Colonie

Colonie, a town in Albany County, NY, got its name from the first settlers of the area who were Dutch, and called the area “Colonye” (the Dutch word for---you guessed it--- Colony.) There are several hamlets and two different villages, Menands and Colonie (of the same name).

Colonie is a quiet town that sometimes holds community events in The Crossings at Colony, a beautiful park of 130 acres that also has a pond for ice skating and fishing. Here you will find lots of wood, marsh, and wetland, as well as wildflower-filled meadows. It’s a great place to take your entire family! Kids will love the playgorund, and you can rollerblade here as well (in-line skate). The park is open from 8am until dusk (like most public parks in the United States). In addition to The Crossings, there’s also a couple of smaller parks: Locust and Milton. In Colonie, you’ll also love the Ampitheater of the Arts, an outdoor circular theater that is great to patron in the Fall, Spring and Summer months. There’s lots of different concerts held here, anywhere from Blues to Swing---contact the town or visit their home website for more information! Colonie also offers lots of Family & Youth Services. You can also catch up with the latest by reading the town’s newspaper, “The Villager”.

Colonie offers its residents, who live in different hamlets and the villages of Colonie and Menands, four different school systems---all who offer many fantastic benefits in their own right. The four school districts are as follows: North Colonie Central School District (serving Latham, Loudonville and the nearby town of Nuskayuna), which gets an 8 out of 10 (Shaker High School has an 86% graduation rate); South Colonie Central schools (their high school has an 88% graduation rate, and has a wonderful middle school: Lisha Kill Middle School---named after Lisha’s Kill (“kill” is the Dutch word for stream, and Lisha is a Native American woman who supposedly is buried on the shoreline---which gets an outstanding 4 out of 5 stars); Watervliet City School District (of Menands and Schuyler Hights; Watervliet Junior/High School gets rave reviews, has a fitness center that is open to the public, and also has a 77% graduation rate); and Menands Union Free School District (they receive a 7 out of 10, a 92.2% graduation rate, a fantastic PE, Health, Art and Music program, and offer Multilingual and Bilingual classes (1xweek) to those in need of such classes. Colonie also offers the Christian Brothers Academy of Albany, NY (this is a 6-12 private school for junior/senior students, and is religious in nature---it can be found close to Albany International Airport). There’s also the private Liberal Arts-oriented Siena College, which can be found in hamlets Newtonville/Loudonville, as well as two proprietary private colleges: Bryant & Stratton College and the ITT Technical Institute (you may have seen this one’s commercials on TV).

After school, work or on weekends with your family, come have a great time at Joe’s Crab Shack, the brand-new restaurant right in the heart of Colonie! This prime family seafood restaurant gets a 4 out of 5. Plus you get a dancing staff, great food and excellent service! I highly recommend the “Classic Steampot”. In Schenectady, this wonderful establishment was proclaimed a “Blue Ribbon” Restaurant.

Also in Colonie you can find other excellent eats such as Smokey Bones Bar Fire & Grill, as well as a whole bunch of other fantastic choices while enjoying the fun and excitement to be found in the state’s capital city of Albany, NY.