hosted by the Knickerbocker Historical Society.
The centerpiece is a ceremony honoring the Peace Tree at 4 p.m. Saturday, with dignitaries of the Abenaki Nation of New York State and Rensselaer County. Both days feature Abenaki traditions and culture from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., including basket-making, a children’s beading activity, drummers, and talks, alongside a pancake breakfast (8–11 a.m.), a snack bar (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and self-guided mansion tours starting at 9:30 a.m. A chicken barbecue follows at 6 p.m. Saturday; reservations are required by July 25 (call 518-588-7130).
Proceeds benefit the Knickerbocker Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Full details are at knickmansion.com, and the celebration is on our community calendar.
If you have old photos, family stories, or Peace Tree lore to share, send them our way, and see our History page for more on how Speigletown and Schaghticoke came to be.
Sources: Albany Institute of History & Art, “Witenagemot Oak Peace Tree”; History of the Town of Schaghticoke; and the Town Historian’s reports in the 2025 Town Board minutes. Accounts differ slightly on the exact year the tree fell (1948–49) and on which relics survive.
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