The Town of New Paltz was established in 1677, when twelve men and their families, in search of religious freedom and economic opportunity, signed an agreement with sachems of the Esopus-Munsee tribe to reside on nearly 40,000 acres of their land. A patent was then granted by the first proprietary governor of New York, Sir Edmund Andros. The original boundaries of the patent contained a large part of present-day southeastern Ulster County stretching from the Shawangunk Mountains to the Hudson River, including portions of, what are today, neighboring towns.