Image © Inari Art
The Enlightened Series is set in Orange County, New York. The region was originally inhabited by the Waoraneck until the Europeans began to settle there. In 1685, twenty-five Scottish families settled around Murderer’s Creek, which is known today as “Moodna Creek.” In the following years, mostly English and Scotch settled and expanded the “Precinct of New Cornwall.” It wasn’t until 1797 that the town’s name changed to “Cornwall,” as it is known today. The surrounding towns’ borders also differ today from how they were originally delineated.
During the course of the Revolutionary War, the Continentals traveled regularly through New Cornwall along the Canterbury Road from West Point to Newburgh (not shown), which is North of New Windsor. General George Washington stayed with several families in the region, including his friend, David Sands. One such visit to the Sands’ home led to an emergency evacuation of the general when a local warned the Continentals of a plot to kidnap him during their stay.
The map above is based on the Cantonment Map of 1783 by Robert Erskine, who surveilled the area beginning in 1778. While the British and militia campsites on the map are purely fictional, Orange County was a hotbed of unrest during the War with countless skirmishes taking place between the opposing armies and even the locals amongst their own neighbors. The hospital was run out of the Presbyterian church until a more permanent facility could be established. Many of its patients were sent to a larger site, however, run out of a homestead seized by the Continentals from a loyalist family, the Robinsons.
The Robinson House laid just across the river from West Point. Benedict Arnold kept his headquarters there, rather than stay at West Point itself, while he was the commanding officer (orders given August 01, 1780). The theory being that Arnold talked in his sleep, and he was afraid that he would inadvertently give away his plans to turn over West Point and General Washington to the British. He would not even allow guards near his room at night. His betrayal of the Americans was discovered on September 24, 1780, while General Washington was waiting to meet with Arnold at the Robinson House.
Fort Montgomery, which is referenced in book one, is not shown and was further downriver of West Point.