In 1791 Stephen Herrick leased 90 acres of forest land from James Duane, who then owned most of the town and had subdivided it into hundreds of farm lots. Herrick paid an annual rent of 13 Spanish milled silver dollars and was required to plant one apple tree for every acre he leased. By 1801 the Herrick family had a house and barn on the land that is now the Duanesburg Town Forest. All that remains of the farm are the cellar hole and stone walls that once surrounded pastures and fields. New York State acquired the property in 1879 through mortgage foreclosure, and in 1934 the state sold the land to the town for one dollar to be used for reforestation purposes.