Fultonville, NY

Fultonville sits on the south bank of the Mohawk River in the town of Glen, with Fonda across the water. Its first settlement grew around 1750 on marshy ground known as Van Epps Swamp, but the Erie Canal changed the scale of the place. When the canal opened in 1825, Fultonville had streets, a flour mill, distillery, stores, sawmill, blacksmith shop, and other businesses ready to handle canal traffic. The village incorporated in 1848 and took its name from Robert Fulton, the steamboat inventor.

The river and canal also made room for ambitious local figures. John Henry Starin, born nearby, became a shipping magnate and later invested in Fultonville through a bank, library, silk mill, and large estate overlooking the Mohawk. The village’s nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century center was listed as the Fultonville Historic District in 2019. NY-30A crosses the river to Fonda, while Route 5S and the Thruway keep the village tied to the wider Mohawk Valley. With 742 residents in 2020, Fultonville is small in population but carries the full outline of a canal town: water, bridges, old storefronts, and a remarkably durable street pattern.