Page 26 - Antiques and Collectibles September 2019 Historic Hudson Valley
P. 26
In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville penned a letter to his father describing the into direct conflict. Peter Stuyvesant surrendered to the English shortly
Hudson River Valley: thereafter. Despite the official transformation of New Amsterdam into New
York, the Dutch influence remained deeply ingrained in the people, traditions,
You will never guess, my dear father, where on earth I have ensconced and folklore of the Hudson River Valley.
myself to write this letter. I sit at the top of a rather steep hill. In the
foreground, one hundred paces below me is a country house, where we lodge. AMERICAN ARISTOCRACY
Beyond it, the hill slopes down to the Hudson. More than a league-wide and Throughout the eighteenth century, the Hudson River Valley developed an
covered with sails, the great river runs north into a range of high blue agricultural economy. Farmers owed their livelihoods to wealthy landowners
mountains and disappears. Its banks are a scene of bustle and prosperity who amassed great political and cultural power. The Philipse family owned
delightful to observe. over 50,000 acres comprising much of lower Westchester County. The richest
family in New York owed its largess to patriarch Frederick Philipse (1626-
1702), a Dutch immigrant who made important connections with the new
Tocqueville was a twenty-five-year-old deputy royal prosecutor from
France on a visit to tour America’s prison systems. Famous for his two-volume English government and strategic marriages to other influential Dutch
series Democracy in America (1835, 1840), Tocqueville’s observations about families. His great estate on the Hudson, Philipsburg Manor, was also home
to 23 African slaves during Frederick Philipse’s tenure on the executive council
the natural world are nonetheless revealing of the Hudson River’s historic
importance as a source of both beauty and industry. of the Governor of New York. His dealings with the slave trade eventually got
The Hudson River Valley has long been central to American culture, serving him banned, and descendants of his family later became staunch abolitionists.
as a home for politicians, explorers, robber barons, artists, and inventors. The Hudson River Valley was also home to colonists of social distinction
Stretching 315 miles from the Adirondack Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean it who believed they had a mission to beautify the world, starting with their
encompasses seven counties throughout eastern New York. homes and gardens. In the 1740s, Robert Livington Jr. built a home on the
banks of the Hudson in Germantown, New York which he called Clermont.
Livingston was the son of Robert Livingston Sr., a Scottish immigrant who
made his mark on the colony of New York, receiving a series of land deals and
the title “Lord of
Livingston Manor” after
marrying into one of
the most elite families
in the colony, the Van
Rensselaers. Several gen-
erations of Livingstons
were raised at Clermont,
including Robert R.
Livingston, the first
Chancellor of New York.
Hailed by contemporaries
as the epitome of beauty
and sensibility, Clermont
was inspired by the eigh-
teenth-century Georgian Clermont State Historic Site
Albert Bierstadt, Discovery of the Hudson River, 1874.
United States House of Representatives. architectural style which
stressed symmetry, clean lines, and rationality. It was a fascinating contrast
Native Americans made the Hudson River Valley their home long before to the enduring Dutch vernacular style with its identifiable gambrel roof.
European colonization. Lenape, Wappingers, and Mahicans settled along the Destroyed in 1777, Clermont was later rebuilt in the popular Colonial
river in fertile tracks of lands and communicated with each other through a Revival style.
shared Algonquin language. These communities made the first contact with an
early group of European explorers including Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. Samuel Ward Stanton,
By the sixteenth century, fierce competition for land, resources, and glory Clermont, 1895.
among European imperial powers resulted in more concentrated efforts to
“discover” the Americas. In 1609, the Dutch East India Company employed
Henry Hudson to find the Northwest Passage. In his attempt to locate this
mythical source to the Pacific Ocean, Hudson sailed up what was then known
as the Mahicantuck River and landed on the western shores near present-day
Albany. He claimed the territory in the name of the Dutch and gave the
adjoining river his name
The Hudson River proved a strategic source of the early American economy,
providing the Dutch a direct route into the nation’s interior and fueling the
rapidly-growing fur trade. These enterprises enabled New Netherlands to
prosper until 1664 when territorial disputes between English colonists explod ed
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
24
Hudson River Valley: thereafter. Despite the official transformation of New Amsterdam into New
York, the Dutch influence remained deeply ingrained in the people, traditions,
You will never guess, my dear father, where on earth I have ensconced and folklore of the Hudson River Valley.
myself to write this letter. I sit at the top of a rather steep hill. In the
foreground, one hundred paces below me is a country house, where we lodge. AMERICAN ARISTOCRACY
Beyond it, the hill slopes down to the Hudson. More than a league-wide and Throughout the eighteenth century, the Hudson River Valley developed an
covered with sails, the great river runs north into a range of high blue agricultural economy. Farmers owed their livelihoods to wealthy landowners
mountains and disappears. Its banks are a scene of bustle and prosperity who amassed great political and cultural power. The Philipse family owned
delightful to observe. over 50,000 acres comprising much of lower Westchester County. The richest
family in New York owed its largess to patriarch Frederick Philipse (1626-
1702), a Dutch immigrant who made important connections with the new
Tocqueville was a twenty-five-year-old deputy royal prosecutor from
France on a visit to tour America’s prison systems. Famous for his two-volume English government and strategic marriages to other influential Dutch
series Democracy in America (1835, 1840), Tocqueville’s observations about families. His great estate on the Hudson, Philipsburg Manor, was also home
to 23 African slaves during Frederick Philipse’s tenure on the executive council
the natural world are nonetheless revealing of the Hudson River’s historic
importance as a source of both beauty and industry. of the Governor of New York. His dealings with the slave trade eventually got
The Hudson River Valley has long been central to American culture, serving him banned, and descendants of his family later became staunch abolitionists.
as a home for politicians, explorers, robber barons, artists, and inventors. The Hudson River Valley was also home to colonists of social distinction
Stretching 315 miles from the Adirondack Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean it who believed they had a mission to beautify the world, starting with their
encompasses seven counties throughout eastern New York. homes and gardens. In the 1740s, Robert Livington Jr. built a home on the
banks of the Hudson in Germantown, New York which he called Clermont.
Livingston was the son of Robert Livingston Sr., a Scottish immigrant who
made his mark on the colony of New York, receiving a series of land deals and
the title “Lord of
Livingston Manor” after
marrying into one of
the most elite families
in the colony, the Van
Rensselaers. Several gen-
erations of Livingstons
were raised at Clermont,
including Robert R.
Livingston, the first
Chancellor of New York.
Hailed by contemporaries
as the epitome of beauty
and sensibility, Clermont
was inspired by the eigh-
teenth-century Georgian Clermont State Historic Site
Albert Bierstadt, Discovery of the Hudson River, 1874.
United States House of Representatives. architectural style which
stressed symmetry, clean lines, and rationality. It was a fascinating contrast
Native Americans made the Hudson River Valley their home long before to the enduring Dutch vernacular style with its identifiable gambrel roof.
European colonization. Lenape, Wappingers, and Mahicans settled along the Destroyed in 1777, Clermont was later rebuilt in the popular Colonial
river in fertile tracks of lands and communicated with each other through a Revival style.
shared Algonquin language. These communities made the first contact with an
early group of European explorers including Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. Samuel Ward Stanton,
By the sixteenth century, fierce competition for land, resources, and glory Clermont, 1895.
among European imperial powers resulted in more concentrated efforts to
“discover” the Americas. In 1609, the Dutch East India Company employed
Henry Hudson to find the Northwest Passage. In his attempt to locate this
mythical source to the Pacific Ocean, Hudson sailed up what was then known
as the Mahicantuck River and landed on the western shores near present-day
Albany. He claimed the territory in the name of the Dutch and gave the
adjoining river his name
The Hudson River proved a strategic source of the early American economy,
providing the Dutch a direct route into the nation’s interior and fueling the
rapidly-growing fur trade. These enterprises enabled New Netherlands to
prosper until 1664 when territorial disputes between English colonists explod ed
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
24
