During the late 1830s, Daniel Huntington painted views of the countryside in New York State and northern New Jersey, showing some of them at various New York exhibition venues. This canvas captures a scene near Rondout Kill, a tributary of the Hudson River. “Kill” is from the old Dutch kille, meaning creek or riverbed. Exhibited at the Art Union in 1850, the painting was described in cozy terms: “A Cottage sends up its smoke among the deep shade of trees – a cove of still water, cattle, and a glimpse of the hills about Rosedale, make up the picture.” A version of this painting was engraved by S. V. Hunt and published in The Home Book of the Picturesque two years later.