Origin of the term "Upstate"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/17/2011 04:21 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>And "upstate" refs. to prison in fiction usually alluded to Sing Sing, in
>the town of Ossining (on the Hudson), though there are more "upstate"
>prisons now than long ago.

I thought that was "up river", to the "Big House".  Which, by the
way, some in the NY state government want to close down.

Joel

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