Sackets Harbor (earlier spelled
Sacketts Harbor) is a village in
Jefferson County, New York
Jefferson County is a county on the northern border of the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 116,721. Its county seat is Watertown. The county is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United St ...
, United States, on
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
. The population was 1,450 at the 2010 census.
The village was named after land developer and owner Augustus Sackett, who founded it in the early 1800s.
Sackets Harbor is in the western part of the town of
Hounsfield and is west of
Watertown. The heart of the village, with a Main Street and well-preserved 19th century buildings, has been recognized as the
Sackets Harbor Village Historic District and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1983.
To support the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
, the US Navy built a major shipyard and its headquarters for the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
at the village. Within a short period, more than 3,000 men worked at the shipyard. The Army constructed
earthworks
Earthworks may refer to:
Construction
*Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour
*Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil
*Earthworks (military), mi ...
,
forts
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
,
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
and supporting infrastructure to defend the village and navy shipyard, and its troops also camped in the village. The thousands of military personnel made it seem like a city. By the fall of 1814, this was the third-largest population center in the entire state, after
Albany and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
With its strategic protected harbor on Lake Ontario and military installations, the village had national importance through the 19th century.
Soon after the war, the Army strengthened its defenses on the northern frontier by constructing
Madison Barracks. The village also developed a commercial shipyard and many business connections to communities around the Great Lakes. Its businessmen were also connected to bases in the major markets of
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, and
. In 1817 a consortium of local businessmen supported construction of the 240-ton ''Ontario'', the first US
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
on the Great Lakes. In July 1834, the commercial schooner ''Illinois'' from Sackets Harbor was the first to enter the harbor of the new settlement of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
.
Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site commemorates a battle during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
and the contribution of the area to the United States defense.
History
Prior to the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, this area had been inhabited for thousands of years by differing cultures of
indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. The historic tribe were the
Iroquoian
The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking.
As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoia ...
-speaking
Onondaga, part of the ''
Haudenosaunee
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
'', or
Iroquois Confederacy
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
. Long trading with the French and English, the
Mohawk and most of the
Six Nations allied with the British during the Revolution, hoping to dislodge the American colonists from their territory. Following the war, they were forced to make major cessions of most of their land in New York to the United States. Most of the Iroquois went to Canada and settled on land granted by Great Britain.
In the large-scale sales of of public lands in the postwar period, Sackets Harbor was founded in 1801 by
Augustus Sackett
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, a land speculator from New York City. He and others had high hopes for trade across Lake Ontario with
Kingston and other parts of Canada. With one of the few natural harbors on Lake Ontario, Sackets Harbor was the most significant community in the area until the founding of the city of
Watertown.
The area attracted migrants from
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, as well as immigrants from Great Britain and France. The latter were fleeing the turmoil of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
and the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
. They cleared heavy forest and gradually constructed houses for a village center. Edmund Luff, a young English immigrant, constructed a
non-denominational
A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination.
Overview
The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...
meetinghouse, where all Christians met until they built their own churches in later decades. Converted to a residence, the house still stands.
The American Revolution did not resolve all issues with Great Britain. Border issues and increasing tensions led the US to impose the
Embargo Act of 1807 prohibiting trade with Great Britain, which effectively included Canada. People on both sides of the border, Canadian (many of them Native Americans, including
Loyalists who had fled there after the Revolution) and American, quickly built up a vigorous
smuggling
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.
There are variou ...
trade across the waters and through the nearby
Thousand Islands area along the
St. Lawrence River. But the embargo reduced trade. The US government first stationed forces in the area to try to reduce smuggling.
By the 1810 census, there were 943 qualified voters in the village. Sackets Harbor incorporated as a village in 1814, during the War of 1812.
War of 1812
As tensions increased with Great Britain, the US began to build up its military forces at Sackets Harbor, including creating a major shipyard at what became Navy Point. The scale of buildup was such that the citizens were outnumbered on a scale of about 8:1 by thousands of sailors and soldiers, camp followers and traders. Some 3,000 workers built the warships, and most had been recruited from the New York City area.
Limited sanitary facilities and medical knowledge made the dense troop encampments breeding grounds for
infectious disease
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...
s, such as
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
, which quickly spread to villagers, too. By February 1813, Sackets Harbor was the largest community in the state north of the
Mohawk River
The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk ...
.
[Gary M. Gibson, "Militia, Mud, and Misery: Sackets Harbor in the War of 1812"](_blank)
''New York History Journal'', Summer/Fall 2013- 94-3/4, pp.241-266
The village was the site of two battles during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
. In the first battle in 1812, the brig
USS ''Oneida'' and shore batteries repulsed an attacking force of five British ships. The village became a major base of operations for both the Navy (including US Marine Corps) and Army for the duration of the war. The Army built defensive earthworks around much of the village, and Fort Tompkins with barracks near Navy Point. Local militia built Fort Volunteer north of the village main streets. Thousands of troops gathered to defend the shipyard and village, and to attack Canada.
The numbers of troops so exceeded what could be built to shelter them that in 1813 troops were housed with residents, in stores, in barns and in tents. Village women counted themselves lucky if they were only cooking for officers. By the spring of 1813, the Army had gathered approximately 5,200 men in the village.
Most importantly, by 1813 the village became the US Naval Headquarters on the Great Lakes. Working at the Navy Point shipyard were 3,000 highly skilled men, including hundreds of shipbuilders and carpenters brought from New York City because of a lack of locally skilled craftsmen. The yard was constructed and supervised during the war by New York City naval architect and shipbuilder
Henry Eckford. They rapidly built eleven warships to establish control over the Great Lakes.
Control of the Great Lakes ultimately ended up in the hands of both the peoples of Canada and the United States (with the exception of
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
, which is located entirely within the United States) and has been managed since 1909 by the
International Joint Commission.
In the
Second Battle of Sacket's Harbor in May 1813, British forces landed and attacked the village, but they were again driven off. Most of the American garrison and ships were at the western end of the lake at the time in another conflict. The American defense was marred by officers' mistaken orders at Navy Point to destroy stores and a partially constructed ship, to prevent capture by the British.
The buildup continued. In the fall of 1813, the Navy had moved its hospital off a ship and was temporarily renting the non-denominational meeting house from settler and preacher Edmund Luff.
[Gibson (2013), p. 264] The next year a two-story hospital was constructed on land just north of the village and south of Mill Creek, on land that was bought from his father Samuel Luff. By the fall of 1814, Sackets Harbor was the third-largest population center in all of New York state, after Albany and New York City.
[Gibson (2013), p. 265]
Until the federal government established the
U.S. Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...
in
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...
, it had several schools for the training of
midshipmen
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, Sout ...
. Commodore
Isaac Chauncey, writing to the
Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
on November 30, 1814, described a school established at Sacket's Harbor on Lake Ontario in that year:
Sir. I have the pleasure to inform you that I have established a Mathematical School under the direction of my Chaplain the Revd. Mr. Felch who is fully competent to the duties of such a School. More than One hundred Officers attend this School, as they can be spared from duty and about Sixty Lieutenants and Midshipmen attend daily who make great progress in the various branches of Mathematics Navigation. etc.
The end of the war came in 1815 before the Navy completed construction of the last warship, the
USS ''New Orleans''. She was put into storage and never completed. She was finally scrapped in 1883.
19th through 20th centuries
The military recognized the continued importance of Sackets Harbor's strategic location. The Navy Shipyard operated until 1874, building ships such as
USRC ''Active'' (1843), a
revenue cutter. In 1848 a new Sackets Harbor Naval Station was constructed. After 1884, the base was used mostly for training.
The Army took over privately owned land of Samuel Luff just north of the village to build
Madison Barracks (c. 1814–1819). Well into the late 19th century, this was a substantial military installation; the Army added new construction including housing, a school, a hospital, stables for horses, and supporting infrastructure.
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
was among the officers who served here. During World War I, the base was used primarily as a hospital post, and in World War II as a training post.
Madison Barracks has been designated as an Historic District and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. The New York State Museum of Military History calls it "a living museum of military architecture"
Comprising the northeastern quarter of the village, the Madison Barracks is being slowly redeveloped as a planned commercial/residential area. The New York City consortium Fort Pike Associates holds title to unsold land in the complex.
In July 2017, the
Horse Island, New York, Horse Island, located just west of the village, was acquired for preservation by the
Civil War Trust, aided by a grant from the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
. It was the site of a War of 1812 engagement. This was the first time in the US that a grant from the American Battlefield Land Grant program has been used to preserve a War of 1812 site.
["Campaign 1776 Announces First Battlefield Preservation Victories in New York State"](_blank)
Civil War Trust
Sackets Harbor developed as an important Great Lakes port through most of the 19th century. Commercial shipyards were built that adjoined Navy Point. In 1817 a local consortium of military officers and businessmen—General
Jacob Brown
Jacob Jennings Brown (May 9, 1775 – February 24, 1828) was known for his victories as an American army officer in the War of 1812, where he reached the rank of general. His successes on the northern border during that war made him a nationa ...
, Commodore
Melancthon Taylor Woolsey
Melancthon Taylor Woolsey (1782 – 18 May 1838) was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812 and battles on the Great Lakes. He supervised warship construction at Navy Point in Sackets Harbor, New York, and later had a full care ...
, Charles Smyth, Eric Lusher, Elisha Camp, Samuel F. Hooker, and Hunter Crane—financed the construction of the 240-ton ''Ontario''. It was the first US
steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
to be built west of the Hudson River and operated on the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
. This was the beginning of extensive steamboat traffic on the Great Lakes, including passenger boats that stopped at towns around the lakes.
On July 12, 1834, Louis Hooker, a son of Samuel Hooker, was aboard the
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...
''Illinois'' from Sackets Harbor when it was the first commercial ship to enter
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
harbor, a sign of what was soon to be greatly increased Great Lakes trade with that city and region. Samuel F. Hooker and his sons had shipping interests in Sackets Harbor with national networks; their firm had steamboats based in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. These were part of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
trade to and from
, a major port and one of the wealthiest cities in the nation before the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. Thus Hooker and similar upstate New York businessmen gained some of their wealth from the domestic
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, as Louisville was a major shipping point for slaves sold to New Orleans markets and the
Deep South
The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...
.
As cities industrialized and major economic development moved West, from 1870–1930 the village became a popular destination for families taking lengthy summer vacations. It attracted visitors from Chicago and other major cities around the Great Lakes, many of whom had family who had lived in Sackets Harbor before the mid-19th century westward migration. Some maintained second homes in historic properties of the village.
In the early 21st century,
heritage tourism and summer recreation have been renewed sources of growth for the village. Navy Point is a marina providing moorings and facilities for private boats.
The
Elisha Camp House
Elisha Camp House is a historic home located at Sackets Harbor in Jefferson County, New York. It was built about 1808–1815 and is a -story red brick building that is a remarkably well preserved example of an elegant Federal-style dwelling. I ...
,
Galloo Island Light,
Madison Barracks,
Sackets Harbor Battlefield,
Sackets Harbor Village Historic District, and
Union Hotel are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
Notable people
*
Frances Bible, opera singer
* American military officer and explorer
Zebulon Pike
Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was named. As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions under authority of President Thomas Jefferson ...
was buried in Sackets Harbor after his death in combat at the
Battle of York
The Battle of York was a War of 1812 battle fought in York, Upper Canada (today's Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on April 27, 1813. An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lakeshore to the west and advanced against the town, whi ...
in 1813. His remains were interred with honors at the military cemetery on Dodge Avenue.
A namesake warship,
USS ''General Pike'', was built and launched at Sackets Harbor before the end of that year.
* Brigadier General and former U.S. Representative from Maryland
Leonard Covington, who also perished in 1813, at the
Battle of Crysler's Farm.
*Colonel Elisha Camp founded and built historic Camp Manor in 1811. He also served the US Army in the War of 1812 as one of its Quartermasters under
General Jacob Brown.
* President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...
served two tours of duty at Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor as a junior army officer.
* General
Mark Wayne Clark was born at the Madison Barracks.
* Bartender
Jerry Thomas, considered "the father of American mixology," was born in Sackets Harbor in 1830.
* Wisconsin State Assemblyman and Senator
Hobart Sterling Sacket
Hobart Sterling Sacket (February 14, 1844March 11, 1911) was an American farmer and Republican politician. He served in the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly, representing Green Lake, Marquette, and Waushara counties.
Biography
Sacket wa ...
was born in Sackets Harbor in 1844.
* Wisconsin State Assemblyman
Samuel Ryan, Jr.
Samuel Ryan, Jr., (March 13, 1824March 26, 1907) was an American newspaper publisher, Democratic politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the founder of the ''Appleton Crescent'' (now ''The Post-Crescent''), served eight years as county judge ...
, was born in Sackets Harbor in 1824.
*
Martha Foote Crow Martha Emily Foote Crow (1854 – January 1, 1924) was an American educator and writer. Born in Sackets Harbor, New York,KM"Martha Foote Crow Papers: an inventory of her papers at Syracuse University" Syracuse University, May 1990. she played an imp ...
, writer, literary scholar and pioneer in women's higher education in the United States, was born in Sackets Harbor in 1854.
Additional facts
*Company B of the United States Regiment of Dragoons, which is today 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, was organized at Sackets Harbor on July 29, 1833. It moved west to join the rest of the regiment at
Jefferson Barracks,
Lemay, Missouri, arriving September 6, 1833.
*The World War II tanker, the ''
SS Sackets Harbor
SS ''Sackett's Harbor'' was a T2 tanker that was built in August 1943. She served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. The ship was a namesake of Sackets Harbor, New York.
''Sackett's Harbor'' survived the war basically uns ...
'', was named after the village.
*Sackets Harbor is the hometown of "
Funny Cide", the famous gelding owned by Sackatoga Stable. In 2003 he won the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...
and the
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Graded stakes race, Grade I race run over a distance of ...
, making him a contender for the
Triple Crown, but lost the Belmont.
*The village is the setting for
American Girl
American Girl is an American line of dolls released on May 5, 1986, by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray eight- to fourteen-year-old boys and girls of a variety of ethnicities, faiths, and social classes from different time periods throughou ...
's ''
Caroline Abbott'' doll, introduced in 2013, and her stories,
which are set during the War of 1812.
Geography
Sackets Harbor is located at (43.946503, −76.117758).
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the village has a total area of , of which , or 0.26%, are water.
The village is on
Black River Bay
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have of ...
, southwest of the mouth of the
Black River, on Lake Ontario. Its protected harbor was critical to the founding and early history of the village. Much of Lake Ontario was gouged out of rock by
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
s. There were few protected harbors on the south shore deep enough for major shipping in the early 19th century.
New York State Route 3 passes east of the village, which is at the convergence of County Roads 62 (Sulphur Springs Road) and 75 (Adams Road/Dodge Avenue).
Watertown, the Jefferson
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
, is to the east, and
Henderson Harbor
Henderson is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 1,360 at the 2010 census. The town is named after William Henderson, the original European-American land owner.
Henderson is in the western part of the county an ...
is to the southwest.
Demographics
As of the census
of 2000, there were 1,386 people, 653 households, and 370 families residing in the village. The population density was 609.1 people per square mile (234.7/km
2). There were 791 housing units at an average density of 347.6 per square mile (134.0/km
2). The racial makeup of the village was 97.26%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 0.43%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.29%
Native American, 0.29%
Asian, 0.36% from
other races, and 1.37% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or
Latino of any race were 1.73% of the population.
There were 653 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.3% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.72.
In the village, the population was spread out, with 18.8% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 37.7% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 113.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.3 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $42,629, and the median income for a family was $51,397. Males had a median income of $33,696 versus $26,917 for females. The per capita income for the village was $23,269. About 5.8% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Sackets Harbor Central School District
Sackets Harbor Central School District is an elementary and secondary school district located in Sackets Harbor, New York
Sackets Harbor (earlier spelled Sacketts Harbor) is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, on Lake Onta ...
provides public education in the area, and operates a high school and elementary school.
References
Further reading
Sackets Harbor Forts, New York State Military Museumaccessed 30 Sept 2007
*Patrick A. Wilder, ''The Battle of Sackett's Harbour: 1813'', Baltimore, MD, Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1994, p. 49
External links
"Sackets Harbor History & Genealogy" American Local History Network,
"Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site" N.Y. State Parks
official website
Sackets Harbor Information 1000 Islands website
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New York State Heritage Areas
Villages in New York (state)
Villages in Jefferson County, New York
New York (state) in the War of 1812
Populated places on Lake Ontario in the United States