The "Mini Sink," as this area was named by the native Lenapes, was first inhabited by the Paleo Indians as early as 10,000 to 12,000 BC.The Dutch mined copper in this area after an expedition in 1620 revealed the presence of mineral deposits.

The mining company built a road connecting this area to Esopus (Kingston, New York). It was along this one hundred mile "Coppermine Road" that the first settlers reached the Mini Sink. The first settler on the west bank of the Delaware River in the Mini Sink was Nicolas Depui who moved his family from the Hudson Valley in 1727. In 1793 Antoine Dutot, a French plantation owner in Santa Domingo,purchased a large tract of land and laid out a village.

The first Inn was built in 1799, by Benjamin Bonham, along the path of an anticipated road to be built in 1800 by Abram B. Giles.