Many anthropologists believe the Leni Lenape are the ancestors of the original people who crossed the Bering Strait to first populate North America.

As the Dutch settled along the Hudson and searched inland for furs and minerals, they engineered and built the oldest road in America.

As other Europeans settled the area, the treaties and land grants for a great deal of the northeast were benchmarked from the Hardenburgh tract.

It is said that when the ‘yankees’ obtained a foothold in the hollow (Mamakating valley), they counted all the mountain peaks they could see and with an ambitious view, called the place Rome.

During the War of 1812, a fuel shortage arose when a British blockade cut off America's coal supply.

Three Wurts brothers (Maurice Wurts was the most prominent), then Philadelphia dry goods store owners, capitalized on this problem by forming a company to construct a 108-mile canal from Honesdale, Pennsylvania to Kingston, New York, the Delaware and Hudson Canal.

On July 13, 1825, New York City Mayor (and company investor) Philip Hone used a golden spade to turn the first shovelful of earth during the canal's groundbreaking ceremony, in the village.

With the advent of the canal, products such as coal, lumber, livestock, and other staples were shipped through the area on their way to Albany and New York City.

In 1830 the name of the post office was changed from Mamakating to Wurtsborough, with Lyman O’Dell (known as the village poet and essayist) acting as the first postmaster.

In fact, over 80% of all leather goods used by the Union Army during the Civil War were processed in Sullivan county tanning vats.

The industry waned as the hemlock in the area was over-forested (accounting for the scarcity today) and synthetic tannic acid was developed.

The O&W was a primary player in the tourism boom during the late 1800s into the 20th century, as it allowed thousands of New York residents to escape the heat of the city and relax in the clean Catskill mountain air.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2), all land.