USA > New York > Dutchess County > Dutchess county > Part 13
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From this point to Poughkeepsie many tourist cabins line the highway and cottages extend down the slope on the S. to Wappinger Creek.
At 27.9 m. is junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road is ROCHDALE, .5 m., a settlement of summer cottages. The hamlet is on Wappinger Creek, which provides boating and bathing. The excellent fishing in the creek includes bass, trout, eels, catfish, and suckers. Pheasants, rabbits, and squirrels are found in all parts of the township. The section is heavily wooded.
At 30.2 m. is junction with a macadam road.
Left on this road is the ZEPHANIAH PLATT HOUSE, .4 m. (L). The house was built in two parts. The older portion, erected about 1735 by Gilbert Palen, consisted of two rooms and a basement kitchen. Zephaniah Platt acquired the place in 1762, and before 1775 built the addition at the right which doubled the size of the house. The enlargement was doubtless made to accommodate the large family, for here twelve children were born to him and his wife, Mary, daughter of Theodorus Van Wyck, of Wiccopee. Platt was prominent in the political history of the State, serving in the Revolution as a colonel of militia and a member of the New York Provincial Congress; and later as a State senator and member of the Constitutional Convention at Poughkeepsie where he voted in favor of ratification. In 1798 he moved to the northern part of the State; with his three brothers, and others from Poughkeepsie, he founded the city of Plattsburgh.
The house stands today practically unaltered. It is built of native field- stone, with a second story in brick and a gambrel roof. The front door is of the Dutch double type and has a brass knocker of Revolutionary design. Two rooms are graced by deep fireplaces with carved mantels. The original cellar door is still in use. The hinges are of wood and the long bar that locks the door rests in crude wooden sockets.
Left at the Platt House. At .5 m. across the White Bridge over Wap- pinger Creek. Proceed up the hill, where at .8 m. is the junction of three roads. Take L. fork and proceed straight ahead.
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At 1.2 m. is the SLEIGHT HOUSE (L), one of the few remaining ex- amples of the early Dutch stone houses in Dutchess County. Of select native fieldstone, the building is 2 stories high, with a main hall bisecting it in the 18th century style. It was erected in 1798 by Jacobus Sleight, who married Elsie De Riemer, a descendant of Isaac De Riemer, one of the early mayors of New York City. The house was raised on the site of a smaller one built by Abram Sleight, father of Jacobus, in the second quarter of the 18th century. The old frame barn, E. of the house, in ex- cellent condition, was put up in 1831. The present owner is a descendant of the builder.
Across the highway from the junction is a farmers' cooperative market, where fruit and vegetables are sold in season.
From the top of the hill at 31 m. is a view of the suburb of Arlington.
At 31.4 m. are the modern office structures (L) of the NEW YORK STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT and the COUNTY HIGH- WAY DEPARTMENT.
US 44 passes through the business section of Arlington, on the outskirts of Poughkeepsie.
At 32.2 m. is the Poughkeepsie city line. (See Poughkeepsie.)
TOUR 1 A
Junction US 9 and Old Post Road-Staatsburg. Old Post Road. 1. 7 m. Left from US 9 on Old Post Road.
STAATSBURG, .5 m. (90 alt., 530 pop.).
Railroad Station: New York Central, center of village. Busses: Twilight Bus Line, flag stop.
In 1693, Captain Henry Pawling, an English officer, bought 4,000 acres of land in Dutchess County from the Indians. In 1698, his widow and chil- dren obtained a Crown patent, but in 1701 sold their rights to Dr. Samuel Staats and Dirck Van Der Burgh, both of New York City, for 130 pounds. The village name is a union of the names of the two owners.
In earlier years, ice cutting on the Hudson River was an important in- dustry, directly west of the village of Staatsburg was one of the largest plants. In 1858, J. H. Bodenstein established a shop for the manufacture of ice- cutting implements. The business expanded, and today the Staatsburg Ice Tool Works sells its products throughout the United States and abroad.
Beneath Staatsburg. is an underlying stratum of quicksand. Buildings in the village located above this stratum quiver when the New York Central trains pass over the section of the railroad tracks which crosses the quicksand.
At the south end of the village, opposite the high school, stands the OLD STONE HOUSE (R), built early in the 18th century. It is a substantial square building with four chimneys, the porch and wood trim painted red. Tradition says that it was an inn in the stage coach days.
About one-half mile L. from center of village on a narrow, macadam road is the LEWIS GORDON NORRIE PARK, on the banks of the Hudson. The entrance is marked by a monument. The park was donated to the people of Staatsburg by Geraldine Morgan Thompson in memory of
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a favorite nephew, who spent the summers of his childhood in Staatsburg. He died in 1923, before attaining his twenty-second birthday. The park has facilities for swimming, boating, and fishing, and fireplaces and tables for picnics.
One block east of Main St. is the TELEPHONE BUILDING, (L), a reproduction of a Colonial one-story stone house 25 ft. square. The wrought iron ornamentations are copies of 18th century handwork. The interior houses the village automatic dialing system.
ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH (R), in the center of the village was built in the Civil War period in an adaptation of the Gothic style. It has in its south wall two three-panel windows brought from Chartres, France, by Ogden Mills, Sr., as a memorial to his wife, Ruth Livingston Mills.
A NINE-HOLE GOLF COURSE (R) at the north end of the village is owned by R. P. Huntington.
At 1 m. are the elaborate gates (L) of the ESTATE OF OGDEN LIVINGSTON MILLS.
MORGAN LEWIS, son of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, acquired this property in 1792. Judge Lewis was at the battle of Stillwater, and led the van of attack against Johnson and Brant at Klock's Field. At the bar and bench his appointments ranged from At- torney General of the State to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, and in politics from member of Assembly to Governor (1804-06). He served as president of the Society of the Cincinnati and is credited with being the founder of the common school system. He married Gertrude Livingston, sister of the Chancellor, and about 1795 built a brick house known as Staatsburg House. In his day the estate was noted for its hospital- ity; among the many distinguished visitors were Joseph Bonaparte, who was entertained here in 1816, and the Marquis de LaFayette, who stopped here while en route to Clermont. The brick house was destroyed by fire in 1832. The massive walls survived and became the nucleus of the second house, which was remodeled by Mr. and Mrs. Mills in 1895.
The property has remained in the possession of the descendants of Morgan Lewis; Ruth Livingston Mills, wife of Ogden Mills, Sr., was his great- granddaughter.
The two main entrances lead through high, ornamented, ivyclad iron gates bearing the initials "R.L.M.," in honor of Ruth Livingston Mills. The lands of the estate bordering the highway have been left in a natural wooded state. The property is divided into two sections, the farms with their ex- tensive orchards and prize stock lie R. The residence estate is west of the New York Central R. R. on the river bank. The formal mansion, visible from the Hudson, is a large white house with Ionic columns, standing on the crest of a hill, its wide lawn sloping riverward.
At 1.6 m., adjoining the Mills estate, is THE LOCUSTS (L) the home of the late William B. Dinsmore. The large frame country house, sur- rounded by maples and evergreens and wide acres of farmlands, is a river estate typical of this region.
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GEORGE WHITEFIEL AREACHED UNDER THIS DAK ANNE 19 4710 THE CONGREGATION BEING TODALARGE ICO ASSEMBLE AN ITHE CHURCH
--
he Whitefield Oak Smithfield
A Family Burial Ground north of Rhinebeck
SL
Churchyard at St. James' Church, Hyde Park
St. James' Church, Hyde Park
At 1.9 m. is the entrance (L) to HOPELAND, the country estate of R. P. Huntington. "No Admittance" signs flank the gravel drive here and at other entrances (L). Only landscaped grounds and the peaks of modern barns are visible.
Beyond Hopeland, rifts among the trees offer glimpses of the Hudson above Esopus Island. Beyond the hills in blue masses to the N. W. tower the Catskill Mountains.
TOUR 1 B
Rhinebeck-Barrytown-Annandale-Tivoli. Barrytown Road. State 9G.
Macadam and 2-strip concrete road.
The route winds through the wooded countryside of the river-shore past huge estates and picturesque villages surrounded by fruit orchards. The road offers vista after vista of the wide river and the Catskills.
The route begins at junction of US 9 and Barrytown Road in Rhinebeck. L. on Barrytown Road. At .7 m., L. on macadam road.
At 2 m., deep in the Astor woods and 50 ft. above the road, is the site (L) of SUCKLEY CHAPEL, built in 1883, as a home for aged clergymen. The project wa ssoon abandoned and the land was sold to the Astor family. The chapel was torn down during the winter of 1936.
At 3.5 m. is the entrance (L) to ROKEBY. The house, not visible from the road, was originally a two-story, rectangular brick structure built dur- ing the war of 1812 by Gen. John Armstrong, then Secretary of War. The library wing and mansard roof were added by Mrs. William B. Astor, Armstrong's only daughter, who lived here until 1872. The estate is now owned and occupied by Margaret Aldrich, a descendant.
An officer in the Continental Army, Armstrong moved from Pennsylvania to Dutchess after the Revolution. Before becoming Secretary of War, he served successively as United States Senator from New York and Minister to France.
At 5.2 m. is junction with State 199.
Left on State 199 is BARRYTOWN, I m. (100 alt., 469 pop.), known in the 18th century as Red Hook Landing. Granted a post office in 1828 by Postmaster-General W. T. Barry, the village was renamed in his honor. Besides the postoffice, it consists of the New York Central R. R. station and a few scattered houses.
In 1777 the British fleet burned local storehouses filled with grain for the Continental Army.
ST. JOSEPH'S NOVITIATE, across field at top of hill (R), is a Roman Catholic normal school dedicated in 1930 by Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York.
At 5.6 m. is the QUINN HOUSE (L), a one-and-one-half-story gray stone house of the early 18th century. The N. end has wide clapboards se- cured with handwrought nails. The floors are of broad, thick planks, and some of the original hardware remains. In the cellar is a huge Dutch fire-
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place. The stone slave house, 10 by 12 ft., still stands, unaltered externally, at the N. end of the building.
After burning the stores at Red Hook Landing, the British raiders seized and looted the Quinn House, then occupied by a family named Moore.
Just beyond the Quinn House is the entrance (L) to the old MONT- GOMERY ESTATE, which, without a sale, has descended through six wills to the present owner, Gen. John Ross Delafield. The house, built in 1804 by the widow of Gen. Richard Montgomery, is of stone, with walls 2 ft. thick and great windows and high ceilings, after the fashion of the time. The portico, terrace, and roof balustrade were added in 1862.
Born in Ireland, Montgomery came to America in 1772 and settled in Rhinebeck, marrying Janet Livingston the following year. Until the out- break of war, they were engaged in building Grasmere, 7 m. S. (See p. 91.) Montgomery was second in command under General Schuyler in the Cana- dian expedition of 1775. He captured Chambly, St. John's, and Montreal, only to be among the first to fall in the disastrous joint attack with Benedict Arnold on the fortress of Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775.
Mrs. Montgomery completed Grasmere, but moved to this new "Chateau de Montgomery" in 1804, where she lived until her death in 1828. In the summer of 1818 a steamer bearing Montgomery's remains from Quebec to St. Paul's Church, New York, paused before the house to fire a salute. Among various eminent men entertained here were LaFayette and Martin Van Buren.
The next owner of the estate was Edward Livingston, Mrs. Mont- gomery's youngest brother, counsel to the Lafitte Brothers, Louisiana pirates, and author of the Louisiana Code. He is generally believed to have been the author of President Andrew Jackson's Nullification Proclamation of De- cember 10, 1832. His wife, Louise d'Avezac de Castera, a creole from Santo Domingo, lived on the estate for 25 years after his death. During her husband's term as United States Minister to France, she is said to have been regarded as the most gifted and most beautiful woman at the French Court.
At 6.1 m. is ANNANDALE P. O. (180 alt., 182 pop.), and just beyond is a triangular road junction centered by an antique village pump. The route takes the left fork and proceeds straight ahead through the village.
The site of Annandale was part of the Schuyler Patent of 1688, and was first settled by Barent Van Benthuysen, who purchased the river-front from Schuyler in 1725.
At 6.8 m. is the entrance (L) to BLITHEWOOD. In 1801 the estate was named Annandale by Mrs. John Allen (nee Johnstone), after a Scotch earldom in the Johnstone family. John Cox Stevens, one of the first prominent sportsmen in the United States and a founder of the New York Yacht Club, purchased the estate in 1810 and lived here until 1833. His ownership was followed by that of Robert Donaldson, under whom the estate became noted as an example of landscape gardening. The turf laid by Donaldson is still in place.
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John Bard, founder of Bard College, bought the property in 1853 and revived the name Annandale, abandoned during the two previous occu- pancies, because of a connection between the Bard and Johnstone families. The name subsequently came to be used for the vicinage as well as the es- tate, and now designates only the former.
BARD COLLEGE, 6.9 m. (R) (formerly St. Stephen's), has 26 build- ings, most of which are of English Collegiate Gothic architecture. The 34- acre campus overlooks the Hudson River Valley. There are 300 students.
Opposite the main entrance is a simple Gothic church (L), the CHAPEL OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, built and named by Mr. John Bard, about 1858, as a memorial to his only son, and in 1860 designated as the college chapel.
The college was founded by John Bard in 1860 to provide a classical education leading to the A. B. degree for sons of the Episcopal clergy. For many years thereafter a large percentage of the graduates entered the Episcopal ministry directly or entered seminaries to prepare for the ministry, a fact which was probably responsible for the legend that St. Stephen's College was a theological seminary. Bard was a grandson of Dr. Samuel Bard, founder of St. James' Church in Hyde Park.
In 1828 the college became an integral but self-governing part of Co- lumbia University, and in 1934 the name was changed to Bard College, in honor of the founder.
At the angle of the road turning east is WARD MANOR, 7.2 m. (L), a 2,000-acre property owned by the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and designed primarily as a home for the aged. The main building houses 50 persons and the secondary building 35, there being, in addition to these, 18 fully equipped bungalows, a convalescent unit, and summer camps for boys and girls.
A part of the Schuyler Patent, this neighborhood was owned by Barent Van Benthuysen from 1725 to 1790, the part that is now Ward Manor passing in the latter year to Gen. John Armstrong. The house built by Armstrong was destroyed by fire, and for many years the place lay idle. The gray stone Tudor edifice, main building of the present group, was built in 1915 by L. G. Hammersley of New York, who, however, never occupied it. In 1926 Robert Boyd Ward, a prominent bread manufacturer, purchased the estate and gave it to the present owners, together with an endowment of $1,000,000.
At Ward Manor is the junction with a one-way dirt road, requiring cautious driving.
Left on this road is CRUGER'S ISLAND .75 m. Off the N. end of Cruger's Island, Henry Hudson is said to have anchored for a night on his voyage up the river. Local, too, is the legend of an extraordinary Indian trial- at-arms held here a century later following the admission of the Tus- caroras to the Iroquois Confederation. A controversy arose as to which of the tribes should be dominant. To settle the question it was agreed that fifty warriors should be chosen from each tribe to battle for su- premacy. Cruger's Island, then known as Magdalen Island, was chosen as the site of the conflict. After a long and desperate struggle, only
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Mohawks and Tuscaroras remained, with the latter holding a numerical advantage. The Mohawks fled in their canoes and took refuge on Goat Island (then alled Schlipsteen Island), a mile north. Lighting camp fires, they arranged logs and stones, covered them with blankets to simulate sleeping men, then hid in the underbrush. As anticipated, the Tuscaroras stole in during the night and fell upon the apparent group of sleepers. The Mohawks sprang from covert, surrounded and overwhelmed the Tuscaroras, and by this stratagem became the dominant tribe of the Confederacy.
John G. Cruger, once mayor of New York City, bought the island in 1835 and built a house upon it, the remains of which are still visible. A small chapel, standing on a rock at the S. end of the island, was constructed by Cruger in imitation of ruins discovered by John Lloyd Stevens, an American explorer, in Chiapis and Yucatan.
At 7.5 m. is the junction with State 9G, a concrete road. The route turns L. on State 9G.
This route is known locally as the Apple Blossom Trail because of the many apple orchards which line it on both sides.
At 9.7 m. is the junction with a concrete road. The route turns L. on this road.
TIVOLI-MADALIN, 9.8 m. (152 alt., 1603 pop.), derives its name from one of those grandiose but impracticable schemes that caught the imagination of so many Europeans in the early days of the republic. After the Revolution a Frenchman named Delabegarre purchased the property now known as the Elmsdorf Place, and built on it a reproduction of a French chateau, surrounded by moats and high walls. He named his creation the Chateau de Tivoli and planned to build a city within the walls. The dream remained unrealized and all but a high octagonal tower was re- moved. The property then passed into the hands of the DePeysters, who built a house in which the tower was incorporated. This stood until 1930. when house and tower were torn down. Parts remain of the original wall that enclosed the estate. Madalin (once known as Myersville) and Tivoli were united and incorporated in 1872.
At 10.6 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right, on this road, is ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH and VAULTS 0.2 m. (L). The first wooden church building was erected in 1818. The present structure was begun in 1868, and stands on an esplanade facing E. Slate-roofed, and constructed of rough stone in the Norman Gothic style, it is almost entirely overgrown with ivy. The windows between the buttresses are of ground glass. In the semi-hex- agonal transept on the S. are pews once used by the Livingstons and the DePeysters. In the immediate rear of the chancel, and abutting against the foundation wall of the church, is a vault of Hudson River bluestone containing the remains of Gen. John Watts DePeyster. On either side of the wrought-iron door are 10-pound Parrott guns. North- ward, in a semicircle at the rear of the church ,are eight other mausoleums of somewhat similar design, four of which are owned by the Livingston family.
At 10.7 m. is the entrance (L) to the CALLENDAR HOUSE, a large frame structure with thick brick-filled walls, built by Henry Gilbert Living-
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ston in 1794. The interior remains unaltered. The Greek Revival veranda dates from the 1830's.
Before the Revolution the land was occupied by Indians, two of whose graves, containing skeletons, arrowheads, and carved stones, were discovered when the lawns were being graded in 1888. A part of the Schuyler Patent, the estate was acquired in 1781 by Joseph Ketcham, who built a dock on the riverfront, where the next owners, Jacob Bogardus and John Reade, con- ducted a store for a number of years. Chancellor Livingston, experimenting at that time with steamboats, constructed a 30-ton vessel in the North Bay cove of the property. The craft, however, failed to perform satisfactorily on its trial trip.
Henry Gilbert Livingston bought the estate in 1794 and built the house, selling it the following year to Philip H. Livingston. The latter named the place Sunning Hill and lived here until 1828. Among later owners, all of whom have been members of the Livingston family, have been Robert Tillotson ; James Boorman, first president of the Hudson River R. R .; Henry De Koven, a rector of St. Paul's Church, Tivoli, and father of Reginald De Koven, the composer; and Johnstone Livingston, who re- named the property Callendar House. The present owner is Mrs. Katherine Johnstone Livingston Redmond.
At 10.8 m. is the entrance (L) to THE PYNES, an estate owned by Mrs. Redmond of Callendar House, with which it is almost as closely linked in history as in location. The Empire vases on the gateposts were brought here from the old Chateau de Tivoli.
The main part of the house is believed to have been built in 1780 by John Reade, who, with Jacob Bogardus, operated a store on the riverfront. The interior, in the familiar 18th century design bisected by a central hall, has been renovated.
Henry Gilbert Livingston, a spy for Washington's army and builder of Callendar House, bought the property in 1794 from John Reade, his brother-in-law. The estate has never passed out of the possession of the Livingston family.
At 11.1 m. is the New York Central R. R. station and the dock of the Sunrise Ferry Co., operating auto ferries between Tivoli-Madalin and Saugerties.
TOUR 1 C
Red Hook-Dutchess-Columbia County Line, US 9. 5.1 m.
The section through which this route passes is sparsely settled. Apple and cherry orchards border the highway.
The route begins in Red Hook at junction of US 9 and State 199, and follows US 9 N.
At .4 m. is the MARTIN HOMESTEAD (L), built in 1732 by Hen- drick Martin. The stone walls were recently covered with white cement, but the interior remains in its original state. The walls enclose an air- chamber, making the house cool in summer and warm in winter. Solid, hand-
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hewn beams, 12 x 14 inches, span the rooms. The flooring is composed of planks 14 to 28 inches wide. The two-piece doors, brass knobs, and wrought- iron hinges and knockers are original.
At 2.7 m. is junction with macadam road.
Right on this road .3 m. is Upper Red Hook. In the center of the hamlet is the THOMAS HOUSE, (R), a brick tavern used by Gen. Israel Putnam as a headquarters in 1777, and a station for stage coaches in the halcyon days before the railroad. Directly beyond the Thomas house take right fork to SPRING LAKE, 2 m., a private summer resort with facilities for tennis playing, swimming, boating, bathing, and fishing.
At 4.1 m. is a junction with a macadam road.
Left on this road is the REDDER HOMESTEAD, 75 m. (R), built about 1720. It is a one-floor and attic house of stone, painted white, with green shutters and a very steep roof.
The original two-piece door has hinges, latches, and a door-knocker imported from Holland. The flooring-boards, 12 x 14 inches, are fastened by wooden pegs. Spanning the rooms are 14 x 18-inch hand-hewn beams with the draw-plane and adze marks visible. The molding and fireplace mantel are hand carved. While digging in the cellar, the owner un- covered coins dating back to 1722. These are still in his possession.
At 5.1 m. is the DUTCHESS-COLUMBIA COUNTY LINE.
TOUR 1 D
Pine Plains-Washington Hollow. State 82. 17 m.
Leaving Pine Plains, the road leads into the Mid-Dutchess County valley. This is a dairy and fruit region; cultivated fields and orchards line the highway.
At .5 m. is the junction with State 82A, a macadam road (sharp curves). Left, State 82A traverses a wooded countryside. Wild strawberries and blackberries abound along the roadside. Coarse bunch grass and brush line the road and extend back as far as the eye can see. Fallow fields and dilapidated houses tell the story of a once busy farming section. At 5.5 m. is the village of SHEKOMEKO (665 alt., 45 pop.), named for the Indian village which was located about 3 m. NE. Christian Henry Rauch of the Moravian Missionary Society established a mission here in 1740. Upon his arrival Rauch found the tribal remnants that had gravitated to the ancient Indian village reduced to almost hopeless dis- solution by the neighboring white settlers as the easiest way to intimida- tion and exploitation.
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