Don’t miss touring the historical sites of the Fishkill, NY area and then touring the local downtowns for something to eat.
There is lots to do and see in Fishkill, NYThere’s lots to do and see in Wappinger Falls, NY as well
Don’t miss these two wonderful downtowns and all the historical sites, parks, farms and wonderful eating establishments in the surrounding area. It makes a wonderful afternoon.
Christmas at the Brinkerhoff House
The Brinckerhoff House decorated for Christmas tea fundraiser
The First Reformed Church of Fishkill decorated for the Christmas holidays
I love visiting the Hudson River Valley so any event or tour that I can go on is an excuse to come up here. I had visited all the sites that I wanted to see on a trip two weeks earlier but wanted to see them in more detail plus I wanted to take some pictures. The weather finally broke, and it was a much more pleasant 83 degrees as opposed to the 96 degrees the trip before. That makes the trip much nicer.
I asked my aunt along so that we could share in the experience, and I could use her phone to take pictures of the all the sites. It is a much nicer trip when you have someone along who enjoys these things. The one nice thing about traveling to the Fishkill, New York area is that it is only an hour away and a straight run…
The entrance to Mesier Park where the Homestead is located
The plaque outside the home
I visited the Mesier Homestead recently and toured the home with a local docent. Home to four generations of the Mesier family, the house has been added onto since it was built in the mid-1700’s. The rooms are decorated with furnishings from the Victorian era and shows life as it may have been in the late 1880’s at the height of the Victorian era.
The Mesier Homestead in the summer months
The tour of the rooms shows how the home was added onto to meet the increased demands of a growing family and one of increasing affluence. The original home was added onto from the back to add service areas and work areas for the household.
The entrance to the Mesier Homestead
A portrait of Mrs. Mesier in the hallway
When you enter the foyer from the front door, there are reproductions of family portraits hallway that had served as the parlor of the original house. As the house expanded, this area became the formal entrance to the home. To the right of the foyer, there is the Living Room, where the Historical Society has uncovered one of the two fireplaces from the original home that once heated the rooms.
The reproductions of Mr. and Mrs. Mesier in the Living Room
During the late 1800’s, the son of the owner heightened the ceilings to get rid of the railroad ties that once decorated the ceiling. This gave the room a more modern look and showed the affluence of the family that could heat a home with heigh ceilings.
The Mesier Homestead Living Room
Another view of the Living Room
The room furnishings included family paintings, a then modern Victrola, ornated furniture and diagram of the family tree. The small steps led to a small office off the Living Room that was added onto with more family objects.
The Library and Office off the Living Room at the Mesier Homestead
When you entered the room from the kitchen and the Butler’s Pantry where food was finished and readied to be served, a formally set Dining Room for dinner showed the family’s status in the community.
The Dining Room at the Mesier Homestead
The sideboard and the Dining Room table
An ornate china set from England enhanced the table with fine linens that the family would have owned. A newly opened fireplace that had once heated the dining room was shown by a heating unit that would have been used in the Victorian age. All sorts of fine decorative objects lined the tables and shelves.
The Dining Room table is set for a fine dinner at the Mesier home
By the amount of space available for living and entertaining with the separate rooms for use in the home it showed how times were changing with the affluence of that time. The family would show off their fine things to show their status in the community.
The Fan Collection from Victorian times
The second-floor tour is a view of the slave/then servants’ quarters and the two-family bedrooms. What I thought was interesting on the tour is how the family had to co-mingle in the bedrooms because of the number of children in the family and how mom and dad were not always alone. The rooms had to be expanded so that there was plenty of room for the growing family.
The Children’s bedroom on the second floor
The Adult’s bedroom on the second floor
There were many family items in the house like clothing, children’s toys and playthings and items for recreation like bikes, ice skates and musical instruments of a time before TV, movies and radio. There were also items for spinning and making clothes.
Children’s toys during the Victorian Age reflected imagination and preparation for adulthood with blocks, dolls, kitchen items and other playthings to stimulate the mind.
Bicycles and Native American art on the second floor
During Victorian times, the way people shopped and carried themselves changed after the Civil War with the rise of department stores and the merchant class. Instead of making your clothes, you bought them at the store and there was protocol on how Victorians behaved and handled themselves in society regardless of class.
The care of grooming a Victorian woman had in her bedroom
Clothes in a Victorian bedroomClothing and accessories for the Victorian woman for dressing for the day
One of the rooms was also set up like a small school with original children’s desks and blackboards. There is even a Civil War era flag that was found in one of the local homes hanging in the room.
The tour guide also noted the drafts in the house before insulation was put in and the conditions of the time with weather effecting living conditions inside with drafts in the winter and heat in the summer through the roof plyboards. This was modern living at the time. The heat would radiate from the lower level of the house and the Dutch doors would let fresh air in the warmer months. These were modern in comparison to our modern homes. This was the interesting part of the home.
When I asked why the back rooms had not been renovated like the front of the house, our tour guide explained that the Meiser’s were a very devout family and even though they were affluent for the times, they were restrained and not showy like you would see in places like the Vanderbilt mansion. They would not have entertained like that on a grand scale. It was an interesting perspective that those things did not mean that much to these older families.
The original section of the homestead from 1742 is currently being renovated. This is the original hearth and oven of the kitchen.
The tour takes about an hour and is a fascinating step back in history of the way these families lived.
Recently the house was decorated for the Christmas holidays with garland, holly and fragrant oranges that once masked the household smells. They also gave the house a festive fragrance. These popular tours last through the holiday season.
Please check their website for a list of their activities.
The History of the Mesier Homestead:
The Mesier Homestead and surrounding property was sold to the Village of Wappinger’s Falls in 1891 with the understanding that it forever be known as Mesier Homestead and Mesier Park. The Wappinger’s Historical Society acquired full custodianship of the Homestead in 2007 and through ongoing fundraising efforts has been able to restore the Homestead to its present appearance.
The Mesier Homestead at Christmastime:
Christmas time at the Mesier Homestead is a festive and elegant affair of decorations and the home being set for a Christmas in the Revolutionary War era. The only difference is the the home has a Christmas tree which did not come into existence until the Victorian era.
the outside of the home decorated with wreaths and garland
The Front Porch
The front door with wreaths and garland
Entering the main hallway of the Mesier Home
The other end of the Hallway
Even the doors were festive with wreaths
The family portraits in the hallway were adorned with garland
The Living Room was the centerpoint of the house on Christmas morning with children coming downstairs to see what Santa had left them in the later part of the 1890’s into the early 1900’s. The tree would have been the centerpiece of the room sparkling in Christmas morning and a place for the family to gather for the day. Nothing has changed in this tradition except electronics.
The Living Room was decorated for both a Victorian and Revolutionary Christmas
The Victorian Christmas tree was lit brightly for the holidays and added a festive touch to the room
The rest of the Living Room was set with flowers and garland
The Library was set with flowers and wreaths and made for a very welcoming environment. This would have been a quiet place on Christmas morning for the family with festivities all through the house.
The Library was simple decorated and elegant
The comfortable Library
Even so, the house was beautifully set with garland all over the mantels and doorways and the Dining Room was set for a formal Christmas lunch which would have been eaten after church. The concept of gift giving on the holidays also did not come about until the Victorian era as well. Still Christmas lunch had been part of the holiday tradition for years.
The Dining Room was set for an elegant Victorian Christmas lunch
Victorian china adorns the festive Christmas dinner table
The mantel in the Dining Room was adorned with garland and oranges which gave the room a wonderful fragrance of pine and citrus
The family portrait in the Dining Room got special attention
Mesier Homestead decorated for the Christmas holiday season
The Wappinger’s Falls Christmas tree is just outside the house
The bandstand outside the house was decorated to the hilt.
The History of the house:
The house itself is part of the ‘Rombout Patent’ of land that had been bought by the Dutch from the local Indian tribes by three prominent Dutch families. This section of the property was bought by Nicholas and Adolphus Brewer and contained 750 acres of land around the Falls area, and they built the first stone house in the village near present Mill Street. In 1742, the Brewers built a mill on the east side of Wappinger Creek.
Nicholas Brewer built the Mesier Homestead in 1741, which he sold in 1777 to Matthew Van Benschoten who in turn sold it to Peter Mesier, a merchant from New York City. In May 1777, soldiers and local residents attacked Peter Meiser’s house in Wappinger’s Falls, disputing the price of tea for sale in a small store inside the home. Mesier was a merchant from New York City and a Loyalist. The angry mob struck Mesier, beat his slaves and drank wine stored in the cellar. They also took the tea and left a small amount of money behind. The house was in the possession of the family for the next four generations (Wiki).
The organization’s goal for 2020 and beyond is to restore the original 1741 building so it can be a showcase of our Colonial history. Your membership, gifts and in-kind donations will help us maintain and restore this jewel of Wappinger’s Falls.
The Wappingers Historical Society Native American Collection:
The Wappingers Historical Society is the curator of an extensive collection of Native American artifacts, many of which stem from the Stoneco/Clinton Point and Bowdoin Park area in the vicinity of the Town of Wappinger. This collection of artifacts was once considered to be the largest private collection in New York State.
Victorian Hair art of the dead
It consists of over 2000 objects, many of which are projectile points (arrowheads and spear points). Some of these have been found to date back 8,500 years. Also included are tools such as scrapers, knives, axes and hatchets. A small portion of approximately 100 pieces of the collection is on display at the Mesier Homestead and can be seen as part of our guided tours.
The Native American collection is extensive at the Meiser House
The Mission of the Wappinger’s Falls Historical Society:
The Wappinger’s Historical is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of the Town of Wappinger, the Village of Wappinger’s Falls and neighboring communities and to maintain the custodianship of the Mesier Homestead.
The beauty of Downtown Wappinger’s Falls, NY
When you are a member of the Wappinger’s Historical Society, you help:
Storage area of the house
*Preserve and expand our archives, collections and library to actively chronicle the life of our hamlets, village and town for future generations.
*Develop and implement programs and exhibits so that people of all ages can better understand their connection to history.
*Safeguard our architectural heritage of the 1741 Mesier Homestead.
(This information was taken from the Wappinger’s Falls pamphlet, and I give them full credit for it)
The Mesier Homestead in the summer months
Their wonderful gift shop that should not be missed
The outside of the Mount Gulian Homestead at 145 Sterling Street in the Summer of 2024
The sign that welcomes you
On my last trip to the Hudson River Valley to visit the great houses of the Hudson, I came across Mount Gulian, a Dutch manor that I never heard of in all my visits. This smaller Dutch manor house is actually a reconstruction of an 18th century home that burned to the ground by arson in 1931. The original house had been built between 1730 and 1740 and added onto over the next two centuries.
Christmas Time at Mount Gulian in the three weekends in December:
Mount Gulian at Christmas in December of 2021
The historic plaque in front of the house
The house officially had closed for the season at the end of October and was decorated for the holidays for the weekend between December 14-16th to represent the Dutch celebrations. There had been a Children’s tea the Monday before the New Year, so the house was closing down for the season. As the ladies that worked there were taking down the garlands, mistletoe and trees, the curator Amy, let me wonder the rooms as long as I did not get in their way.
The beautiful garland and lights adorn the house at Christmas time
The front door is very welcoming for the holidays
The front door was beautifully decorated for the Christmas season
The house as you enter through the front door
The house is very unique. You would have never known it was a reconstruction. The house really looked its age. The funny part of the house is that is at the very back of an old estate that had been developed with townhouses from the main road to almost the border of the house’s property, so it was strange to drive through to find the house. Once in the semicircular driveway, you plunge back into time.
The Hallway decorated for Christmas
The Hallway decorations in more detail
The Staircase to the Second Floor (Closed) was beautifully decorated for the holidays
The large porch in the front of the house looks over what’s left of the lawn and the housing developments. Once inside you enter the foyer and long hallway with rooms on each side. Each room was or had been decorated for the holidays with garland, mistletoe, fruits and a Christmas tree in one room, a kind of mixture of old Dutch meets Victorian Christmas. Still the effects were nice and it was very festive.
The furniture in the hallway decorated for Christmas in 2024
The furniture in the Hallway was nicely decorated for the holidays
What I enjoyed is that in each room, there were stories of the Verplanck family and the role that they played in the formation of the community and in the nation as well. In real life though, this much decorating would not have been done. This is a more elaborate look on how the Victorians would have decorated the house. The Dining Room would have been one of the most elaborate for entertaining during the holiday season for dining and entertaining.
Until the Victorian Age, things had been kept very simple. You would have decorated the house before Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Day, there would have been an afternoon church service and a nice lunch. Gift giving did not come into play until after the Civil War.
The Dining Room set for Christmas dinner in 2024
The full view of the Dining Room
The Dining Room Table and the fireplace mantle
The back part of the Dining Room
The Dining Room sideboard decorated for the holidays
The Historic Documents in the Dining Room with a funeral dress (why this was here I was not too sure)
The elaborate decorations between the windows in the Dining Room
The detailed decorations on the Dining Room table ready for a wonderful Christmas dinner
The beautiful fresh Christmas tree in the corner of the Dining Room in 2024
All of the rooms had artifacts that the family keeps donating the house as most of the original furnishings were destroyed in the 1931 fire. Still the furnishings are vintage to the time period. Here and there are stories of the house, the people that lived here and about the family in their daily lives. There were also stories of the Revolutionary War and its headquarters of Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. There was also a display on the founding of the Society of the Cincinnati, a Veterans group.
The Order of Cincinnati at Mount Gulian
The history of Mount Gulian and the surrounding area
The history of Mount Gulian and the surrounding area
The main room decorated for the Children’s Tea in the room of the Order of Cincinatti information
The Main Room set up for the tea
The back part of the room with its elaborate details
The beautiful window decorations in the main room
The Children’s Christmas Tea menu at Mount Gulian for the late December event
The Christmas tree in the corner of the room by all the portraits and photos of the members
The Kitchen in the basement area is one of the areas of the home that survived the 1932 fire when the house burnt to the ground. It would not have been used in modern times as a more modern kitchen was built in the newer area of the house. Still, this was decorated for the holidays to show the bounty of the Fall harvest and the items that would have been served for the Christmas holidays.
The kitchen decorated for Christmas in 2024
More detail on the Kitchen decorations
The Kitchen cabinets decorated for the holidays
The decorations on the Kitchen table in the basement area
The windows in the basement were decorated as well in the Gift Shop
The Gift Shop in the Basement area just off the Kitchen area
When I went back upstairs, we toured the Library and the Sitting Room just off the hallway and the Dining Room.
The Library decorated for the holidays
The Library decorations
The beautiful details of the window decorations
The cases of artifacts with the Christmas garlands decorating the top of the furniture
The other side of the Library cases and displays
According to family records, Christmas was a big holiday in the house with many members of the Ver Planck family enjoying the holidays together. The Drawing Room (where the Tea was taking place) was ‘decorated with pine over the doors and windows with wreaths of laurel and the berries of the bittersweet in various places and the room was aglow with a bright wood fire and candlelight and it was all adorned for Christmas. When the Drawing Room door was opened Christmas morning, the Christmas tree burst on our sight. It was lighted with little wax candles as the modern trees were but there were none of the stereotyped ornaments of tinsel and glitter. There were Lady Apples on the tree and oranges, cornucopias and toys and the sugar plums. The tree was always of laurel, reaching nearly to the ceiling and yet it looked small in that great room’ (William Samuel ‘Ver Planck Family History’). The current curators have done a nice job keeping this tradition alive in the decorations.
When I left the house, I visited the grounds over-looking the Hudson River. On the property behind the house was a ‘A frame’ Dutch barn. The barn was closed for the season but fit very well into the landscape of the estate. The view of the Hudson River was beautiful.
The Dutch Barn at Mount Gulian set up for a party
The view to the Hudson River from the house in the Summer
Don’t miss visiting the downtowns of Beacon and Wappinger Falls while visiting the area. Taking Route 9D is an interesting and scenic way to tour the area.
Downtown Beacon, NY at Christmas in 2021
Downtown Beacon, NY at Christmas time
Downtown Beacon at Christmas time
Mount Gulian in the Summer:
In the Summer of 2024, I returned to Mount Gulian to take a full tour of the estate in the summer when everything was in bloom. The same house but a different feeling than the Christmas holiday season. On the Summer tour, you are able to walk the gardens, the barn and the grounds around the house. Plus the gardens were in bloom so it was a more complete tour.
The back of Mount Gulian in the Summer of 2024
The back lawn on the Mount Gulian Homestead estate
The lawn to the gardens from the house
I started the tour of the property while I waited for my tour at 2:00pm. I walked the lawns and walked around the gardens. The property looked so much nicer than in the winter months. You can see the vibrance of the gardens and the beauty of the lawn and woods against the house. The gardens were well maintained and the flowers were still in bloom in the late summer months.
The gardens with the house in the distance
When I started the tour of the house in the Summer of 2024, it was similar to the December tour in the description of the house but the tour guide discussed the house from the perspective of the family living here full time when they moved from their New York City home to the Hudson River Valley permanently.
The Living Room with original furniture from the Verplanck family
Our first stop was in the Living Room where original family furnishings decorate the room. The family would gather in this room for specials occasions and holidays. The tour guide explained that the room contained some items that used to be in the original house including the portrait of the last resident of the house, Virginia Verplanck before the house burned down in the 1930’s.
The Verplanck Family china
Portrait of Virginia Verplanck as a child. She was the last Verplanck to live in the house
The Library
Revolutionary War artifacts in the house
The house was used by General Washington and his troops during the Revolutionary War and Baron von Steuben used the house during the war as well. The proximity both Washington’s Headquarters and the City made it an ideal location.
The portrait of the Baron Van Steuben
We next toured the kitchen, which had been decorated for a Dutch Christmas the last time I had visited. The hearth was from the original house and you could see how things were cooked in the open fire and then in the beehive oven where breads and cakes were cooked.
The kitchen in the basement
The cooking hearth and heat of the house
Cooking and Kitchen equipment
The items a cook would need to prepare meals in a Dutch kitchen.
The Grounds part of the tour:
After the full house tour, we went out to the grounds to see the barn and the gardens. The barn was the American Dutch style barn which was specific to this area. It was large and airy, enough to hold the crops and the animals in case of bad weather.
The Dutch Barn sign
The outside of the Dutch Barn
The Maitland bird holes in the barn to eat bugs on the hay and vegetables
My tour guide told me the unusual holes were that of the Maitland bird the could enter the barn to eat the bugs and insects on the crops and hay.
The inside of the barn set up for a future wedding
We next toured the gardens, which have been partly restored to their original design. They were in bloom with late summer flowers and decorative bushes and the layout was taken from early designs from the house.
The formal Gardens and Lawns tour:
The side of the house leading to the gardens
The semi circle in front of the house
The lawn between the house and the formal gardens used to be vegetable and fruit garden
The sign for the formal gardens
The formal flower gardens followed the original design the Virginia Venplanck had when she lived here
The beautiful gardens had been over grown in the years since the house burned down so volunteers and landscape architects had to cut down the woods and flow pictures and diagrams of the gardens to recreate them.
Entering the formal gardens
The middle of the gardens
The original trellis was still standing in the woods and it was rebuilt on its original spot
Walking through the trellis
The stone bench at the edge of the gardens
The back of the formal gardens
We ended the tour on the back lawn facing the Hudson River. The tour guide explained that the are thinking of trimming back the the woods near the river to better open up the view. This was probably true of the time of the house to pick up boats when moving around the river.
The views are spectacular now
The tour of the house and garden gives it a different perspective than at the holidays. It shows a working farm and an estate of a very prominent Hudson River family.
History of Mount Gulian:
The land where the house stands was purchased by two fur traders Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck on August 8, 1683. In exchange for 85,000 acres of land, they paid about $1,250 in goods. The Rombout Patent which formally granted the land to Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck was issued by King James II of England on October 17, 1685. After Gulian Verplanck’s death, his estate was eventually divided among divided among his heirs. Julian Verplanck II, a merchant from New York City, received 2880 acres, 400 of which were on a slope overlooking the Hudson River.
He named his estate Mount Gulian, in honor of his grandfather and had the first house on the site built between 1730 and 1740. The building was a small structure with an a-roof. Archaeological evidence suggests it was probably enlarged around 1767 and the characteristic gambrel roof as well as two porches were added between this year and the American Revolutionary War.
Mount Gulian in an early picture
The Revolutionary War years:
During the war, Gulian Verplanck’s son Samuel stayed at the house, while his wife, Judith Commerlin remained at the family mansion at 3 Wall Street in Manhattan. In early 1783, Major General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben made Mount Gulian his headquarters. At the same time, George Washington had his headquarters in Hasbrouck House, Newburgh on the opposite side of the Hudson River.
On the morning of May 13, 1783, a group of officers of the Continental Army met at Mount Gulian to found the Society of the Cincinnati. Mount Gulian is headquarters of the Society’s New York State branch. The building was extended by in 1804 by Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, the grandson of Gulian Verplanck II, who also laid out the garden. When Marquis de Lafayette visited the house on his return to America in 1824, he stayed in the new addition.
The Gardens of Mount Gulian at Christmas in 2021
In 1803, upon the death of Judith Commerlin Verplanck, the family mansion at 3 Wall Street was closed and much of its furnishings moved to Mount Gulian. In 1849, construction of the Hudson River Railroad cut off access to the Verplanck boat and bathhouse at the end of the property at the shoreline.
The view to Hudson River from Mount Gulian
The Restoration of the House:
The original mansion was destroyed in a fire laid by an arsonist in 1931. After this, the house laid in ruin and was left unattended until 1966, when Bache Bleecker, a descendant of the Verplanck family and his wife, Connie, founded the Mount Gulian Society, as a nonprofit private organization. The goal reconstructed the house to the state it was when it served as von Steuben’s headquarters. The interior contains artifacts related to the Verplanck family. The 18 century Dutch barn was moved here as well.
(This information came from Wiki and I give them full credit for the information)
History of the Verplanck Family:
Mount Gulian is the Hudson Valley colonial homestead of the Verplanck family. Between 1633 and 1638, a Dutch entrepreneur named Abraham Isaac Verplanck arrived in New Netherlands Colony (now New York and New Jersey) from Holland. He originally came to purchase land for a farming settlement and trading post.
The trading post would enable him to trade Dutch goods with the local Native Americans in exchange for beaver and other furs, Indian tobacco and trade goods that were rare in Europe. New Amsterdam was a thriving port and frontier town, filled with Dutch settlers, Indians and traders from all over Europe, Africans, both freemen and slaves, as well as French Huguenots seeking to escape from religious persecution in Europe and Jews fleeing the Inquisition in South American came to a relatively tolerant and busy New Amsterdam.
Abraham Issac Verplanck settled in the growing city and became a prosperous businessman. he married Maria Vigne Roos by 1635, they had Abigail and Gulian (Gulyn is Old Dutch for William), Catalyna, Isaak, Sussanna, Jacomyntje, Ariaentje, Hillegond and Isaak II moved to Albany and established the Verplanck line in that city, which exists today.
In 1664, an English nave appeared off the coast of New Amsterdam and demanded the city’s surrender. The Dutch surrendered their colony, swore loyalty to the British Crown and saw the city renamed New York. The Verplanck’s spoke Dutch but were now English citizens. By the 1680’s, Gulian Verplanck was sailing up the Hudson River looking for land to increase his wealth.
In 1683, with partners Francis Rombout and Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Gulian Verplanck bought 85,000 acres of land from the local Wappinger Indians for approximately $1200 worth of goods. About 75 miles north of Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River for miles and going inland into rich meadows and forests, encompassing nearly one-seventh of modern Dutchess County, NY in today’s Fishkill-Beacon area, the purchase was quite a bargain. In 1685, the Deed of Sale was approved by King James II of England and is known as the Rombout Patent.
For the next forty-five years, Verplanck, Rombout and various partners and heirs sub-divided, sold off and rented portions of this huge tract of land, while logging, hunting and planting crops on the land.
During the English colonial period, the Verplanck’s became quite prosperous and built a fine home on Wall Street in Manhattan. The Verplanck’s were civic minded and participated in the development of the business and banking industry in New York City and were among the Trustees of Kings College, now known as Columbia University. Around 1730, a colonial-style fieldstone house was built in Fishkill Landing on the Rombout Patent land.
This rough frontier home was gradually surrounded by a working plantation, a dock on the Hudson that facilitated the New York-Kingston-Albany trade and many service buildings for servants and crop production. This homestead was called “Mount Gulian”, and it was used as a summer retreat for the family and a working plantation, but it is not believed that any family member lived at the site year-round until the early 1800’s. Other Verplancks at this time lived in Albany and Verplanck Point in Westchester County, NY.
The Verplancks were prominent citizens in colonial New York while maintaining correspondence with their Dutch relatives in Holland. Young Samuel Verplanck was fortunate enough to take “the grande tour” of Europe in 1761. As businessmen of that era, it must be noted that the Verplancks of Manhattan and Mount Gulian owned slaves during the mid-1700’s and into the early 1800’s, most likely house servants and skilled laborers.
Before the Revolutionary War, Samuel Verplanck became involved with anti-British groups and joined “the Committee of Safety of One -Hundred” in Manhattan. This patriot group was poised to take over the city in the event of rebellion, which occurred on April 19, 1775 at Lexington & Concord.
Later during the War for Independence, Verplanck turned over Mount Gulian to the Continental Army because of its strategic location on the Hudson near the Fishkill Barracks and across from Washington’s Headquarters at Newburgh. In late 1782, through the summer of 1783, Mount Gulian was the Continental Army headquarters of patriot General Fredrich Von Steuben. After the American victory at Yorktown, upon learning of the Treaty of Paris, General Von Steuben and other Chief American officers created at Mount Gulian on May 13, 1783, the Society of the Cincinnati, America’s first veterans’ fraternal organization.
In 1804, Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, a member of Congress moved from Manhattan to permanently occupy the home at Mount Gulian, which underwent extensive expansion with the addition of a large frame house attached to the original homestead. An ornamental “English Garden”, all the rage in Europe at the time, was laid out by him and his daughter, Mary Anna to supplement the 6 acres “kitchen garden” and the fields filled with salable crops. More permanent structures were built on the property, still thousands of acres, including barns, smokehouses, storage buildings and structures to facilitate brick making from clay taken from the Hudson.
The Verplanck family grew and eventually married into many prominent families in New York such as the Schuyler’s, the Johnsons, the Delancey’s and the Bleecker’s. Daniel’s son, Gulian C. Verplanck, also a member of Congress, ran for Mayor of New York in 1834, losing what many believe was a fixed election. Other Verplancks were judges, businessmen and wealthy farmers.
With slavery abolished in New York in 1827, the conservative Verplancks, along with many upper-class Northerners, gradually sided with the abolitionists, even hiring and assisting James Brown, an escaped slave who worked for the family for forty years. Brown’s diaries, written at Mount Gulian, provide a detailed record of daily life there.
During the Civil War, Robert Newlin Verplanck volunteered in the Union Army’s United States Colored Troops, training and fighting alongside black troops until the victory at Appomattox. His battlefield letters to his mother and sister have been preserved by Mount Gulian.
The Victorian era at Mount Gulian was a grand time, as the family associated with the local Livingstons, Roosevelts and Vanderbilts. Many Verplancks achieved fame in the professions, in arts and letters and as sportsmen. Verplanck Colvin was a topographical engineer who extensively surveyed the Adirondacks. Virginia E. Verplanck was a celebrated gardener and hostess. John Bayard Verplanck was an early seaplane flyer, racing World War I era veteran and banker.
The history of the area around Mount Gulian
Mount Gulian was occupied by the Verplancks until 1931, when the house was destroyed by fire. Many of the furnishings and valuable were saved by family members, neighbors and firemen who cleared the house before it was fully engulfed.
Prior to the American Bicentennial of 1976, Mount Gulian was beautifully restored with the assistance of Verplanck descendants, local history lovers and members of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1998, Mount Gulian sponsored a well-attended family reunion, which included an updated version of the family genealogy book originally from 1892. Today Ms. Charlotte Verplanck Willman is one of the Mount Gulian Historic Site’s Board of Trustees.
The Order of Cincinnati
(This information was taken from the Mount Gulian Society website and I give them full credit for the information.)
After the tour, it was a long walk in Downtown Beacon, NY to picture taking and window shopping.
Downtown Beacon, NY in the summer of 2024
Downtown Beacon, NY in the summer of 2024
Downtown Beacon, NY in the summer of 2024
Downtown Beacon, NY falls in the summer of 2024
I also visited Downtown Beacon in December of 2024 for the pre-Christmas holiday season and the whole downtown was decked out for the holidays.
The Mountains behind the downtown glitter with the recent snowfall
The edge of Downtown where the church is located
The downtown was decorated with wreaths and garland topped with fresh snow
The store fronts during Christmas time in Downtown Beacon, NY
The Falls at Christmas time
The Downtown Beacon decorations for the holidays
The festive and very creative signs of the merchants in the downtown area
Downtown Beacon decorated for the holidays at dusk as the lights came on
More merchant signs downtown
Each lamppost was festive and nicely decorated for the holidays
Open: Sunday-Monday 9:30am-5:00pm (closes 4:00pm between November and January 5th) The house is only open between April and the beginning of January.
Fee: Adults $18.00/Seniors $15.00/Children (5-18) $9.00/Children (under 5 years old) Free (This is for house and Garden/Garden tours are different and depend on the season. Please check the website)
My review on TripAdvisor:
The front of Boscobel during Christmas time.
the back of the house at Christmas time.
The view from the back of the house of the Hudson River.
The view from the back of the house at twilight.
Entering the house for the evening “Candle Light” walking tour.
I recently visited the Boscobel House and Garden for their Christmas decorations and for a tour of the house at the holidays. Like most houses of its time period (the house was built in 1806), it was Post-Revolutionary War and the decorations would not have been that lavish as in the Victorian times. In 2023, the house had “Evening Hours” where you could take a self-guided tour and then come back to the Visitors Center for pastries, candy and hot drinks of Apple Cider and Hot Chocolate. These were the best nights to attend. For $25.00, you got to take your time in each room and talk with a docent about the history of the house.
The Grand Hallway display Boscobel
The floral displays in the Grand Hallway were amazing.
The Boscobel Grand Staircase in the Great Hall.
When you enter the house from the front entrance, you enter the Grand Hall with its winding staircase decorated in garland, flowers and lights. The Grand Hall was also once used for balls and informal dances. Decorated for the holidays, the Great Hall was dazzling for the Christmas holiday season.
The Great Hall decorated to the hilt for the holidays.
The house was tastefully decorated with garlands and mistletoe along the archways inside the foyer and with holly and mistletoe inside the house. Some of the tables were set for afternoon tea and entertaining in the Front Drawing Room and there was a small table Christmas tree which were just coming into vogue after the War of 1812. The Front Drawing Room was also set for entertaining as would be done in the holidays months in the later 1800’s.
The Front Drawing Room just off the Great Hall.
The Front Drawing Room set for tea during the holidays.
The Front Drawing Room
The Front Drawing Room is where guests would be received when they entered the house. They would be entertained until the Dyckman’s were ready to greet visitors. Tea and refreshments would be served here while they waited. After the guests would be received, if they were going to stay for the afternoon or evening, they would move to the Back Drawing Room for games, entertainment and conversation before moving on to the Dining Room for the main meal.
The Drawing/Music Room is where Mrs. Dyckman would have received guests and where informal entertaining would have happened. There was also musical instruments and player music boxes on display.
The Back Drawing Room with the Table tree.
The Back Drawing Room with the portrait of Mrs. Dyckman.
The Table Top tree in the Back Drawing Room.
Our tour guide, Sam, was fantastic and I hope when you tour the house he is your guide. I was impressed with his knowledge of the house and of the Dyckman family. I had not realized that they were related to the Dyckman Farmhouse family in Inwood (See my review and write ups on the Dyckman Farmhouse here on VisitingaMuseum.com and MywalkinManhattan.com: https://wordpress.com/post/visitingamuseum.com/771)
He told the story of Mr. Dyckman, who had the house built, how he made his fortune, how he died young without ever living in the house and then his son and his wife dying around the same time. The son-in-law then squandered the fortune with a series of bad investments and the house was foreclosed. It sat empty and was falling apart until a group of local citizens saved it. The house is now back in its full beauty and furnished in period furnishings to reflect the time that the house was built. The tour then guides you from the Front and Back Drawing Rooms to the Main Dining Room, where the real entertaining would take place.
The Main Dining Room was set for a Christmas dinner circa 1830’s and 40’s with the elaborate dishes, crystal and silver and laded with the foods of the holiday season. Meals would take several hours and many courses and would be accompanied by good conversation and maybe some music.
The Formal Dining Room’s table was set for a holiday dinner. The candles had been lit (they were electric) and the room had a warm glow to it. The windows must have let in natural light so earlier meals must have been quite nice when in the summer months the sun shined inside the room. There was custom made china set on the places and there was family silver next to it. The side boards were made by Sheraton and the cut glass had been imported from England.
The formal Dining Room set for Christmas dinner.
Another view of the Dining Room.
The fireplace in the Dining Room decorated for the holidays.
The Christmas desserts for dinner in the Dining Room at Boscobel.
In the back of the Dining Room was the dumbwaiter and the service area, The Warming Room, where items would be finished once they came up from the basement kitchen. They would be plated, decorated and served from this area and the timing would have had to be precise so the food did not arrive cold into the Dining Room.
The Warming Room where meals would be finished before serving.
Items to be served at meals in the Warming Room.
We then toured the back areas of the Warming Room, where all the food would have finished and plated. The room had all sorts of gadgets to keep the plates warm and where all the silver and china would have been kept. After the tour of the downstairs was finished, it was time to climb the Grand Staircase to the rooms in the second floor of the home.
The Grand Staircase to the second floor bedrooms.
The other side of the Grand Staircase.
The second floor Landing at the top of the steps is where all the bedrooms were concentrated.
The Card Table at the top of the Landing in Boscobel.
We then toured the upstairs bedrooms, where we learned the family would have ‘camped out’ in for the cold winter months. I was surprised to learn that the whole front of the house was closed off and the upstairs bedrooms would have been sealed off with fireplaces to keep them warm and the cloth hangings around the bed to keep out the drafts. Both mother and son’s bedrooms were nicely furnished with period furniture.
The Mrs. Dyckman’s bedroom at Boscobel.
Peter Dyckman’s Room on the second floor
Peter Dyckman’s Room at Christmas time.
Sills Dyckman’s Room with the nursery.
Sill’s Dyckman’s Room at Christmas time.
The guest room
The Guest Room at Christmas time.
Our last stop was the kitchen in the basement back area of the house where all the food would have been prepared and brought up to the Butler’s Pantry. There were all sorts of kitchen equipment for roasting, baking and boiling. You could tell that it was not easy work cooking these elaborate meals without the modern conveniences that we take for granted today. These cooks had a tougher time with the stoves and fireplaces as a source of cooking.
The Dyckman kitchen preparing Christmas dinner.
The Dyckman basement kitchen during the holidays.
The kitchen during the Christmas
The Dyckman Kitchen where the servants were preparing a holiday dinner.
In the lower level gallery, there was an exhibition of miniature displays by artist Helen Bruce. She created these tiny diorama’s that are on display. She was quite clever in the details.
Bio on Artist Helen Bruce
‘The Seamstress’ by Helen Bruce
‘The Seamstress’ by Helen Bruce
‘The Toy Shop’ by Helen Bruce
“The Toy Shop” by artist Helen Bruce.
“The Rug Merchant” Artist Helen Bruce.
“Seamstress” by artist Helen Bruce.
The gallery was lined with a series of these diorama’s and each was very detailed in their appearance.
After the self-guided tour was over, I was able to walk around the property and see the gardens. At night the gardens were all lit with Christmas lights and the trellises were done with garland.
Boscobel’s Gardens at night during Christmas.
The walkway through the gardens.
The fountain at Boscobel is decorated to the hilt.
The Herb Garden at night.
The Front of Boscobel at night.
The front of Boscobel at night when I left the house.
The back of the house on the way back to the Gift Shop.
When I toured the house in 2019, what I thought was a nice touch at the end of the tour in the kitchen area was that Sam served us cold apple cider and small gingerbread men which I thought was special keeping with the house’s tradition of a place of entertainment. I thought it was gracious and very much welcome.
When I went to the evening Open House in 2023, the gift shop was serving refreshments when we returned from our self-guided tour. They were serving Hot Chocolate, Hot Apple Cider, Doughnuts, cakes, cookies and Christmas candy while we walked around the Visitors Center.
The Gift Shop at Christmas time.
The Gift Shop at Christmas time.
It really was an interesting tour and I will have to return in the summer months.
History of Boscobel House & Gardens:
States Morris Dyckman was a descendant of a German-Dutch family whose roots in New York stretched back to 1662. During the American Revolution, he was a Loyalist serving as a clerk in the British army’s Quartermaster Department. In 1779, he accompanied his quartermaster superiors to England and for the next decade he rebutted the government allegations that the quartermasters had engaged in profiteering. (As the keeper of the department’s ledgers, he well knew how they had fattened their purses, assets Dyckman’s biographer James Thomas Flexner). The officers were eventually cleared, largely because of Dyckman’s testimony. They rewarded him with an annuity.
The portrait of States Dyckman in the Front Drawing Room.
Dyckman returned to America in 1789 after a general amnesty of Loyalists had been declared. Five years later, he married Elizabeth Corne, a member of a distinguished New York family and 21 years his junior. Dyckman returned along to England in 1800 to settle problems with the payment of his annuity. The trip lasted nearly four years but was a success. He returned a rich man worth more than seven million dollars today. Before he left England, he bought many items for the house including silver, china, glass and books for his library.
The architect for the house was unknown but records show that Mr. Dyckman had some influence in the design of the house. Mr. Dyckman died in 1806 at age 51 and the house had only had the foundation finished at time. His 30 year old wife, Elizabeth finished the house in 1808 with the help of her husband’s cousin, William Vermilyea. She furnished the house and added to its inventory. She and her son, Peter lived in the house upon finishing it. She lived in the house until her death in 1823 and her son, Peter died the following year in 1824 at age 27. The house stayed in the family until about 1899 and then was foreclosed on. According to the guide, the house had not been updated at that point and was falling apart. The house had a series of absent owners over the next few years and then sat empty. It was bought by Westchester County in 1924 and the grounds were turned into a park.
Boscobel House & Gardens in winter
In 1945, the park was acquired by the Veterans Administration for a hospital and the owners took care of the exterior for a time. By 1954, the house was considered an excess on the budget and was being sold for $35.00 for demolition.
The house was saved by Historian Benjamin West Frazier and some friends of his who raised about $10,000 to have the house moved and dismantled to save ‘this treasure’. The house was stored in pieces until 1955, when Lila Acheson Wallace, the co-founder of Readers Digest became involved in the project.
She purchased the land that the house now sits on and devoted her time and money to have the house restored and worked with the curators of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was a donor to help restore the house into its period design with landscaped gardens and period furniture. In 1959, she commissioned the firm of Innocenti & Webel to create the gardens that surround the house. The house opened to the public in 1961.
(This information was taken from the Boscobel Museum Booklet and I give them full credit for the information)
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 