140 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON
ished. Merchants began to hold weekly meetings,
thus laying the foundations of The Merchants'
Exchange. But his most notable achievement
was the establishment of the first mail service on
the American continent.
In spite of all the sea commerce and trading up
and down the river by sloops, pinks, flyboats,
ketches, and canoes, the colonies of New York and
New England demanded swifter and more frequent
means of communication, and Governor Lovelace
began to consider how the bonds could be drawn
closer. In 1671 one John Archer bought part of
Van der Donck's old estate and built a village
"near unto the passage commonly called Spiting
Devil" on "the road for passengers to go to and
fro from the main as well as for mutual intercourse
. with the neighboring colony." Lovelace consented
to make the village an enfranchised town by the
name of Fordham Manor, provided its inhabitants
should forward to the next town all public packets
and letters coming to or going from New York.
The scheme evidently proved a success, for Love-
lace shortly decided on a wider extension of com-
munication, and the year 1673 was celebrated by
the setting out of the first post between New York
and New England. It was to have started on New