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Orange County, New York (U.S.)

image by Jens Pattke and Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 2 April 2019

Description of the flag
County Seal

- indicates flag is known.
- indicates it is reported that there is no known flag.

Municipal flags in Orange County:

See also:

Description of the flag

At the website of Orange County (NY) Community College there is a photo of three flags- the U.S., the NY State flag, and a third one, which is orange with a seal in the center. When I place my cursor on the photo I get a popup caption "Three Flags: Orange County Flag, American Flag, and NY State Flag", thus confirming the logical suspicion that the third flag was the county flag. The photo is at www.sunyorange.edu/ssc/Learning.shtml (no longer available). An image of the county seal is at the left side, top of the page, at www.co.orange.ny.us/. The seal shows an orange tree proper on a white background. Note that this image has the outer ring voided white, but the one on the flag has has the outer ring blue. The outer ring has the words "Orange County" above and "New York" below. In the inner portion of the seal are the words "November 1683", a larger line drawing image, with this detail apparent, is at www.rootsweb.com/~nozell/ocgs/. A better image, at mentalhealth.co.orange.ny.us/images/CountyLogo.gif shows that it should actually be "1 November 1683".
Ned Smith, 28 August 2005

The color of this flag is no accident. Dutch settlers founded the county in 1683, and at that time, their reigning sovereign descended from the House of Orange. The monarch's symbol was an orange tree, which came to be incorporated on the new county's seal.
Reference:
www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/June-2013/Flag-Day-The-Hudson-Valleys-County-Flags-and-the-History-Behind-Their-Emblems/
Jens Pattke, 29 July 2013

The color of the flag is no accident, and the earliest European settlers of the area were mostly Dutch, but the wording cited above, from the Hudson Valley Magazine is open to being misconstrued. By 1683 the area had been ruled by England for almost 20 years so the settlers' monarch was Charles II of the Stuarts. When the first counties were named in 1683 many were given names to honor Charles, his brother James, Duke of York (Proprietor of New York), and other members of their family. Orange County was not named because of the ethnicity of its settlers, but because William of Orange was coincidently James's son-in-law. (And it is additionally coincidental that William did become the settlers' monarch 5 years later)
Ned Smith, 31 July 2013

Note that there's not really a "House of Orange"; the non-sovereign ruler of The Netherlands in 1683, the later William III and III, was from the House of Orange-Nassau.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 18 August 2013

Outside the Netherlands, he's usually called "William of Orange", except when it is insisted on absolute precision. The same is true for his predecessor William the Silent.

I think the orange tree is actually the symbol of the town of Orange, from which the title is derived.
Tomislav Todorovic, 18 August 2013

I'm a bit uncertain about the newspaper's implication that the orange tree was chosen specifically as a symbol for William of Orange, rather than just for the word Orange itself. I concur that we need better documentation before accepting the claim, including dates of adoption for the flag and seal.
Ned Smith, 19 August 2013

The town/city/principality's symbol is an orange branch, with three oranges, rather than an entire tree like this county has it.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 22 November 2013

In this photo from the official Facebook page of the New York State Association of Counties, there appears to be a ring of a shade of orange lighter than the one of which the flag's background is comprised: www.facebook.com/NYScounties/photos/pb.93648728626.-2207520000.1447815875./10151890951848627/?type=3&permPage=1
Paul Bassinson, 17 November 2015

County Seal

located by Paul Bassinson, 8 December 2016
Image obtained from www.clearwater.gov.