Every state has a capital, but only New York has Albany and these unusual claims to fame.
1. “YANKEE DOODLE.” In 1758 (probably, though some historians cite the date as 1755 or ’56), British army surgeon Richard Shuckburgh and his unit were stationed at Fort Crailo, just over the Hudson River from Albany. As he prepared to take on the French (who were allied with the colonists during the French and Indian War), Shuckburgh penned a catchy little tune that he called “Yankee Doodle,” in which he made fun of the American soldiers gathering across the river. Those soldiers had been ordered to stay out of Albany (to keep them from being distracted by the city’s brothels and taverns), and their ragtag platoon was the laughingstock of the British redcoats. In those days, a “doodle” was slang for a simpleminded person. “Macaroni” was a sophisticated, trendy style of dress—so a “Yankee doodle” who stuck “a feather in his cap and called it macaroni” was a bumbling bumpkin passing himself off as a well-dressed gentleman.
But Yankee soldiers were nothing if not adaptable, and they adopted Shuckburgh’s song as their own. (Legend says that Americans just liked the tune.) By the 1770s, when the Revolutionary War was in full swing, colonial militias were singing “Yankee Doodle” as a proud battlecry against their English counterparts.
2. ERASTUS CORNING II. Albany’s “grandest son,” Corning served as the city’s mayor from 1941 until his death in 1983—an astonishing 42 years—making him the longest-serving mayor of a major American city.
3. MODERN TOILET PAPER. In 1871, Albany resident Seth Wheeler received a patent for his new invention: perforated toilet paper. Individual sheets of toilet paper had been around for a few years, but Wheeler was the first to offer a long, single sheet from which you could tear off pieces. His company—with the unwieldy name of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company—started selling the paper in drugstores as a means of preventing hemorrhoids: It was, according to ads, “free of all deleterious substances.” Eight years later, he patented the toilet paper roll, combined the two, and a modern bathroom staple was born.
4. THE PINE BUSH. This stretch of land along I-87 near Albany is one of only about 20 inland pine barrens in the world. What’s a “pine barren”? It’s a region covered with prairie grass, wildflowers, pitch pines, and shrubs that grow in sand dunes. During the last Ice Age thousands of years ago, a glacial lake covered the area between the modern-day towns of Glen Falls and Newburgh. When the ice melted and the lake drained, it left behind about 40 square miles of sandy soil. Today, only 20 percent of the Albany Pine Bush remains—the rest has been gobbled up by highways and shopping malls.
5. A SINKING CAPITOL. In 1867, construction began on the state capitol building in Albany (one of only 10 state capitols in the U.S. that do not include a dome). But workers soon discovered that they were constructing the building on quicksand. Visitors today don’t need to worry about losing their footing, though. The builders dug up the quicksand (by hand) until they reached solid ground and then replaced the foundation with clay and concrete.
6. THE SUNY WEATHERVANE. Perched atop the State University of New York Central Administration Building is the largest working weathervane in North America—it’s 8′10″ tall, weighs 400 pounds, and is a replica of the Half Moon, the ship Henry Hudson took to sail up the Hudson River and into Albany.
7. THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR ABRAHAM LINCOLN. On February 18, 1861, president-elect Lincoln was traveling by train to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration and he stopped in Albany to give a speech at the New York State Legislature. He was greeted by thick crowds of protesters, many of whom disagreed with his stance on slavery and shouted insults and obscenities. Most were nameless, but one of them would later determine Lincoln’s fate: John Wilkes Booth joined in the protests. Four years later, he assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
The geographic center of New York State is the village of Pratts Hollow.