History & Culture · Capital Region
Princetown Has a Carry's Bush Beginning
Princetown's county page ties the town to John Prince, Carry's Bush, Dutch Reformed Church land, farms, and rural homes.
Published July 6, 2026 · Last verified July 6, 2026
Princetown has a name that sounds royal until you learn the local story. The name traces to John Prince, a New York State Assemblyman. The town was organized in 1798 from lands once known as Carry’s Bush plus land belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church in Schenectady.
That is a compact origin, but it gives the town a real shape. Princetown sits between Rotterdam and Duanesburg, not as a city neighborhood and not as a remote hilltown either. Its present-day mix is rural and residential, with small family farms, historic homes, and modern subdivisions.
That mix is the thing to notice. Princetown’s old land names keep the place from feeling like a blank rural map. Carry’s Bush and the Dutch church land hint at older settlement layers. The farms, homes, and subdivisions explain the present-day feel: quiet roads with Schenectady County close by.
A person moving through Princetown should keep both pieces together. It is not just country near the Capital Region. It is a town whose name, old land divisions, farms, and newer homes all share the same road network.