Beneath your feet, State Street Hill climbs toward Capitol Hill, ground once claimed entirely by Fort Frederick. From 1676 until 1789 a fort occupied this steep rise, built after the English takeover of New Netherland and Beverwyck, which became Albany. The Duke of York and of Albany — later James II & VII — required a permanent garrison, so work on this fort began in March and concluded in June of 1676 to replace the decaying Fort Orange down by the Hudson River.
Fort Orange had functioned more as a trading post along the river; Fort Frederick was designed to guard the approaches to Albany from the west and to protect the town from Native Americans to the west. Perched above the riverside community, it was also a constant reminder of English rule over the dominant Dutch population. The fort bore the name of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, son of King George II, and was later called Fort Albany in the 1936 novel Drums Along the Mohawk.
You can still find several historical markers placed west of where the fort stood. Face west, where the hill meets the intersection of Lodge and State streets, and the old markers still keep watch there.