Taken in part from the writings of Captain Franklin Ellis, 1878
Churchtown is a hamlet three miles south from Claverack village.
It is partly situated in the towns of Livingston and Taghkanic.
Among the first settlers were the Hagadorns. Frederick Houser was also an early settler. Robert Bortle had one of the pioneer stores in the hamlet, that later became a tavern.
The hamlet of Churchtown developed around a Lutheran church built to serve the residents of Livingston manor and the Van Rensselaer Lower Manor.
The church property, and the hamlet, is located on the Claverack and Livingston border at the intersection of County Routes 27 and 12.