The Senate House

296 Fair Street

Kingston, NY  12401

(845) 338-2786

http://www.palisadeparksconservancy.org

http://senatehousekingston.org/

Open: Sunday 1:00pm-5:00pm/Wednesday-Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm (April 15-October 31). Open by Appointment only (November 1-April 14)

Fee: Adults $4.00/Seniors (62+) $3.00/Children under 12 and under Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48003-d3225491-Reviews-Senate_House_State_Historic_Site-Kingston_Catskill_Region_New_York.html

The recently reopened Senate House in 2023

I recently spent my afternoon at the Senate House and Museum in Kingston, NY taking a tour of the museum and the House next door. The Senate House itself had just finished its renovation and the gardens were in full bloom in 2023. It was a quiet afternoon, and I was the only patron for most of the afternoon. The grounds were full of beautiful foliage and flowers, so it was nice to walk around the grounds.

The Senate House story board

The Senate House had just reopened in 2023 after almost a four year renovation and because of the closure during COVID. The grounds are very pretty and well-landscaped and the outside has had a lot done to the gardens. The house was built for merchant Abraham Van Gaasbeek and his family. It stayed in the family for generations.

The Senate House at 296 Fair Street

We were able to tour the inside of the house and see the renovations that the State of New York made on this important structure. The home has been renovated by the state but the tour guide told us not with the historical integrity it should have had. It was not to the total interpretation of the life in the house. Still, it told the story about the people that lived there.

The Senate House Kitchen

Here you see the beehive oven, the working fireplace and many household items including waffle makers, cookie molds and candle making tools. The daily household tasks would be time consuming.

The Dining Space

The bedroom

In the original part of the house, the dining space and bedroom would be in a one room section of the home and as the family got larger, the house was added on to on both sides.

The Parlor

The Parlor was the fanciest room in the house with the best furnishings, decorations and a place of social interactions with guests. This rooms was for adult use at that time.

The Meeting Room for the leaders in change.

This was the room where plans by the patriots were made that changed the course of New York and the rest of the country. Now that the Senate House home is open again, you get a feel for what these people must have went through in developing the country during the Revolutionary War years.

When I visited the Senate House at the holidays for the “Snowflake Festival”, it was still closed for renovation but the grounds were open for touring, music and for a visit with Santa. It was a magical night on the grounds of the historical site and people had a nice time that evening. The grounds and the other buildings were decked out for the holidays.

The Senate House decked out for the Christmas holidays at the “Kingston Snowflake Festival” in 2022

The Senate House property decorated for the Kingston Snowflake Festival in 2022

Santa’s visit at the Senate House property in 2022

The history of the Kingston Stockade section of the city.

The main part of the park is the Senate House Museum, which is broken into three sections. The right side of the museum is the history of the City of Kingston and the matching artifacts. There is a description of manufacturing, merchant class and its military prominence. Here I learned about the growth of Kingston and its founding, its strategic spot on the Hudson River in the early colony, its role as diplomats to the Native Americans, which was not so pleasant and its growth after the war.

The first floor exhibitions on early life in Kingston

The history of the City of Kingston is described with the Native American settlements and the trade with the Dutch, the unsettling relationships that the two groups had with each other, the War years, the growth of industry and trade in early New York and manufacturing in the area.

The Native American exhibition

Early manufacturing and life in Kingston

The Artist’s sign

The Vanderlyn Exhibition of artist John Vanderlyn’s art

Artist John Vanderlyn’s works are featured on this part of the museum.

The left side of the museum is dedicated to the locally born artist, John Vanderlyn. His paintings line the walls of the museum of the artist at different stages of his career. His work was ahead of its time for the area, and it was noted in the collection that he forced himself to commission portraits to survive. His works advanced for the time because of his studying abroad now line the walls of the best museums in the country.

The exhibition of John Vanderlyn’s portraits

Artist John Vanderlyn’s bio in the museum

Members of the extended Vanderlyn family portraits

The second floor holds the furniture that is not historically correct with the Senate House and comes from different time periods. There is furniture, beds and chairs, spinning wheels, chamber pots and all sorts of accessories for the home and their uses in everyday life. Vintage furnishings with explanations on their use are a big part of the exhibit.

Artifacts from the past are displayed here

The everyday items used to spin material and create clothing

The Loughran House next door houses more of the furniture of the house and has a new exhibition “Back to the Future: The Evolution of Senate House”. This houses artifacts from the house.

The Senate House property during the “Kingston Snowflake Festival” in 2022

The Senate House property during Christmas 2024

The Senate House property during Christmas 2024

History of the Senate House:

(From Wiki/Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation pamphlet)

Amidst the turmoil of a British military invasion in the fall of 1777, the elected representations of rebellious New Yorkers met in Kingston to form a new state government. While convened in Kingston in September and October, New York’s first Senate met in the simple stone house of merchant Abraham Van Gaasbeek.

Here they adopted a system comprising of a senate, assembly, governor and judiciary that still exists today. Every one of the assembled delegates risked his life and property by being so openly disloyal to the Crown. Indeed, all were forced to flee for their lives when the British attacked and burned Kingston on October 16th.

While convened in Kingston in September and October, New York’s first Senate met in the simple stone house of Abraham Van Gaasbeek, a prosperous merchant trader who had suffered financial losses as a result of the war and personal losses in the recent deaths of his wife, Sara, his daughter and infant granddaughter. It was Sara’s grandfather, Wessel Ten Broeck, who built the original section of the house in 1676.

At first called Wiltwyck, Kingston was the third “city” established in the Dutch Colony of New Netherland. Planned and developed by the Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1656, the town was renamed Kingston after the colony was seized by the English in 1664.

Wessel Ten Broeck’s one room Dutch style house was enlarged by succeeding owners in the 18th century. Each change reflected the increasing fortunes of the Ten Broeck/Van Gaasbeek family and demonstrated a gradual acceptance of English styles and customs over the persistent influence of the early Dutch. Kingston at the time of the American Revolution was still a noticeably “Dutch” town and most of its citizens supported the American cause. British Major General John Vaughan justified his destruction of the city because it was a “nursery for almost every villain in the country.”

In 1887, to recognize Senate House’s role in the formation of New York State, New York State acquired the property, which quickly became a vital community museum. A two-story Museum Building was constructed in 1927 to house and display the site’s burgeoning collection. Among its treasures are: major works by John Vanderlyn and other members of the Vanderlyn family of Kingston. The museum also includes the site’s popular new exhibit: “Kingston Stockage: New Netherlands’ Third City,” discussing Kingston’s early history.

(New York State Park History)

The Kingston Stockade: The City’s formation from the beginning