The Wynants Kill furnishes one of the finest water powers in eastern New York. The first permanent settlements in Sand Lake were made in its western part, probably in 1765 or 1766. The earliest inhabitants located in the western part of the town. They were sturdy Dutch farmers who had come from the Netherlands a few years after the settlement of Albany, or who had first located further down the valley of the Hudson. In 1767 there were but two families, as far as is known, residing within the limits of the town. One of these was a family named Adams, residing near the river in the southern part of the town. The other was a family named Brett (or Bradt), who had a home a short distance from that of the Adams family. Which of these was the first to locate within the limits of the town cannot be learned. A few years after these settlements were made the family of Abram Bristol lived on the west side of Burden Lake; and on the opposite side resided the family of Ephraim Quimby. About the same time or a year or two later, certainly before the War of the Revolution, a home was established in the southwestern part of the town, near the farm of Mr. Brett, by Andrew Weatherwax (Andreas Wederwax). Not far from him Philip Carpenter was located. Philip Gardner located about a mile west of the site of Sand Lake village during or immediately after the Revolution. Soon after Abram Frere settled at West Sand Lake, probably in 1790. Near him, and not much later, Jacob Fellows, Nicholas Fellows and Zachariah Fellows built homes and began the cultivation of the land on an extensive scale. The first hotel in that section was kept by Nicholas Fellows. Andreas Baert settled in the closing days of the eighteenth century in the southwestern part of the town, and among his neighbors were John Carmichael, who served in the War of the Revolution; John I. Miller and Stephen Miller. In 1768 William Carpenter and Joshua Lockwood built a grist mill at West Sand Lake, the first in the town. Other early settlers near him were Michael Reichard, Hendrick Younghaus, who had two sons, Henry and Wynant; B. Brumagen and Job Gilbert. Thomas and Calyin Thompson made an early settlement at Sand Lake village, the former building a saw mill and forge on the creek there. Solomon Taylor, who came from Schodack about 1791, operated a saw mill in town.