Category: Historic Homes in New York

The Hill-Hold House Museum 128 NY 416 Campbell Hall, NY 10916

The Hill-Hold House Museum 128 NY 416 Campbell Hall, NY 10916

The Hill-Hold House Museum

128 NY 416

Campbell Hall, NY 10916

(845) 291-2404

https://www.orangecountyny.gov/1477/Hill-Hold-Museum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull-Jackson_House

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Open: Sunday 12:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed/Saturday 12:00pm-4:00pm Seasonal Tours from May to August.

Admission: Adults $5.00/Children $3.00/Group Tours $4.00-Group Tours for over 20 people have to arranged in advance.

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g47402-d27087686-r1070368379-Hill_Hold_Museum-Campbell_Hall_New_York.html?m=19905

I had never heard of the Hill-Hold Museum and I happened to come across it when I saw a sign on the local highway that the museum was open that day. I thought it was a very interesting home and grounds with historical homes and buildings. Some came from other parts of Orange County, NY.

There are group tours on the hour with the last tour at 3:00pm. I took the last tour by myself with the tour guide and got a one on one tour of the house and grounds. The tour takes you into a step back in time to an agricultural society that no longer exists and times were slower and more structured.

The Hill-Hold Museum

The estate in the background

The Hill-Hold Museum:

A Farm for Two Centuries. This stone farmhouse was built in 1769. This museum reflects the life of the Bull-Jackson family spanning over 200 years. Hill-Hold Museum has circa 1830 Furnishings,  a one room School House, a historic 1870 barn, Goosetown Gift Shop, picnic benches, and parking (Museum website).

The house on the estate grounds

The Mission Statement:

(From the museum website)

The Friends of Hill-Hold and Brick House Museums serve to preserve and enhance the preservation of history in Orange County, by maintaining, furnishing and operating programs at both these exemplary 18th century houses. These museums include portraits, memorabilia, photographs, and furnishings pertinent to them, the county and the past ages that touched each house (Museum website).

The front of the Hill-Hold Museum at the start of the tour

History of the Hill-Hold house museum:

(From the museum website)

Visit Hill-Hold museum and see what life was like on a Hudson Valley farm in the 1830s. This was still the era of candlelight, fireplace heat, homegrown food, and homespun clothing. The stone farmhouse was built in 1769 with wide plank floors, handsome paneling, and huge fireplaces (Museum website).

It was the home of a prosperous farmer, Thomas Bull, and his family. Original furnishings range from a prized old mahogany sideboard to made-on-the-farm pieces. Most of the rural family’s needs – food, clothing, fuel came directly from the farm. The property was gifted to the County in 1968 by Eleanor Jackson and the house went through an extensive restoration in the 1970’s to return it to how it appeared when it was originally built in the 18th century. (Museum website).

The Hill-Hold farm served the Bull-Jackson family for more than two hundred years. Now visitors are welcome to tour the farm. As we wander through Orange County, reveling in its rolling farmland scenery, we can go back to when the early Americans brought the gracious living and energetic husbandry to this unique part of the Hudson Valley (Museum website).

The Parlor-sitting room on the first floor was once a bedroom

We started the tour in the formal parlor, which the tour guide told me was once a bedroom along with the Living Room before the house was expanded. The house is filled with Bull family heirlooms that were donated back to the house by distance family members.

The family portrait’s in the Parlor-sitting room with the family piano that was used in the evening for entertainment

The portrait below is of the last member of the Bull family to live in the house before it was donated to the State of New York.

A portrait of the last family member to live in the house

The room was used by the family for entertainment, relaxation and for every evening activities. The room was used for pursuits such a sewing, needlepoint, conversation and with a piano in the room, evening activities with the family. With so much going on the farm, people retired in the evening early as the morning brought a lot of work on this working farm.

The spinning wheel by the fireplace

The Dining Room again was a former bedroom that was expanded for a formal eating as the both the house was expanded as well as the family. Breakfast and a late lunch/supper were served in this room. The Dining Room table, chairs, sideboards and china were pieces that part of the house donated back by the family.

The family dining room

The family China in the sideboard cub-bard in the Dining Room

The complete formal china set was displayed in the china closet as if ready to be used for a formal dinner party.

The sitting area in the Dining Room

The upstairs bedroom

We toured the master bedroom on the second floor of the home. Each of the rooms had fireplaces to keep them warm in the long winter nights with a canopy bed to keep the warmth inside. I could not believe how small people were at this time. This would have barely held one person today.

The canopy bed in the upstairs bedroom

The other bedroom would have been used by the children of the family. Now it contains sewing and weaving machines as well as spinning wheel to create the family clothing.

The second bedroom

The Sewing Room on the second floor with the oven/heater and family spinning wheels

Fabric and clothing was created in the home. Whether flax and wool, material was spun on the farm and the family wardrobe was created here.

The family spinning wheels

The sitting area on the second floor

The last part of the house tour was of the family kitchen in the main house. The Summer kitchen was on the other side of the garden outside. The main kitchen inside the house had the fireplace, cooking materials, the family pewter and everything you would need to cook a complete meal.

The family kitchen

The family table set for cooking

Items for bread and dessert baking, butter making, roasting and stewing and all the items needed to cook three meals a day. The bounty of the Spring, Summer and Fall had to supply the long winters when there was no grocery shopping available.

The equipment for washing clothes and other household chores

Wash Day was a whole day reserved for sorting, boiling, scrubbing and hanging clothing to dry. Until the more modern machines were invented in the 1920’s after WWII, this was the weekly ritual for the farm housewife or the staff.

The open hearth and cooking equipment

The cooking equipment

The family pewter set

After we finished the house tour, we explored the outer buildings which included a Summer Kitchen, a smoke house, the vegetable and flower gardens. These buildings were spread around the main house.

The Summer Kitchen

The inside of the Summer kitchen

This Summer Kitchen came from a different property but the use is still the same. As the warmer months of the Summer were upon them, cooking was done in a separate building to keep the house cooler.

Some of the cooking and baking equipment

The flower beds on the side of the house

The flower and vegetable beds on the side of the property and the smoke house

Outside the main house were the vegetable, fruit and flower gardens. Items used in the household for meals, decorations and entertaining.

The barn, the outhouse and the smoke house in the distance

The inside of the smoke house where meats once hung used for family meals

All the family meats were placed in here for cooking and smoking for the family meals. The process took much longer than it does today.

The well in the middle of the property

They also moved an old school house to the property and it was furnished as a complete turn of the last century school house. It was used until 1936.

The schoolhouse on the property

The inside of the school room

The classrooms of the 1700’s and 1800’s to today have not changed much. With the exception of modern heating and air conditioning, the class room set up has not changed much. There is still a board in the front of the room, chairs facing the teacher, who is in charge and books lining the walls.

The teachers desk and the furnace that kept the room warm in the cold months

Games and amusements that were used in recess

Wheels and bikes were part of the games children played at the turn of the last century

Before modern electronics took over starting in the 1970’s, bicycles, hoops and games such as tag and hopscotch were part of playground activities. Playing outside has not changed much throughout the centuries.

Looking over the grounds at the end of the tour

Before I left for the afternoon, I was able to tour the gift shop before the museum closed for the day.

The Goosetown gift shop at the museum entrance at the end of the tour

The Goosetown Gift Shop at Hill-Hold features books, gifts, toys, craft items, and souvenirs. The shop is operated by the Friends of Hill-Hold, Inc., a not-for-profit organization, which aids in the operation of Hill-Hold and Brick House museums (The Museum website).

It really is an interesting tour and a step back in time for a glimpse into the life of a Upper Middle Class farming family.

John Burrough’s Slabsides and Nature Sanctuary 500 Burroughs Drive West Park, NY 12493

John Burrough’s Slabsides and Nature Sanctuary 500 Burroughs Drive West Park, NY 12493

John Burrough’s Slabsides and Nature Sanctuary

500 Burroughs Drive

West Park, NY 12493

(845)384-6320

https://www.hudsonrivervalley.com/sites/John-Burroughs-Slabsides-/details

https://johnburroughsassociation.org/

Open: The Second and Forth Saturday of the month when in season. Please visit the website for the days open. The cabin is open from 12:00pm-4:00pm when in season.

My review on TripAdvisor:

The entrance to John Burroughs ‘Slabsides’

The entrance to Slabsides is located on a local country road off another local country road off Route 9. Use your Google Map carefully when visiting or you will miss the turn off. The parking lot is really small and holds only about eight cars so please make the turn around on the road above and park facing down from the parking lot (word of advice on parking).

The pathway from parking lot to the house is really beautiful and lush in the summer. It seemed more desolate in the cooler months and just empty. Still it is only about a five minute walk from the parking lot to the cabin.

The original cabin “Slabsides” from the pathway. This one room cabin was used by Naturalist John Burroughs as a home away from home to write and to think.

The lawn outside the cabin

The historic sign outside the cabin

The porch of Slabsides in the summer

John Burroughs work area inside the cabin and his kitchen

John Burroughs work station overlooked the woods and rock formations

The fireplace and resting area

The kitchen area in the back of the cabin

The bedroom and sleeping area of the cabin

The bedroom of the cabin

The pictures of Walt Whitman and John Burroughs in the bedroom

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Burroughs

https://exhibits.archives.marist.edu/s/marist-heritage-project/page/Esopus-Community-John-Burroughs

John Burroughs as a young man

https://johnburroughsassociation.org/about/about-john-burroughs

(From the John Burroughs website)

John Burroughs was one of the most popular authors of his day and is credited with creating the modern nature essay. Using easily understood prose, he described nature that was familiar and local, bringing the natural world to his readers. He encouraged them in the art of observation by sharing a sense of place and purpose in the land. Burroughs wrote more than three hundred articles published in leading magazines and in twenty-seven books over sixty years. Through his writings and friendships with influential leaders he had a profound impact on the emerging conservation movements.   

Born in the Catskill Mountains in 1837 he settled on a nine-acre fruit farm on the west bank of the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie that he named “Riverby.” Poet Walt Whitman and Burroughs tramped through its surrounding woods during Whitman’s several visits, moving Burroughs to call these woods “Whitman Land.” In 1895 he purchased a nearby tract of land and built a two-story cabin as a place to write and entertain, calling it “Slabsides.”  

Though Burroughs was a writer particular to the Hudson Valley region, his travels were widely known and celebrated. In 1899 he joined the Harriman Expedition to Alaska and wrote the “Narrative” of the expedition. He accompanied Roosevelt into the wilderness of Yellowstone, telling the story in Camping & Tramping with Roosevelt, which provided the narrative for a segment of Ken Burns’s The National Parks. Burroughs also traveled to the Grand Canyon and Yosemite with John Muir and went on elaborate camping trips with his industrialist friends Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Accounts of these events are in Burroughs’ journal archived at Vassar College. 

Burroughs received honorary doctorates from Yale, Colgate, and the University of Georgia, and the Gold Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  

The ceiling of the cabin

The stairs to the upstairs loft

The cabin was small and is pretty much one full room with one or two walls partitioning the rooms. This seems more like a summer cabin. Still it had its charm.

We then finished the tour outside along the trails outside the cabin.

I admired the outside woods from the patio

(From the John Burroughs Association website)

The land around Slabsides informed many of his essays in which he described nature close at hand. Through works written here, John Burroughs inspired national leaders to preserve land and its wildlife and generations of readers to head out-of-doors. For nearly three decades Slabsides drew devoted readers and prominent friends. There are nearly seven thousand signatures in his Slabsides guest books. Among the early signers were ornithologists Frank Chapman and William Brewster, conservationist John Muir, leader of the Arts and Crafts movement Gustav Stickley, and his friends Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Ford, who gave him a series of three Ford cars. The young journalist Theodore Dreiser interviewed Burroughs at Slabsides.

The trail outside the cabin which Aldo served as the lawn when it is not full of vegetation from all the recent rain.

The trail signs

Looking down the trails outside the cabin

The rock formations outside the cabin on the trails

One last look back at the cabin before I left that morning

Walking along the trails outside back to the car

Walking along the trails bank to the car

Walking along the trails

Walking along the trails

The parking lot before I left that day

It was a wonderful private tour with Joan, who is the President of the organization. She explained who John Burroughs was, his significance in writing and his life. It was a very interesting tour.

The pathways were so beautiful and there is a full series of trails to follow throughout the property to explore.

Saugerties Historical Society 119 Main Street Saugerties, NY 12477

Saugerties Historical Society 119 Main Street Saugerties, NY 12477

Saugerties Historical Society

119 Main Street

Saugerties, NY 12477

(845) 246-9529

https://www.saugertieshistoricalsociety.com/

Open: (May – October) Sundays 1:00pm – 4:00pm/Monday-Friday Closed/Saturdays 11:00am – 2:00pm,

Admission: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g48564-d27065896-r960657174-Saugerties_Historical_Society-Saugerties_Catskill_Region_New_York.html?m=19905

I finally got a chance to visit the Saugerties Historical Society and see the inside of this historical home. The Society has done a nice job displaying their historical artifacts and carefully decorating the house to reflex the period.

The Living Room of the Kierstad Homestead

In the first room in the main part of the house, there is a display of family China from descendants of the original family who owned the house, local business artifacts and family heirlooms. In the original sections of the house, summer kitchen had has been displayed. This is a depiction of how a Dutch farming family may live in the 1700’s.

In the other room in the main part of the house was an exhibition of local hero, Captain Roger Donlon, who was a decorated officer in the Vietnam War. The exhibition had all the news clipping from the award ceremony and his hometown welcome. One of the volunteers told me that this exhibition will be taken down soon so that they can mount the thirtieth anniversary of Woodstock.

The rest of the house is used for archives space. The house is in two sections, the original section which contains the Summer Kitchen and loft space above (that is closed to the public) and the addition to the house in the late 1700’s. Descendants of the home lived in the house until the 1950’s. The grounds are nice to walk around on and take in the cool shade on a hot day.

The museum is an interesting look at early life in Saugerties, NY.

The Mission Statement:

The mission of the Saugerties Historical Society shall be to provide coordination of all things historical in Saugerties; to be involved in the research, collection, preservation, dissemination of information about, and productive re-use of the historical archives and material culture of the community; to make the historical resources of the community available to the public through education, exhibition and interpretation; and to secure the safe management and protection of such resources that may come under its jurisdiction.

The welcome sign in front of the house.

History of the Society:

(from the Historical Society website/pamphlet)

The Saugerties Historical Society is a source of local information, art, and memorabilia. Exhibitions of colonial and recent history include Saugerties themes as well as those of regional interest such as History Day each October and authentic Hudson Valley colonial militia reenactment.

The Saugerties Historical Society partners with local schools in the education of American and local history. Hands-on activities such as scrubbing clothes on a washboard, spinning wool and writing with a quill pen encourage students to experience colonial life. The Saugerties Historical Society aims to bring pride and knowledge of community through education and preservation.

The earliest recorded owner of the stone house was Hiskia Dubois (c 1727) and Dr. Kiersted purchased the house from Hiskia’s son, Daniel. The Kiersted House was saved from demolition in 1955 by Charles and Inez Steele. Through the generous efforts of volunteers in cooperation with the Town and Village of Saugerties the Saugerties Historical Society acquired the house in 1998.

The Kiersted House is a community center. Each summer, concerts, such as those with the Saugerties Community Band are presented on the beautiful lawn and gardens of the house. The Saugerties Historical Society regularly hosts various community clubs and organizations. The Kiersted House and grounds are available to suitable organizations for special events. The Saugerties Historical Society welcomes all to experience history while visiting the Kiersted House. The Kiersted-DuBois House is listed on the National and New York State Register of Historic Places.

The inside of the Historical Society

History of the Building:

(from the Historical Society website)

The Kiersted House was saved from demolition in 1955 by Charles and Inez Steele. Through the generous efforts of volunteers in cooperation with the Town and Village of Saugerties, the Saugerties Historical Society acquired the house in 1998.

The Historical Marker

The earliest recorded owner of the stone house was Hiskia DuBois, c. 1727. The home which was originally located on  approximately 40 acres was sold upon his death by his son David DuBois to Dr. Christopher Kiersted who was married to Leah DuBois.

The stone house was built in sections with the east wing being the earliest, c. 1727. Subsequent additions to the west end included the parlor and the joining of a stone outbuilding to the main house in 1800. Preservation of the interior of the Kiersted House is evident in the original wide plank floors, 18th century glass-paned windows (some bearing family inscriptions), much original iron hardware and century old concrete floors with inlaid design. 

The original section of the home from the early 1700’s with the Summer kitchen

The later addition to the house

In early 2003, during a planned restoration the house was spruced up with great care to respect the historic elements. The wooden doors and frames were carefully cleaned to expose their original grain and features. The floor planks were also cleaned and patched aesthetically. The stone work in the fireplace required additional care and some of the original stones had to be replaced. An antique pro carpet cleaning NYC service was enlisted to clean and restore the rugs and carpets, many of which were the originals and some of the more worn items were moved away from highly trafficked areas. The drapery and linen items were also restored or replaced with replicas.

The Saugerties Historical Society in the summer of 2023.

The Society has given visitors a chance to see what life was like for early Dutch and English settlers from a prestigious family from the area. It shows that life was understated and productive. It was not an idle existence but one from hard work and determination to build on something. The house is a window for us to look at the families who lived here and how their families grew and progressed.

The fireplace and family crib of the Kiersten’s family

The Kierstad family crib from Dutch times

The Living Room set up

Artifacts in the Living Room including antique furniture and a stroller from the Civil War

The ‘Old Summer Kitchen’

The Summer Kitchen was the original part of the house

The table lined with items from harvest and for cooking the main meal

The kitchen being the focal point of the house was always warm so children and babies could be watched

In the main room were many of the artifacts in the collection:

The family China of Sally Ann Lamouree Zillow, a descendent of the Kierstad family

From the Town of Saugerties, the award of a commode

The Captain Roger Dobson exhibition:

In the other part of the house was exhibit of Captain Roger Dobson, a local hero of the Vietnam War. The decorated Captain’s store was a local boy makes good. The exhibition contains all sorts of clippings and articles from the event and of the Captain’s accomplishments.

The entrance to the Roger Donlon exhibition

The Roger Donlon exhibition on his career in the armed forces during the Vietnam War

The display of Captain Donlon’s accomplishment

The last artifact I saw at the museum was a replica of the original map of Saugerties. This map shows the farms and estates of the original families of the Town of Saugerties.

The replica of the map of Saugerties, NY

The Outside Gardens:

After my tour of the museum, I walked around the grounds of the property and enjoyed the sunny day.

The gardens outside the entrance to the Kierstad Homestead and Gardens

The lawn outside the museum

Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Park 44 Battlefield Road Stony Point, NY 10980

Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Park 44 Battlefield Road Stony Point, NY 10980

Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Park

44 Battlefield Road

Stony Point, NY 10980

(845) 786-2521

https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/stonypointbattlefield/maps.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stony_Point_Battlefield

Open: Sunday (Grounds) 12:00pm-5:00pm (Museum) 12:00pm-4:30pm /Monday-Tuesday Closed/Wednesday-Saturday (Grounds) 9:00am-5:00pm/(Museum) 10:00am-4:30pm

Admission: Free but donations are accepted. Groups, Scouts and Organizations are $5.00 individuals per person and $7.00 for special events per person. Please call to make arrangements on this.

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48694-d263715-Reviews-The_Stony_Point_Battlefield_Lighthouse-Stony_Point_New_York.html

The Stony Point Battlefield Museum

The General’s tent on the battlefield.

We visited the Stony Point Battlefield one afternoon and it is a very interesting and historical fort in the Hudson River Valley. We were able to tour the battle site and explore the grounds of this historical site. Then we toured the museum which gave us a view of the battle and what happened that night through a series of displays of the artifacts.

The Gallery

The Gallery

The gallery was filled with all sorts of weaponry and items needed by the troops for battle.

The battlefield site.

The museum has displays of the weapons used, the structure of the fort, utensils used the time that the troops were defending this area and what life was like on a day-to-day basis. The museum also offers a glimpse of artifacts of both the fort and of the battle with docents assisting you in telling the story of what happened at that time and after the battle and the war were over.

The Stoney Point Battlefield tent set up.

Outside the fort, there was a set-up of tents to show what the troops life was like in battle as well as General Wallace’s tent that he lived in and used during the battle. At the end of the day, the park does a demonstration of lighting the cannon that would have been used in battle. That was interesting. It was a lot more work than people think.

The cannon set up.

There is lot to do and see along the pathways of the fort and its grounds with amazing views of the Hudson River.

The story of the battle.

The History of the park and battlegrounds:

(from the NYS Parks Division website)

Visit the site of the Battle of Stony Point, one of the last Revolutionary War battles in the northeastern colonies. This is where Brigadier General Anthony Wayne led his corps of Continental Light Infantry in a daring midnight attack on the British, seizing the site’s fortifications and taking the soldiers and camp followers at the British garrison as prisoners on July 16, 1779.

The map of the fort at Stony Point, NY.

By May 1779 the war had been raging for four years and both sides were eager for a conclusion. Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-In-Chief of the British forces in America, attempted to coerce General George Washington into one decisive battle to control the Hudson River. As part of his strategy, Clinton fortified Stony Point. Washington devised a plan for Wayne to lead an attack on the garrison. Armed with bayonets only, the infantry captured the fort in short order, ending British control of the river.

The weapons of battle on display at the museum.

The Stony Point Lighthouse, built in 1826, is the oldest lighthouse on the Hudson River. De-commissioned in 1925, it now stands as a historical reminder of the importance of lighthouses to commerce on the Hudson River. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 unleashed a surge of commercial navigation along the Hudson River, by linking New York city to America’s heartland.

Within a year, the first of the Hudson’s fourteen lights shone at Stony Point and others soon followed, designed to safely guide maritime travel along the river. Many light keepers, including several remarkable women such as Nancy and Melinda Rose at Stony Point, made their homes in the lighthouse complexes, and ensured that these important navigational signals never failed to shine.

The lighthouse light on display at the museum.

The site features a museum, which offers exhibits on the battle and the Stony Point Lighthouse, as well as interpretive programs, such as reenactments highlighting 18th century military life, cannon and musket firings, cooking demonstrations, and children’s activities and blacksmith demonstrations.

The cannon demonstration that we saw at the end of our visit to the battlefields.