I'm sure you've seen these blue plaques all over the Capital Region but have you actually stopped to read any of them? I have the most interesting from each county and you're not going to believe what happened right under your nose!

To be honest, I've seen these blue plaques all over the place as well but I don't tend to absorb the information. New York Upstate broke them down by county and found the most interesting from each. I took their list and narrowed it down to those closest to us. Did you know this information about where you're from?

Albany County (Cohoes): Did you know that in September 1866, explorers found the famous Cohoes Mastodon? You can currently see it at the New York State Museum but it's thought to be 9-feet high, 15-feet long, and weighed 5 tons!

Columbia County (Kinderhook): This one isn't a huge surprise based on the school name we constantly see on our school closings list but the character of Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is thought to be based on local teacher Jesse Merwin.

Essex County (Ticonderoga): I'm sure you're familiar with Fort Ticonderoga but did you know about Mount Defiance? The British put a cannon at the top of the 835-foot tall Mount Defiance but seeing this caused Americans to retreat from Fort Ticonderoga and no shots were fired.

Fulton County (Broadalbin): Col. Tiffany Brockway has her own sign for being home to one of the most active "stations" on the Underground Railroad.

Greene County (Coxsackie): The Bronck House has a marker for being the oldest single-residence house in Upstate New York, built in 1663.

Rensselaer County (Troy): Herman Melville spent a lot of time in the Capital Region. He had a house in Albany but he spent most of his time in Troy. At the intersection of 114th Street and 1st Avenue, you'll find the marker for his house which is now the Lansingburgh Historical Society.

Saratoga County (Mechanicville): Local Col. Elmer Ellsworth was a close friend of Abraham Lincoln and died "trying to take down a Confederate flag in Alexandria." His death is known as the first major casualty in the Civil War.

Schenectady County (Schenectady): You can't drive through Schenectady without seeing "General Electric" in lights thanks to Thomas Edison. Edison has a sign to commemorate where he found that his machine worked in 1886 and that's where GE came from.

Warren County (Lake George): A marker stands where the Scotch Church used to in Lake George. It was where Scottish immigrants came to this area.

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