In the early eighteenth century, Hendrick Aupaumut recorded the movement of his people who had settled along the rivers that would later be named the Delaware and Hudson.

Mohican women were usually in charge of this agriculture, along with the homes and children, while men traveled to fish, hunt, or serve as warriors.

The valley was rich with beavers and otters, whose fur the Dutch coveted, and in 1614 a trading post was established.

Wars and their effects contributed to the loss of Mohican land to the point where territory in the Hudson Valley dwindled almost completely by the end of the seventeenth century.

In 1683, Mohicans sold the first land parcel along the Roeliff Jansen Kill to Livingstone in exchange for goods as well as rights to hunting and fishing in the area.

Before that, Moravian missionary Christian Henry Rauch approached two Mohican leaders, Maumauntissekun (AKA Shabash) and Wassamapah, who were sojourning in New York City.

By the mid-eighteenth century, much of Mohican territory was divided by colonial powers, with the private property of others having displaced traditional communal lands.

[6] In the 1720s, white settlers began to survey Dutchess County land that they claimed according to exchanges originating from the Great Nine Partners Patent.

His grievance was based on Mohican tradition which provides that land that was not used is open for his people to continue hunting and fishing in the area.

The Dutchess County territory being surveyed was unoccupied by white settlers for over four decades, making European claims de jure.

[6] In 1710, Robert Livingston sold 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) of his property to Anne, Queen of Great Britain, for use as work camps and resettlement of Palatine German refugees.

[8] Some 1,200 persons were settled at work camps to manufacture naval stores and pay off their passage as indentured labor.

[11] Germantown was one of the seven original towns of Columbia County established by an act passed March 7, 1788, alongside Kinderhook, Canaan, Claverack, Hillsdale, Clermont, and Livingston.

[12] In March 1845, a boat-load of people from East Camp, who had been to Hudson to make purchases, was run over first by a scow, and then by the steamboat South America.

In the following years, members of the community were relocated to Shawano County, Wisconsin, and settled on the reservation land.

The western town line, marking the center of the Hudson River, is the border of Greene and Ulster counties.

The library was first founded in 1948 by the Germantown Garden Club and Emily Finger Lappe in the town hall across from the current post office.

At the same time, the Hover Room opened to the public for library programs, classes, and town meetings.

Patrons were able to apply for and instantly receive a library card online in order to access materials.

Hoopla was added to the range of services the library offered to give patrons more online choices.

[19] In addition to Hoopla, the library also offers Kanopy, Overdrive, Libby, Mango Languages, RB Digital Magazines, and online newspapers.