Mohawk Valley Websites

Preserving the 1747 Nellis Tavern , the history of the Nellis Family and the culture of the Palatine Germans who settled in the Mohawk Valley.

The Society is devoted to restoring the 1747 Nellis Tavern as a historic Site.

Web Site: www.PalatineSettlementSociety.org

Email: pss.secretary@PalatineSettlementSociety.org

1747 Nellis Tavern - Open Sundays

June through September 1PM - 4PM

Rhubarb Festival is first Sunday in June 11AM - 4PM




A great amount of work has already been completed, and many functions are now conducted there 
during the Spring, Summer, and Fall months of the year.

The 1747 Nellis Tavern, a distinctive treasure of the Mohawk Valley and built during the reign of King George II, is one of a very few wooden structures to survive the Revolutionary War battles fought in this valley. Purchased in 1985 by the Palatine Settlement Society, a membership and 501c(3) organization, the structure is undergoing a multi-year restoration process. The eight-acre site includes a small red building and the footprint of a Dutch barn. The Nellis Tavern is listed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places.

A remote farmhouse built by a prosperous Christian Nellis, Sr., it became a turnpike inn before 1783 and a general store was added by 1801. It was located along the Kings Highway and then the new Mohawk Turnpike, both important westward travel routes. Today, its surviving Dutch-frame construction, Georgian architecture and "New England" style wall stenciling speak to us from times past.

The Palatine Germans in the Mohawk Valley

Significant numbers of Palatine Germans fled their homeland in 1709 due to religious persecution, poverty and warfare. After a brief time in the Netherlands, they left for England where, in 1710 Queen Anne promised them land in America in return for producing naval supplies along the Hudson River. They then moved inland to the Schoharie County and later established settlements in the 1720's in the Mohawk Valley, a region considered the wilderness of the Native Americans.