Williamson is an Upstate New York town in the northwest part of Wayne County, New York, U.S. on the south shore of Lake Ontario. The population was 6,777 at the time of the 2000 census. The town is named after Charles Williamson, a land agent of the Pultney Estate. Its ZIP code is 14589, and telephone exchanges 589 and 904 in area code 315.

A hamlet is (usually—see below) a rural community ? that is, a small settlement ? which is too small to be considered a village. The name comes from the diminutive of a Germanic word for an enclosed piece of land or pasture.

Pultneyville is a hamlet located in the Town of Williamson, Wayne County, New York, USA. Framing the mouth of Salmon Creek, it is on the northern border of the town, the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The hamlet was originally laid out in 1806 and is listed with the National Register of Historic Places. At one time a significant Great Lakes trading port and site of a War of 1812 skirmish, it now is a quiet, Western New York bedroom community.

Set between the fruit orchards and a Great Lake on the Seaway Trail, many of Pultneyville's activities focus on summer sailing and theatre. The hamlet boasts an active marina and is home to the second-oldest little theater in the United States.

The War of 1812 was fought between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its colonies, including Upper Canada (Ontario), Lower Canada (Quebec), Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Bermuda.

The war lasted from 1812 to 1815, although a peace treaty was signed in 1814. By the end of the war, 1,600 British and 2,260 American soldiers had died.. British and American forces also suffered 3,679 and 4,505 wounded, respectively. It is noteworthy that these "official" figures do not include losses to disease, casualties among American or Canadian militia forces, or losses among allied native tribes. In addition, tens of thousands of slaves escaped to British lines because of their offer of freedom, or they just fled in the chaos of war. The British settled a few thousand of the newly freed Americans in Nova Scotia.Schama, p.406

Great Britain had been at war with France since 1793 and in order to impede neutral trade with France in response to the Continental Blockade, Britain imposed a series of trade restrictions that the U.S. contested as illegal under international law.Caffery, pp.56-58 The United States declared war on Britain on June 18, 1812 for a combination of reasons, including outrage at the impressment (conscription) of American sailors into the British navy, frustration at British restraints on neutral trade, and anger at alleged British military support for American Indians who were hostile to the United States.Caffery, pp.101-104

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century Black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists who aided the fugitives. Other routes led to Mexico or overseas.PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND. Underground Railroad: Special Research Study Nation Park Service The Underground Railroad was at its height between 1810 and 1850,The Fugitive Slave Law African-American History, pg. 2. About.com with over 30,000 people escaping enslavement (mainly to Canada) via the network, though US Census figures only account for 6,000.From slavery to freedom see pg. 3 #5. The Grapevine.

New York () is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States, and is the country's third most populous state. The state is bordered by New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to the south, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a water border with Rhode Island off the east coast of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario to the northwest. New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.

New York City, which is the largest city in the United States, is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center. It was named after the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.

New York was inhabited by the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Lenape Native American groups at the time Dutch and French nationals moved into the region in the early 17th century. First claimed by Henry Hudson in 1609, the region came to have Dutch forts in Fort Orange, near the site of the present-day capital of Albany in 1614 and was colonized by the Dutch in 1624, at both Albany and Manhattan; it later fell to British annexation in 1664. About one third of all of the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New York. New York became an independent state on July 9, 1776 and enacted its constitution in 1777. The state ratified the United States Constitution on July 26, 1788 to become the 11th state. According to the US Department of Commerce, it is also the state of choice for foreign visitors, leading both Florida and California in tourism.

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. The lake is bounded on the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south by Ontario's Niagara Peninsula and by New York State, U.S.

The Finger Lakes are a chain of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York that are a popular tourist destination. There are actually eleven lakes in the region, but only seven of the largest are commonly identified as the Finger Lakes. The lakes mainly are linear in shape, each lake oriented on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in America. Both are close to 40 miles (64 km) from end to end, but never more than 3.5 miles (5,600 m) wide. Cayuga is the longest (38.1 miles (61.3 km)), but Seneca the largest in total area. Seneca is the deepest (618 feet, 188.4 m), followed by Cayuga (435 feet, 132.6 m), with the bottoms well below sea level. These largest lakes resemble the others in shape, which collectively reminded early map-makers of the fingers of a hand.

Category: Image - :New York's Finger Lakes.jpg|thumb|300px|right|New York's Finger Lakes. Lake Ontario appears at top, Oneida Lake upper right, Cazenovia Lake directly below.